I thought I was going to take a break from the writings of Jeffery Deaver but ended up picking another one, Twisted up at the library last week. I thought it was a non-Lincoln Rhyme novel but it turned out to be a collection of short stories.
I’m now halfway through the final story of the sixteen that make up the collection and, on balance, I think Deaver’s style works better for the short story format; there’s not time for him to put more than a couple of twists in the story and so each individual tale doesn’t become too disorientating.
I prefer the few stories where the “good guys” win; a lot of them are about one bad person out-tricking another and I was often left wishing that, like the Pardoner’s protagonists, all of them got their just desserts! However, that probably says more about my tastes as a reader than providing any insightful comment on the author.
Just a few more pages and then the only mysteries remaining will be how long before I pick up another Deaver novel and how long before (as I’ve done with Robinson, Rickman and numerous others) I’ve mined the seam dry?
Tags: jeffery deaver, twisted, short stories, book review