Deaver the Diva (A Maiden's Grave - Jeffery Deaver)

Name: x_elff_x

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	A Maiden's Grave - Jeffery Deaver
Date:	06/04/01 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tight plot, tension, unpredictability

Disadvantages: You may find reading it gets in the way of eating, sleeping, working...

I realise that it might have come to your attention that I read a bit. Well, ok, I read a lot, but, er, I can handle it, could give it up any time etc etc.

The thing is, I love to read a wide mix of stuff, but one genre I always seem to come back to is the crime thriller. And you might think that there is no problem in that. But there is. Because so much crime fiction in the bookshops today is formulaic, predictable, badly-written rubbish.

I guarantee for every great crime novel out there, there are at least five mediocre ones that you will have to read to find it. However, the search is over, at least for a while, because Jeffrey Deaver is one of the most consistently surprising novelists out there and his early offering, A Maiden's Grave, ably fixes his radical colours to the mast.

For in this novel he takes one of the most predictable situations - a hostage taking - and infuses it with action, gripping tension and more than one twist.

Instead of the usual bank heist gone wrong, we are presented with a group of eight deaf schoolgirls and their two teachers (only one of whom can hear), who, unwittingly run into trouble while on a school trip and find themselves being held hostage by ice-cool and unremittingly nasty villain Lou Handy and his two associates.

Struggling to get the girls out of their predicament is top FBI negotiator Arthur Potter, but he is not only fighting gun-toting hostage-takers he is also up against beaurocrats and state officials who have their own, possibly fatal, agendas.

Meanwhile, inside the hostage building - a slaughterhouse which is a nice touch in that the building contains all the acoutrements you would associate with death - a surprising heroine is emerging in the shape of Melanie Charrol, a young teacher who must face up to the fears of her past to protect those in her care.

The story, though for the large part only having two 'scenes', the van of the negotiat
ors and the slaughterhouse, is a compelling read. By switching the focus between the deaf children and teachers - who have only their eyes to help them assess what is going on - and the negotiators - powerless in the face of Handy's ruthlessness - Deaver creates tension you could cut with a knife.

Deaver is never a 'cosy' read - like Handy himself, the author is rarely predictable, leading you (like Agent Potter) to believe that one thing will happen and then changing tack abruptly to present you with a totally different outcome.

A Maiden's Grave isn't even predictable in its unpredictability, because Deaver seems to pluck twists from the air to surprise and delight while never leaving you feeling 'cheated' by him - all his developments are chillingly plausible.

As for the language and pace of the book, Deaver's style is slick throughout. In fact, he even borders on the poetic in places as I think the following quote illustrates: 'If we have to be foolish it ought to be in love. Not in our careers, where lives hang in the balance, not with our gods or in our lust for beauty and learning. Not with our children, so desirous and so unsure. But in love. For love is nothing but the purest folly and we go there for the pupose of being impassioned and half-crazy. In matters of the heart the world will always be generous with us, and forgiving.' Bravo Jeffrey.

I never felt the tension sag or the pace slow - this is truly a book that you won't want to put down.

Bookends:

A Maiden's Grave costs 5.59 on Bol and Amazon, though I see Amazon has a copy in Zshops for a mere one pound!

If you want to find out a bit more about the author visit http://www.jefferydeaver.com/

Summary: