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THE TWELFTH CARD
by Jeffery Deaver
Simon and Schuster, June 2005
416 pages
$25.00
ISBN: 0743260929


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Geneva Settle is a 16-year-old girl living in Harlem who has managed to transcend her living circumstances. She can talk the talk with the best of them (and Deaver's research on the vernacular is impressive), but the reality is that she has a vision for her own future, and she is an industrious and talented student. So why is someone trying to kill her?

The first attempt takes place at a library where she is doing research on one of her ancestors, Charles Singleton, who was involved in the civil rights movement in the United States in 1868. She has found some letters in the family archives that have ignited her interest, particularly the fact that it appears he is about to be arrested or killed for a crime Geneva feels that he did not commit.

As she is looking at the microfilm that lays out his story, she is almost killed by an intruder. Fortunately, she is very aware of her surroundings and manages to get away. The perpetrator steals one of the microfilm reels and leaves a tarot card of The Hanged Man, the Twelfth Card in the deck.

The situation is investigated by a quadriplegic detective named Lincoln Rhyme and his associate Amelia Sachs. They are incredibly good at finding even minute evidence and tracing it back to its origins. The most difficult aspect to determine is the motivation of the people who are trying to kill Geneva. How could events of more than 100 years ago have any relationship to the present day and be so compelling that someone would want her dead?

The first three-quarters of the book is totally engrossing, both from the point of view of the investigation and the behavior of the attacker, Thompson Boyd. Deaver excels at the art of creating breathtaking suspense. Each of the characters is extremely clever and ingenious, no matter which side of the law they are on. That, in fact, turns out to be a fault in the book, in that the intelligence exhibited by so many of the characters seems so exceptional that it is implausible.

As I was reading, I thought THE TWELFTH CARD was going to be one of my favorite books of the year. After becoming totally engaged in the book, I was disappointed to find that the last 100 pages did not deliver on the book's initial promise.

First of all, the actual motivation for the attacks on Geneva seemed far-fetched at best. Geneva was a great character, but the way her family relationships played out didn't ring true either. There was also a big "Oh puh-leez" moment when the Rhyme team uncharacteristically let their guard down.

Deaver is a great thriller writer, but the weaknesses of the last quarter of the book made THE TWELFTH CARD an unsatisfying read for me.

Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, July 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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