The Broken Window

A Lincoln Rhyme Novel, Book 8

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information....

When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect - too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed.

At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and ignorance - despite ironclad evidence at the scenes of the crime. Rhyme's team realizes this "perfect" evidence may actually be the result of masterful identity theft and manipulation.

An information service company - the huge data miner Strategic Systems Datacorp - seems to have all the answers but is reluctant to help the police. Still, Rhyme and Sachs and their assembled team begin uncovering a chilling pattern of vicious crimes and coverups, and their investigation points to one master criminal, whom they dub "522".

When "522" learns the identities of the crime-fighting team, the hunters become the hunted. Full of Deaver's trademark plot twists, The Broken Window will put the partnership of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to the ultimate test.

©2008 Jeffrey Deaver (P)2008 Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Engrossing book

I enjoyed listening to this book very much, almost as much as The Blue Nowhere, which attracted me to downloading The Broken Window in the first place. The story was excellent, well thought out, and entertaining. The author puts a lot of thought into the book and requires the reader to do so as well.

My only dislike in the book was the narrator reading sometimes very long lists that were in the book. For example, he read a list of evidence what seemed like every other chapter, which, granted, was as written by the author, but very repetitive and sometimes annoying. There is another instance in the book where an index is read verbatim (I know, I should expect it from the unabridged version) but this index seemed like it was 200 lines long and easily could have been removed from the narration. I ended up so annoyed with the monotonous index reading that I fast forwarded to a point where the narrator once again had some type of feeling and inflection in his voice.

Don't let this stop you from downloading this book, just be prepared to listen to the lists and indexes periodically.

Overall the story is 5 stars, the annoying lists drop it to 4 stars and the narration was at best 4 stars... thus my rating of 4 stars.

Enjoy!

Great read. Sometimes a little bit slow.

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator was good, but not excellent. The story was very good, but for some people the "techno-babble" might be a bit hard to follow and to stay interested in. Having studied computer science and having a decent background in data mining, I was surprised about the ease with which Deaver presents the topic. Readers should be warned that some aspects are presented on a very basic level and some things are simply exaggerated - just as it needs to be in a fictional novel. 4/5 as there are some story arcs that are simply too long and the narrator is not as good as in other Deaver novels.

a worthwhile listen

good narration, good story. reasonably suspenseful. the concept of "data mining" used as the m.o. of the story's criminal is very current in this day and age where identity theft remains an ever increasing threat.

An interesting story. Glad I read it.

If you could sum up The Broken Window in three words, what would they be?

Relentless
Overly detailed

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Broken Window?

Villian keeps coming up with ways to misdirect

What three words best describe Dennis Boutsikaris’s performance?

Stiff
No warmth in voice

Any additional comments?

Sound of reader's voice makes a big difference to me in audibles. I didn't find this voice contributed to the experience as much as others have. Nevertheless, I still recommend the book.

Wanted to Score it Higher

I wanted to score this higher than a three, but I found listening to the interminable reading of the dossier tedious and maddening, and I just can’t make myself score it the four stars I’d otherwise have given it.

Real Nailbiter of a story

Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sacks, and crew have their hands full in this story of a criminal who uses data as a weapon to collect whatever catches his eye. It is the classic story of two brilliant minds declaring war on each other. It kept me listening late into the night, just to see what was coming next.

Now a Lincoln Ryme fan!

I have not read any other books by Deaver, but I loved the movie "The Bone Collector!" I will be adding more books from the Lincoln Ryme's series.

A story that Godgle has made come true

I originally read this years ago but today it is so much more real. as The performance keeps you enthralled but today's headlines add the element of fear. Evidence that should have been handled by federal agencies is buried and elections are changed by social media and we find Godgle is doing its part as well. 1984 is here and it came in riding on a horse named Google.
in case you're curious the earlier misspellings were deliberate. This review was written by the spouse and not the audible owner as designated. eMarkable

classic lincoln

good pacing, great bad guy, all in all, just what I expected, and enjoy. I like these books because they're full of page turning scenes and new exciting themes and characters. looking forward to starting the next lincoln novel tomorrow!

Another engaging mystery from Jeffery Deaver

Deaver had me listening way too late in the night!😃. Couldn’t put it down until I finally fell asleep.