The Cold Moon

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Joe Mantegna

Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

On a freezing December night, with a full moon hovering in the black sky over New York City, two people are brutally murdered, the death scenes marked by eerie, matching calling cards: moon-faced clocks investigators fear ticked away the victims' last moments on earth. Renowned criminologist Lincoln Rhyme immediately identifies the clock distributor and has the chilling realization that the killer, who has dubbed himself the Watchmaker, has more murders planned in the hours to come.

Rhyme, a quadriplegic long confined to his wheelchair, immediately taps his trusted partner and longtime love, Amelia Sachs, to walk the grid and be his eyes and ears on the street. But Sachs has other commitments now, namely, her first assignment as lead detective on a homicide of her own. As she struggles to balance her pursuit of the infuriatingly elusive Watchmaker with her own case, Sachs unearths shocking revelations about the police force that threaten to undermine her career, her sense of self, and her relationship with Rhyme. As the Rhyme-Sachs team shows evidence of fissures, the Watchmaker is methodically stalking his victims and planning a diabolical criminal masterwork. Indeed, the Watchmaker may be the most cunning and mesmerizing villain Rhyme and Sachs have ever encountered.

©2006 Jeffery Deaver (P)2006 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Audioworks is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Even] Deaver fans...will be hard-pressed to peel back all the layers of the cunning plot at work beneath the surface". (Publishers Weekly)
"As always, Deaver's dialogue is exceptionally realistic, and his plotting is devilishly intricate." (Booklist)

Another Banger in the Rhyme Sachs saga!

Great story! Unpredictable plot twist in the end too. I have enjoyed listening to all these books. I started because of the movie "The Bone Collector" and have not been dissatisfied. I recommend you read the entire series.

Twists and turns in the story

Just when you think you have it figured out, something new comes to light. Love Jeffrey Deaver stories!

I'm hooked

I love puzzles, history and fascinating little tidbits with significant meaning. Deaver is excellent at detail and leading you down a heart pounding, but misleading path. I fear that revealing what I really liked best about this story would give too much away and ruin the book for other readers. Where is the sequel? I can't wait to read it.

A Terrific Rhyme Novel

This is a terrific story with many twists in the "Deaver" style. The reader creates wonderful voices for the characters, and I didn't want to stop listening.

Homeschooling Christian Terrorists? -Spoiler Alert

Give me a break. The book was very interesting with a lot of intricate twists and turns and Joe Mantegna was great as a narrator. But when it was revealed that the Evil Serial Killer the Watchmaker was just a paid lacky of a gang of Terrorist Christian Homeschoolers, the Author lost me completely. Was it just a hatred of Christians in general that drove Deaver to come up with this ridiculous premise or just Christians who homeschool? I don't know, but I do know that the whole story fell apart when it was revealed that a cabal of evil Christian homeschoolers were the puppet masters of the serial killer the Watchmaker. I was all set to give this book 5 stars all around until the last couple of chapters. Come on Deaver, get real.

Too convoluted

I normally give these books a five star rating. However, this story had too many puzzles with then puzzles. This is the first time that Catherine dance came to New York. I enjoy normally the way crime scenes are walked for evidence. This book had too many twists and sub plots.
Stewart Aron

twistastic

This is the most plot-twist ridden book I've ever read/heard... a little suspenstion of disbelief is needed, but it's great fun for twist fans nonetheless.

A pleasure

Enjoyed the twists and turns. Performance by Joe Mantegna was quite good.

Throughout, I kept wishing the people feeding Rhyme scene data either used cameras, cell phone video, or better yet wore GoPros🙂.

It’s a good story

Rhyme actually doesn’t play a big part of the story. They spend the time developing the other characters. Enough twists to keep it interesting. Not a big fan of the narrator.

Good story, needs better reader.

I enjoyed the story but I prefer readers who have the ability to changes their voices, which helps make understanding the character speech easier. Unfortunately, this reader had the same voice for every character.