The Midnight Lock

Lincoln Rhyme, Book 15

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

The "master of ticking-bomb suspense" (People) Jeffery Deaver delivers the latest thriller featuring his beloved protagonists Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs as they search for a criminal whose fascination with breaking locks terrorizes New York City.

A woman awakes in the morning to find that someone has picked her apartment’s supposedly impregnable door lock and rearranged personal items, even sitting beside her while she slept. The intrusion, the police learn, is a message to the entire city of carnage to come. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to investigate and soon learn that the sociopathic intruder, who calls himself "the Locksmith”, can break through any lock or security system ever devised. With more victims on the horizon, Rhyme, Sachs and their stable of associates must follow the evidence to the man’s lair...and discover his true mission. 

Their hunt is interrupted when an internal investigation in the police force uncovers what seems to be a crucial mistake in one of Rhyme's previous cases. He’s fired as a consultant for the NYPD and must risk jail if he investigates the Locksmith case in secret. 

The Midnight Lock is a roller-coaster listen that takes place over just a few days’ time, features surprise after surprise and offers a fascinating look at the esoteric world of lockpicking.

©2021 Jeffery Deaver (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

“The wait has been worth it. This is prime Rhyme: a fiendishly smart villain, bewildering crimes, plenty of plot twists, and Lincoln, the quadriplegic criminalist, is at his cranky, belligerent, brilliantly clever best.” (Booklist)

“The dialogue and plotting are as sharp as ever in The Midnight Lock …If the burglar’s break-in feats often resemble magic, so do some of Deaver’s tricks.” (The Sunday Times of London) 

“Some readers will be aghast in admiration at the nonstop revelations, others impatient for every last T to be crossed so that they can turn the last page and get to sleep before dawn. In the end, everyone will agree that there’s no other detective under the midnight moon like Lincoln Rhyme.” (Kirkus Reviews) 

Once again…

…Jeffrey Deaver has written a truly clever Lincoln Rhyme novel. This is the 15th book in the series. As with the others, this book can be listened to as a standalone however I suggest listening to the series in order. The core characters have come such a long way since the first book, The Bone Collector.
On this book nothing is as it seems. It begins with an intruder who likes to pick locks, rearrange items , watch sleeping women and leave. The women wake up feeling totally victimized and afraid, knowing how easily it would have been for this prowler to do more than mischief.
At the same time Lincoln testifies in a murder trial. The defendant is found not guilty because of a supposed flaw in his testimony regarding mishandling of evidence going through his lab. NYC is up in arms and the Mayor decides there will be no more outside consulting.
Both plots become very twisted. At the conclusion you end up someplace you never you would go. The ending is such a surprise, I am usually able to come up with a prediction that’s at least close. I was no where near the mark on this one.
Edoardo Ballerini does an outstanding job narrating.
This book has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
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Mixed feelings

I’ve loved Lincoln and Amelia from the beginning and I’ve always looked forward to the next book. After reading (listening to) ‘The Midnight Lock’ my head is still spinning and rather wondering what just happened? I found the whole plot both full of interest and suspense while being a bit confusing. The narrator was easy to understand but at times I found myself wondering just who is talking.

Keyed Up.

Loved the twists.
Narrator is the best. loved the whole story,
looking for the next now

an intellectual challenge - not a book to relax

60+ different names, a very complex story line, many characters change from good to bad and vice versa. again and again you have to rethink everything. i had hoped for a relaxing entertainment, but got a brain buster. impossible go listen to without keeping notes about all the characters.

Poor Audio and Difficult To follow story line.

The overall story line was difficult to follow because the character speaking was not readily identified. Unfortunately the poor audio quality of added to this. I had numerous stops in the audio.
VERY poor audio.

Snooze fest

This is what I’d categorize as an grandma mystery. No edge. I did not find his Characters believable. Don’t waste your credit if you’re looking for a suspenseful mystery.

magnificent!!!

as always, Lincoln Rhyme is truly a brilliant detective. love the series. can't wait for more to come.

Gotta love Lincoln

Another great book by Deaver. Kept you thinking till the very end. Full of action. Hard to put down.

Disappointed

Story was OK, might have been better if I didn't have to struggled with the narration. Many of the characters sounded the same causing me to rewind to figure out what was going on.

fair

it was alright, to confusing. jumped all around. had me wondering if I wanted to finish it.