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| The Twelfth Card: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeffery Deaver
Publisher: Large Print Press
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $5.95
You Save: $8.00 (57%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  93 reviews
Sales Rank: 1788714
Format: Large Print
Media: Board book
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 728
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.5
ISBN: 1594131368
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781594131363
ASIN: 1594131368
Publication Date: May 15, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A New York Times Bestseller Bestselling master of suspense Jeffery Deaver is back. . . . Lincoln and his protege, Amelia Sachs, are called upon to do the impossible: solve a truly "cold case" - one that's 140 years old. The Twelfth Card is a two-day cat-and-mouse chase through the streets of uptown Manhattan as quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs try to outguess Thompson Boyd - by all appearances a nondescript, innocuous man, but one whose past has turned him into a killing machine as unfeeling and cunning as a wolf. Boyd is after Geneva Settle, a high school girl from Harlem, and it's up to Lincoln and Amelia to figure out why. Deaver's inimitable plotting keeps all these stories - the past and the present - racing at a lightning-fast clip as we learn stunning revelations that strike at the very heart of the U.S. Constitution and that could have disastrous consequences for today's human and civil rights in America. Jeffery Deaver is a five-time Edgar Award nominee and an Anthony Award nominee. A three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year. As William Jefferies, he is the author of several other novels. Jeffery Deaver is the author of many suspense novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Vanished Man, The Stone Monkey, The Devil's Teardrop, and The Bone Collector. Jeffery Deaver lives in Virginia and California.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 88 more reviews...
 Murder case that goes back 140 years! June 8, 2005
48 out of 53 found this review helpful
This is only the second Jeff Deaver Novel I have read, the first being the "Bone Collector" a few years ago. No excuse as to why I have not read more Deaver as I liked "The Bone Collector" and I liked this novel "the Twelfth card." The author has a wonderful talent for the unexpected twist and or turn that makes this kind of book fun. He also does a great job of developing his characters and writing believable dialog. I think the quadriplegia Lincoln Rhyme is just great, a tough exterior but a big marshmallow inside. And an inspiration as to how he handles his Handicap.
In this installment Rhyme is investigating why a man has been stalking a highschool student. Could it have something to do with the 140 year old death of the student's ancestor. I wont give away the plot but it takes off from here and leads the reader on a suspenseful tale full of thrills and twists and turns! I highly recommend "The Twelfth card" you won't be disappointed! You also might want to check out "Tourist in the Yucatan" great Mystery/thriller that has become a cult classic!
 Deaver loves the wild twist August 1, 2005
25 out of 31 found this review helpful
I have been a Lincoln Rhyme fan every since I saw THE BONE COLLECTOR, then realized there was a mystery/thriller series by Jeffery Deaver featuring the same character. There's something about a paralyzed forensics expert who solves complicated cases with the aid of a beautiful redheaded sidekick that fascinates.
That said I've always had some reservations about Deaver. He loves the wild plot twist for one thing, and that's still the case with THE TWELFTH CARD. Through most of the book we think the attempted assault on Geneva Settle, a high school student doing research at the Museum of African-American Culture and History, has something to do with her ancestor, Charles Singleton, an emancipated slave who'd inherited land from his former master. But that's too easy for Deaver. Soon we're dealing with Arab terrorists, bombs going off right and left, and two or three more people trying to kill Geneva. It's all a little too much for the patient reader.
Then there's the matter of ebonics (I can't remember the more politically correct term). Every African-American character in the book sounds the same, including Geneva Settle, when she's around her friend Keesha and a potential boyfriend. Can you say the word s-t-e-r-e-o-t-y-p-e?
The saving grace in THE TWELFTH CARD is the villain, Thompson Boyd. He's a professional hit man who's been "numbed" by his profession. What's interesting is that he's trying to cure himself by cohabiting with a woman and her two little girls. He figures if he goes through the motions of family life, some of their normalcy and zest for life will rub off on him. Thompson goes down a bit too easy about a hundred pages before the end of the book, again because of Deaver's penchant for the wild twist.
Despite the reservations mentioned above, I highly recommend this book. The Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs team is top notch; the police procedural (with its recurring evidentiary lists) is fun to follow, and the cast of recurring characters, including Fred Dellray, Mel Cooper, Lon Sellitto, and Thom, Lincoln's physical therapy aide, are all well-rounded and interesting. If you haven't read any of the other five novels in the series, you're in for a treat.
Lincoln Rhyme rides again June 7, 2005
16 out of 20 found this review helpful
When I learned that a new Lincoln Rhyme novel was due out in June I was elated along with many of our library patrons. Jeffrey Deaver and his stories are greatly anticipated by many of our patrons.
In The Twelfth Card teenager Geneva Settle is attacked and nearly killed while doing research in a library in the City. Chased by the assailant she narrowly escapes. She eventually ends up in front of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs where she is debriefed and put in protective custody. It is this part of the book that seems contrived. Lincoln Rhyme is a high powered piece of manpower. If he were used to investigate every suspected assault on a teenager he wouldn't have any time for other crimes. Of course WE know that there is a major crime to be prevented/solved because we can see the book. However, Lincoln doesn't know that this isn't just what it looks like, a possible attempted sexual assault.
Aside from this minor point, The Twelfth Card is everything we have come to expect from Jeffrey Deaver. The Twelfth Card is a great story with more than its share of plot twists. The plot is believable and keeps the readers turning the pages.
Finally, Deaver continues to offer fresh stories that rely on good authorship. This is refreshing considering some of the trite and contrived novels being published by other authors.
A tangled web November 9, 2005
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book has more twists and turns and red herrings than any other book that I've read previously. High school student Geneva Settle, is researching her slave ancestor, Charles Singleton, who was jailed for theft 140 years ago, after serving honourably in the Civil War. Geneva reasons that a paper on Charles will earn her good credits, and starts by delving into copies of old newspapers of New York City at the time Charles was alive. She barely escapes an attack by a masked man in the library, an attack which is followed by an on going series of attempts on her life. Famous and brilliant criminalist, Lincoln Rhyme takes up her case when the librarian who was helping Geneva, is killed for no apparent reason. With his team of policeman/forensic scientists, a case begins to unravel which seems to come up with all the answers, only to twist back and head in another dirextion. It's a fabulous read for anyone who enjoys good, involved murder/mysteries.
 Unusual Disappointment from Deaver June 15, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I was really looking forward to reading The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver as I had thought that he was one of the few writers I could rely on to deliver a good story. Alas, I was disappointed in this one. The plot centers on a young African American girl, Geneva Settle, who is the victim of an attempted rape while she is doing some historical research into one of her ancestors. Only it wasn't actually an attempted rape, but an attempted murder with the rape being a ruse. Someone is trying to murder her because her ancestor harbored this great secret and it would bring down the entire United States if the secret becomes known. But no, that's also a ruse because she actually was a witness to the planning of a possible terrorist attack. Oops, that's another distracter-- and so on and so forth. This book has distracter upon distracter piled upon it until it finally gets to the point where it seems as though Deaver is just throwing every wild idea he can think of, including the kitchen sink, into the plot. In the meantime, he leaves holes big enough to drive a truck through.
I have to wonder about the stupidity of the characters sometimes. Here Rhyme is orchestrating a 24-hour multi-cop surveillance on Geneva to protect her, yet they let anybody and everybody waltz into Rhyme's townhouse to visit Geneva without questioning their motives.
Plenty of other reviewers have commented on the offensiveness of Deaver's stereotypical portrayal of the blacks in Harlem. Let me just say that there is an old adage that every beginning writer is told, "Write what you know." It appears that Deaver needs to return to basic writing school and take that adage to heart.
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