Tag / Jeffery Deaver

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Prolific Authors – 18 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we finish things off with a new leader, the lone author I’ve read 18 times, a level unseen two years ago.

Jeffery Deaver

In 1999, the first entry of Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series, The Bone Collector, was adapted into a film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.  Around that time, I picked up a paperback copy, which I read in 2000.  I slowly added additional titles as I would find them as remainders, picking up new hard covers for $3 or $4.

The Midnight Lock – Jeffery Deaver

Things increased in 2015, when I started picking up titles on deals through the Amazon Kindle store or from the library, leading to thirteen additional books added to my read bookshelf, with The Burning Wire, which I read earlier this year, being the most recent prior to the start of this countdown.

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Book 54 (of 52) – Solitude Creek

Solitude Creek – Jeffery Deaver

When a fake fire causes a stampede at a concert, CBI agent Kathryn Dance starts an unofficial investigation.  When a second incident occurs, at a book signing, the investigation turns into a manhunt.  Can Dance find the perpetrator while balancing her personal life and a gang war that points to an inside man within her task force?

Because I can never do this right, I jumped into Jeffery Deaver’s Kathryn Dance series with Solitude Creek, the fourth and, to date, final entry.  The character, introduced in 2006’s The Cold Moon, is a brilliant interrogator and body language expert, pretty much the opposite of Deaver’s more famous Lincoln Rhyme.  I’m sure I will work my way backwards and get to the other three entries in the series.

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Book 27 (of 52) – The Burning Wire

The Burning Wire – Jeffery Deaver

In The Burning Wire, Lincoln Rhyme and crew face their most lethal foe yet: electricity.  When a disgruntled lineman starts using the electrical grid as a weapon, Rhyme teams with the NYPD, FBI, and Homeland Security to track the perpetrator and any connections he may have with terrorism.  At the same time, Rhyme helps the Mexican police track down his biggest nemesis, the Watchmaker, who has managed to elude capture.  When their initial suspect turns out to be a patsy, can Rhyme figure out the true suspect before he himself becomes a victim?

The Burning Wire is the ninth of fifteen entries in Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series, and fourteenth in the series that I’ve read.  While the approach taken by the villain, using electricity to attack people while they go about their daily lives, was interesting, the ending fell a little flat for me.  With just one unread book left in the series, which I first started back in 2000, I should be able to wrap it up later this year.  Although, there does appear to be a new entry on the way, so my experiences with Lincoln Rhyme may go on.

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CBS Upfronts

Forgoing a traditional upfront presentation with an ongoing writer’s strike threatening the start of the fall season in September, CBS announced what they hope will be airing on their network this fall.  With only two new shows on the schedule, things will look very familiar to viewers.  The week starts with a stable Monday, with the comedy block of The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola followed by two entries in the NCIS franchise: the OG and NCIS: Hawaii.  Tuesday also stays the same, with Dick Wolf’s FBI running all night.

Wednesday goes all reality, with extra-long episodes of Survivor and The Amazing Race taking the entire night.  Thursday has another hour-long comedy block, with Young Sheldon and Ghosts, followed by the returning So Help Me Todd and the new Elsbeth, a spinoff of The Good Wife starring Carrie Preston.  Friday remains the same, starting with the final season of S.W.A.T., followed by Fire Country and Blue Bloods.  Sunday kicks off with 60 Minutes, followed by a new version of Matlock, starring Kathy Bates as the septuagenarian lawyer who rejoins the workforce to win cases and expose corruption from within, The Equalizer, and CSI: Vegas.

On tap for midseason are comedy Poppa’s House, starring Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr., and the Justin Hartley drama Tracker, based on the Jeffery Deaver books and which is slated to debut following the Super Bowl in February.

Gone and never to be seen again are NCIS: Los Angeles, East New York, and True Lies.

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2022: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2022, my second full year of remote working, I managed to surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 55 books, an increase of one book over last year and my second consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total with a mere three days remaining in 2022.  I read (or listened) to 19,328 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the third time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, fifteen were non-fiction and, of the remaining 40 novels, only two were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 44 e-books and three audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 37 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

A little more than half of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Adam Nedeff Kelsey McKinney Simone St. James Laura Dave
Jeff Warren Carlye Adler Matt Paxton Jordan Michael Smith
Alyssa Milano Alex Finlay Taylor Jenkins Reid Emily Ratajkowski
Samantha Downing Dave Grohl Mary Lynn Rajskub Stephanie Perkins
Michael Schur Joseph Henrich V.E. Schwab Brianna Madia
Jimmy Piersall Richard Whittingham Richard Osman Colleen Hoover
Jenette McCurdy Sally Rooney Josh Malerman Alice Sebold
Katie Mack Penn Jillette Elin Hilderbrand Nita Prose

Alex Finlay, Simone St. James, Karin Slaughter, Megan Goldin, Jeffery Deaver, and Richard Osman were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2022.

16 of the books I read were released this year, while only two of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1953.

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Book 47 (of 52) – Edge

Edge – Jeffery Deaver

In the stand-alone novel Edge, an agent for a secret government agency, tasked with protecting US citizens who have been targeted by mercenaries who will either kidnap, torture, threaten, blackmail, or even kill, is assigned to protect a local cop and his family from the man who killed his mentor.  While trying to keep his charges safe, the agent works to find out how he can capture his nemesis and figure out who has hired him to target the family under his protection.  Can he figure out which family member is the target before it is too late?

This is the third one-off work from Jeffery Deaver that I’ve read, following The Devil’s Teardrop and The Blue Nowhere, and the best thing I can say about all of them is that I would be willing to go on another adventure with the characters if he was.  In this outing, he (I presume) makes up a secret government agency or two and gives them a reason for being.  While I can see how a second go-around has the potential to be monotonous, I think there is enough there to do another version in a different enough way to be entertaining.  But, after twelve years, I assume that ship has sailed.

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Book 17 (of 52) – The Midnight Lock

The Midnight Lock – Jeffery Deaver

When Lincoln Rhyme seemingly is tripped up by a defense attorney, letting a criminal go free, the mayor declares that civilian consultants are no longer able to work with the NYPD.  In the middle of two other cases, Rhyme, with help from Amelia Sachs and the rest of his team, keeps helping to track down a creepy peeping tom, who, calling himself “The Locksmith”, breaks into women’s apartments and watches them sleep, while trying to avoid detection.  Working with the security chief of a media company targeted by The Locksmith, Lincoln and Amelia try to unravel the mystery and bring The Locksmith, and whoever is behind him, to justice.

The Midnight Lock, the fifteenth and most recent entry in the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver, is the thirteenth in the series that I’ve read.  Separating Rhyme from the NYPD, if ever so briefly, added an interesting wrinkle to tale, though one that could have been better taken advantage of.  With only two books in the series, which I started in 2000, left to go, I hope I am able to wrap it up sometime this year.

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2021: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2021, my first full year remote working, I managed to read a whopping 54 books, an increase of 31 books over last year and my first year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total in mid-June, passed my best years, 2015 and 2016, in late August, and completed book 52 with two weeks left in the year.  I read (or listened) to 18,670 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the second time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, 16 were non-fiction and, of the 36 novels, 10 were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 43 e-books and 4 audiobooks.  For the first time since I was a kid, I got myself a library card, which helped me procure 14 of the books.

Just less than half of the books I read this year were by authors I have read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Tegan Quin
  • Sara Quin
  • Lucy Foley
  • Jenna Fischer
  • Matt Haig
  • Eric Nusbaum
  • Jon Taffer
  • Charlotte Douglas
  • Susan Kearney
  • Fredrik Backman
  • Jeff Pearlman
  • Minka Kent
  • Alan Cumming
  • Megan Goldin
  • Molly Bloom
  • Barack Obama
  • Ali Wong
  • Timothy Ferriss
  • Issa Rae
  • Walter Tevis
  • Tess Gerritson
  • Gary Braver
  • Andy Weir
  • Matthew Walker
  • James Clear
  • Grady Hendrix
  • Simon Sinek
  • Jason Fung
  • Julia Spiro
  • Jon Pessah
  • Ruth Ware

Erle Stanley Gardner, Mary Kubica, Jeffery Deaver, Andy Weir and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2021.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1933.

Finally, the breakdown by month, which was fairly consistent across the entire year.

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Prolific Authors Wrap Up

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we wrap things up with a look back at the 77 authors I’ve read more than once.

Largest Increase (since 2019)

The Knife Slipped – Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner – 5
Jeffrey Deaver – 3
Karin Slaughter – 3
Tom Perrotta – 3
Riley Sager – 2
Greer Hendricks – 2
Sarah Pekkanen – 2

Largest Increase (since 2011)

Deadly Heat – Richard Castle

Richard Castle – 13
Jeffrey Deaver – 10
Erle Stanley Gardner – 9
J.K. Rowling – 7
Mary Kubica – 6
David Mack – 6
Karin Slaughter – 6

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Prolific Authors – 14 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue today with the two authors I’ve read 14 times.

Jeffery Deaver

In 1999, the first entry of Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series, The Bone Collector, was adapted into a film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.  Around that time, I picked up a paperback copy, which I read in 2000.  I slowly added additional titles as I would find them as remainders, picking up new hard covers for $3 or $4.

The Vanished Man – Jeffery Deaver

Things increased in 2015, when I started picking up titles on deals through the Amazon Kindle store, leading to 10 additional books added to my read bookshelf, with The Cold Moon being the most recent prior to the start of this countdown.

Stephen King

I first read King’s work during my freshman year of high school.  In fact, I remember reading Pet Sematary after finishing my Biology final at the end of freshman year, waiting for the class to be dismissed.  My total reached 9 novels by 1993, but then college and other pursuits got in the way and King fell out of my favor.

Stephen King – 11/22/63

That changed in 2012, when the release of 11/22/63 brought me back in to the King fold.  I’ve added 5 of his more current work, most of which has been through the Hard Case Crime imprint, which limited, but did not completely remove, the horror elements.