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.

Book 22 (of 52) – The Blue Nowhere

The Blue Nowhere – Jeffery Deaver

When a hacker moves beyond the world of computers and starts killing people in the real world, the California State Police Computer Crimes Division tries to fight fire with fire, getting another hacker out of prison in exchange for his help in tracking down the killer.  When it turns out that the two hackers used to hack together, the hunt becomes personal.

The first thing to know when diving into The Blue Nowhere is that it was published in 2001 so a lot of the technological aspects are wildly outdated in 2020, with dialup access and floppy disks being the most egregious examples.  Other than that, Jeffery Deaver spins a tale that probably resonates more today, with large scale hacks and identity theft being somewhat commonplace.  I’m a little surprised that Deaver never revisited these characters, as he seems to have set things up for the team to be brought back together, but maybe he felt better bringing that computing knowledge into his existing series.