The Broken Window (Lincoln Rhyme, #8)

by Jeffery Deaver

book data

867 ratings, 4.00 average rating, 225 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		28%
4		46%
3		21%
2		3%
1		0%

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published

June 10th 2008 by Simon & Schuster

binding

Hardcover, 416 pages

characters

Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs

isbn

1416549978 (isbn13: 9781416549970)

description

Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to infor...more

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06/19/08

Mary rated it:

bookshelves: mystery-crime-fiction

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: mystery fans

Another crime solved by the great criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and his partner Amelia Sachs. This one was a creepy story about identity theft at its very worst - the big problem for me is that I can totally see this happening in the world today - makes me want to throw away all my store club cards and credit cards and live "off the grid." We also get some interesting family history for Lincoln this time.
Highly recommended for fans of the series and those who enjoy criminal mysterie...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

2 comments

07/31/08

Cameron rated it:

(review of isbn 0743570537)

This is the latest Lincoln Rhyme novel from Jeffrey Deaver
Rhyme, a forensic consultant for the NYPD, and his detective partner, Amelia Sachs, take on a psychotic mastermind who uses data mining—the business of the twenty-first century, not only to select and hunt down his victims but also to frame the crimes on complete innocents. Rhyme is reluctantly drawn into a case involving his estranged cousin, Arthur, who's been charged with first-degree murder. But when Rhyme and his crew look int...more

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07/30/08

Kathy rated it:

(review of isbn 1844565513)

Read in August, 2008

"You often hear the old legend that our body is worth $4.50 for parts. Our digital identity is worth far more."
Awesome and frightening! Story of a perpetrator's use of data mining techniques to set up perfect crimes and frame perfect strangers for the crimes. If even half of the plot of this book is a possible reality, we must all "be afraid; be very, very afraid"!
While there is violence in this book related to the crimes committed, the graphic descripti...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

2 comments

08/08/08

furies rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, mystery, trashythrillers, would-rec

oh my lord. i haven't been this creeped out by a book in like, forever. and now i'm totally bothered by the fact that there is all this information that *I'VE* put on the internet about myself and my book tastes and now there's all this CRAZY ASS INFORMATION that EVERYONE can find out about me.

i love ron pulaski, almost more than amelia. i love watching him grow over the series - i love lincoln, i love lon, and mel, and the crazy computer techs.

this writing is tight and plo...more

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06/23/09

Dlora rated it:

bookshelves: suspense-thriller

Read in June, 2009

When Lincoln Rhyme's cousin is arrested for the murder of a woman he doesn't even know, he insists there has been some mistake, but all the physical evidence points to him. And so starts a really fascinating, and a bit scary, story about identity theft and the use of computers to analyze the vast amounts of data on people.

Basically, in the 1970s, computer database software gave people an analysis of what happened in the past. In the 90s, the data showed what people were doing at any...more

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05/02/09

Christy rated it:

(review of isbn 1416549986)

Read in May, 2009

Criminologist, quadriplegic Lincoln Rhymes has been estranged from his cousin Arthur for years. When Arthur is arrested for the murder of a young woman, Arthur’s wife implores Lincoln to help. The forensic evidence against Arthur strongly links him to the murder, but Lincoln’s paramour Amelia Sachs is suspicious that everything is so clear-cut and suspects Arthur has been set up. She and Lincoln, with the aid of NYPD, learn Arthur isn’t the first person who has been framed for a murder he ...more

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12/24/08

Tom rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Thanks to authors such as Patrica Cornwell I've become very suspicious of bestselling thriller authors. I'm convince that Cornwell quit writing the Scarpetta novels some time ago; how else to account for the precipitous fall in quality? In this book by Deaver, my perhaps overly-sensitive bullshit detector went off a couple of times, as the quality of the writing seemed to vary from chapter to chapter. Did he outline the book and write key sections, then job out the more mundane ones?
This ...more

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02/23/09

Jennifer Chase rated it:

Read in February, 2009

Once again, Criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and Detective Amelia Sachs work together to solve one of their most difficult cases to date – a serial killer known only as “522” who preys on victims through their own electronic footprints of day to day life by expertly framing them for his horrific murders. Everything we do and buy is recorded and scrutinized for insidious criminals to prey upon. “The Broken Window” is truly a scary look into what could happen in the electronic world as the st...more

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06/01/09

Laura rated it:

bookshelves: kindle-version

Read in June, 2009

Deaver is good. Deaver is so, so good. The Broken Window showcases his talent all over again through his series character, the brilliant quadriplegic Lincoln Rhymes. In this particular story, Deaver takes the reader on a scary exploration into privacy rights and what's really, really available to the highest -- and sometimes lowest -- bidder. The book crackles with reality that seems well-founded; Deaver includes links to privacy material at the back.

But don't imagine for a moment th...more

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01/07/09

Stephanie rated it:

(review of other edition)

Great read, dealing with identity theft.

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07/24/08

Alan rated it:

Read in July, 2008

There is also nothing like a new Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic and intelligent detective who attracts (or gets involved in) fascinating cases. Highly recommended.

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01/22/09

Gloria rated it:

Read in February, 2009

this was not one of my favorite Deaver books. I had to make a choice to finish it or review some new pre-releases for Amazon so I opted out of finishing this for now anyway.

The subject matter was interesting enough - it is about identity theft by a rapist/murderer who gathers information electronically of a victim and also sets up a potential person to blame for the crime - he commits the crime but plants dna evidence to link the person who potentially will be arrested for the crime....more

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03/02/09

Jason Cassee rated it:

(review of other edition)

Read in March, 2009

A fine addition to the Lincoln Rhyme series, with a heavy focus on forensic detective work and jam-packed action filled with discovery, disclosure and deception. A vicious killer is loose, unnoticed for who knows how long, as he effectively snares unsuspecting citizens with planted evidence that links them to the murders. That is, until he unwittingly entraps Lincoln's long estranged cousin in a rape/murder/theft action. The perp is a compulsive collector with access to frightening amounts of pe...more

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05/21/09

Colleen rated it:

Read in May, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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01/10/09

Monty rated it:

This is the first Jeffrey Deaver book I've read though I've seen the movie version of The Collector, and I'm hooked! The main topic in this book revolves around data collection and identity theft. It's a pretty creepy topic because the possiblities of someone totally changing our lives by not only having information about us but by altering information about us appears to be quite realistic. Plus the author does a great job of balancing personal stories with plots and subplots as well as keep...more

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02/08/09

Bernadette rated it:

(review of isbn 0340937238)

bookshelves: crime-fiction

Read in April, 2009

Lincoln Ryhme is a quadriplegic forensic specialist working with the New York Police. His cousin, Arthur, is arrested for a rape and murder that he did not commit. When Arthur’s wife asks Lincoln for help, he and the team of police and other specialists that Rhyme can command soon uncover a trail of identity theft that has ramifications for more than one supposedly solved crime. The scope of data that is created and kept about average citizens by governments and private corporations, and the d...more Lincoln Ryhme is a quadriplegic forensic specialist working with the New York Police. His cousin, Arthur, is arrested for a rape and murder that he did not commit. When Arthur’s wife asks Lincoln for help, he and the team of police and other specialists that Rhyme can command soon uncover a trail of identity theft that has ramifications for more than one supposedly solved crime. The scope of data that is created and kept about average citizens by governments and private corporations, and the damage that someone with evil intent and access to that data can do, is fully explored here.

There is a decent yarn buried in this book but I’m getting a little tired of 500+ page books that contain 300 page stories. It’s particularly ironic in the case of The Broken Window because one of its continuing themes concerns the concept of signal to noise ratio. A good third of this book is noise rather than signal. Partial threads of minimal interest (such as the one about a completely different case that took place in a previous book and will, presumably, return in a future one) are interruptions and never form a sensible part of the narrative.

The plot’s other problems stem from the factual inconsistencies. For example, the investigative team has access to some of the most sophisticated technology barely invented but had never heard of something called RFID which I happen to know has been around for decades and even in my little back water of the world moved from shadowy government applications to mundane things like tracking library books, recording road toll payments and making sure surgeons don’t leave implements inside their patients way back in the 1990’s. I only notice things like this when I’m not completely engaged by a story.

For fans of this series all the usual elements, and characters, are present. I’ve always enjoyed some of the minor players in Rhyme’s world, such as his acerbic aide Thom and the gruff Detective Lon Sellitto, and I enjoyed meeting up with them again. The solid forensic detail, including the whiteboard lists that regular readers would be familiar with, and the frenetic pace (the story takes place over only 2 or 3 days) are present in abundance. In this book some of Rhyme’s childhood is explored which I don’t recall happening before, and it was interesting to see part of Rhyme’s life before the accident that made him a quadriplegic.

I should have really liked this book. Identity theft and personal privacy in modern times are subjects I am very interested in both professionally and because they appeal to my inner conspiracy theorist. But somehow Deaver managed to suck some of the suspense and intrigue out of these subjects by including lots of unnecessary filler and I didn’t become nearly as engaged in the ‘what if’ as I would have liked. The last third of the book is a pretty good thrill and there’s lots of good stuff for the fans but it’s not my favourite Lincoln Rhyme novel.

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07/19/08

Cindy rated it:

bookshelves: adult, mysteries

Read in August, 2008

I do like this series: Lincoln Rhyme, NYPD forensic consultant, and Amelia Sachs, NYPD detective. Very quirky killers and equally unusual police. The police have developed a very appealing partnership, and Lincoln, a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair after an accident on the job, has a supporting cast of very interesting characters.

But this book: I knew it was trouble when I saw that the author, Jeffrey Deaver, wrote an article on identity theft for Parade magazine, a nationa...more

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07/14/08

Kellie rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-reads, lincoln-rhyme-series, mystery-thrillers, series

This is quintessential Deaver. The killer, 522, has been killing people, calling in anonymous tips and then plants evidence on an innocent victim so they are accused of the crime. The question is, where does he get the information about these innocent victims so he can get the evidence to plant? Answer? SSD. This company gets all sorts of computerized data on people and sells it to other companies. Keeping up with federal and state privacy laws, of course. When Arthur, Lincoln's cousin, is ...more

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07/01/08

Brian rated it:

Read in October, 2008

The last time I read a detective/mystery novel, I was highly annoyed about the "deus ex machina" ending in which the author just made up new stuff that hadn't been revealed at any point during the book, thus negating any chance for the reader to figure it out on their own. Jeffery Deaver definitely sprinkles plenty of clues throughout The Broken Window and a truly dedicated sleuth could probably figure it out if they wanted. The culprit ended up being a nice surprise to me, and I enj...more

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05/02/09

Lbd rated it:

(review of other edition)

bookshelves: mystery-thriller

Read in May, 2009

Another page turner! Deaver knows how to keep your nosed buried in the pages! The Broken Window has a lot of conspiracy theories twined through it. Is Big Brother out there watching every move you make. What about all those RFID's you've got attached to your key ring or the E-Z pass for the toll bridges? Are you being tracked and watched? Can you be followed by the signal through your cell phone or pager? And just how much information is out there about who you are, who you are attached to, what...more

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