The Empty Chair by Jeffrey Deaver

It’s been too long between reading the book and posting this review, so I’ll be brief – this was a good book. Deaver, with this book, lived up to his prior efforts. This is a story about the Insect Boy, Garrett Hanlon. Once again, we have Lincoln Rhymes, the quadriplegic criminologist from “The Bone Collector” and “The Coffin Dancer.” Along with Lincoln comes his aide, Amelia Sachs. The book takes place in the backwaters of North Carolina, along the Paquenoke River, which is near the Great Dismal Swamp. The entire setting is creepy and Deaver does a great job conveying the eeriness of it. No one knowingly goes north of the Paqo because it has the dangers of the swamp and has been inhabited by druggies who protect their territory at all costs. But, murders have taken place and it seems to be the place that the lost settlers, the Lost Colonists of Roanoke, might have retreated before they disappeared altogether. So, not only does Deaver mix in the science needed to unravel the strange clues, the mystery of unsolved murders which have been mistakenly blamed on Insect Boy, kidnappings, and probable new deaths, but also one of the important unsolved mysteries of history. Remember Virginia Dare, the first baby born in the colonies? That’s also a part of the story. So, sorry for the short review, but it was a good book, and I continue to be a Deaver fan.