Finished The Cold Moon

I've just finished reading Jeffrey Deaver's The Cold Moon. The plot was labyrinthine, to say the least - which is afterall, one of the reasons we read Deaver. But this time he may have written himself into very tight knots. The way the crimes are set up, and the motives - they stack up too unconvincingly. It has it moments though, like the little odd facts dropped around on time and clocks by the criminal known only as 'The Watchmaker'. Too bad it was scantily sprinkled around the novel.

This is not the best Deaver book I have read, but it does introduce a new character, Kathryn Dance, an expert in kinesics - which seems to be a science of reading body language. Deaver set it up nicely the way the people-based science of kinesics complements the hard fact/evidence based forensics of Lincoln Rhyme. Dance was pivotal in the way she was able to read people, perhaps reminding us that crimes are perpetuated by human begins, and we need to understand people to solve the crimes.

By the way, if you're interested in the Kathryn Dance character introduced in The Cold Moon (hi, Jenclair!), she will be making a lead appearance in the newest Deaver novel, The Sleeping Doll, which should be out in the bookstores already.

I'm also about 100 pages into Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the story of a serial killer who kills only serial killer. The prose is a little bone-dry, the characterisation a little sparse and flat. I'm interested enough in the premise to continue reading, although if I don't finish this book, it's because the writing style is too weak to sustain my attention.

I've also started on Val McDermid's The Wire in the Blood on impulse. Why do I do things like this? I have enough books to read already! The Cold Moon was supposed to be a temporary diversion from the more serious readings, and now it seems I've picked up some more mystery thrillers to the TBR pile.