Customer Reviews

The Stone Monkey

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The Stone Monkey" is another of Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels, and as usual it combines the intracies of crime scene investigation with cliffhanger-a-minute plot twists and turns, as well as the author's exacting research into his topic. You'll quickly realize that nothing is at it seems--you know surprises are coming, and maybe you'll try to anticipate the author's deviousness. And since the author lays the clues right out for you, it can be done (but not easily), so when the secret is revealed it's usually a forehead-slapping moment, when you realize you should indeed have seen it coming.

This time out, the quadriplegic Rhyme and his "walk-the-grid" colleague, Amelia Sachs (as spectacularly neurotic as ever) are involved with the underworld of illegal Chinese immigration. They have to fight not only the perpetrators, but possibly a mole among the various organizations--NYPD, FBI, INS, Coast Guard, U.S. State Department, the Chinese government--involved in the case. Since the book is part of a series, you know the good guys will win, but how? That's where the thrills are.

Notes and asides: on p. 282 the term NYFD is mentioned. Sorry. It's NYPD but FDNY. Mr. Deaver, familiar as he is with things NYC, must know that. Somewhere in Outsourceiana (Indiana? Idaho? Iowa? India?) is a copyeditor who thinks "wow! I saved Jeffery Deaver from an obvious error." Err, no.

A shipload of illegal Chinese immigrants sinks off the coast of Long Island. It appears an explosion has occurred which succeeded in destroying not only the ship but killing many of the passengers onboard. One of the survivors is a smuggler of the Chinese into this country. He is a ruthless killer nicknamed "The Ghost" because he has never been caught and always is ahead of the authorities. The Ghost is intent on killing any of the other survivors of the ship. Involved in the manhunt to capture the killer is the quadriplegic police investigator, Lincoln Rhyme, with his assistant, Amelia Sachs. Rhyme has set up a police lab in his apartment and with the help of the officers in his division, is involved in a cat and mouse chase of The Ghost.
Jeffrey Deaver has written another successful thriller starring one of his most memorable creations, Lincoln Rhyme. Much effort and empathy has gone into the subplot of the plight of the illegal Chinese immigrant. In attempting to write a nonstop action thriller, Jeffrey Deaver resorts to certain stock devices such as some of the impossible escapes of the villain. Sometimes Lincoln's assumptions based on the evidence presented to him are a bit of a stretch. This is something that has occurred in the other Lincoln Rhyme novels. However, characters are well thought out and the story is quite clever and entertaining. Overall, a recommended read

Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, along with INS, are in hot pursuit of the criminal mastermind and international fugitive known only as the Ghost...with the trail leading off Orient Point, Long island and a Chinese cargo ship carrying refugees and human slaves. But as the Coast Guard moves in to arrest, the ship is destroyed in a suspicious explosion and the Ghost once again escapes the law and flees into New York's Chinatown. He's determined to silence forever any survivors who could reveal his identity. Now Lincoln and Amelia embark on a desperate search, uncovering clues along the way that will either lead to success-or certain death. The book is OK, but the outcomes were predicitable and the answers came to Lincoln too easily. Seems like he had access to every bit of information in the world. He didn't have to work hard enough to get the answers
Someone should tell Mr. Deaver that there are 26 characters in the English alphabet, not 25. I found that rather odd, coming from a writer.

So far my favorite Lincoln Rhyme novel. No re-hash-nopsis here but please pick this up if you would like to be entertained. Not only well researched, exciting, and entertaining but also transports the reader to Rhymes world.
Found editing questionables - same as Bone Collector - but will not blame author. They are few and the author has his heart well in the right place. Thouroughly enjoyable!!!

I would say this book can be enjoyed or not depending on the reader

If you are a new Deaver reader and to this crime genre then you will be jolted by his tricks and turns but if you are an experienced Deaver reader seeking to drink the best juice of his brains as you did in past experiences I can tell you that this story was written employing old gimmicks that will not satisfy your expectations, because you can infer beforehand what card is under his sleeve

In respect of the story, illegal Chinese alien smuggling into the U.S, in my opinion exhibits some research about Chinese culture but poor recollection of INS procedures. The alien movements from the first time they set foot on US soil with no knowledge and not language look not plausible due to both time span and events. Well, miracles can happen !!!

The ending is poor too, our hero Lincoln Rhyme comes reeling off the whole truth hidden behind the tale in a very confusing way, vomiting one fact after the other in many layers and in few pages, all of a sudden, as to definitely nail down the bad guy. Well, miracles can happen !!!

Although this is my first Deaver read, it was indeed and excellent outing. I was familiar with the characters from the movie, Bone Collector, but at the time was not aware that they were literary creations. I'll read any other Deaver novel I can find based on this superlative introduction! (If only James Patterson would follow his example and resume writing like he still needs the money.)

Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are back in this spine-chilling novel. A famed criminologist paralyzed from the neck down, Lincoln compensates for his disability with his brains-and the arms and legs of his beautiful Ameila Sachs, who "walka the grid" for him.

Now in this story, Lincoln and Amelia manage to track down a cargo ship headed for New York City and carrying two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants, as well as the notorious human smuggler known as the "ghost." But when the ghost's capture goes all wrong, Lincoln and Amelia find themselves in a race against time; to stop the Ghost before he can track down and murder the two surviving families who have escaped from the ship and vanished deep into the world of New York City's Chinatown.

I found the book interesting and worhwhile reading.

I have always been an avid fan of Jeffrey Deaver but this is the second book in the Lincoln Rhyme series that has disappointed. Why is it that Deaver has to keep referring back to the setting up of his characters in the Bone Collector? It's fine if this is the first book you have read but extremely annoying when it is the fourth! I do not need to be reminded of each characters past and the reasons why they have their habits, can we not just concentrate on the story? Am I looking forward to the next in the series? I have to be honest and say NO!

My mother, like myself, an avid fan of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels, recommended The Stone Monkey and during some down time I had between semesters, when I could catch up on some junk-food reading, I decided to read it. I thought I'd treat myself to what I thought was going to be a great book. Unfortunately my expectations had been raised much too high, either by her praise or the positive memory I had of the movie The Bone Collector, because this was a true let down.

This was my first foray into a Deaver work and I don't plan an attempt at a second, for I truly dislike the way he gets his thrills. I can appreciate when an author can deftly turn the tables on his readers without them having to question all that has come before. Unless I'm reading science fiction or fantasy, I'm very unwilling to suspend disbelief, but that is precisely what I had to do in order for this plot to make any sense. Unfortunately, I can't state all the numerous places in this book that fail stand up under close retrospective scrutiny, without spoiling it for those who might be suckered into reading it. Suffice it say that if you truly appreciate masters of the art of mystery, suspense or thrill, like Thomas Cook or P.D. James, where all loose ends dovetail fittingly into a sensible denouement, you will be disappointed with this book.

Deaver's story of a snakehead's smuggling human cargo into the US moves along with excitement and suspense. Authors develop their habits. In a Deaver book, you expect that not everybody will be the person they appear to be. If you've read other Deaver books, this will reduce the suspense somewhat. Overall, though, I think the author did a pretty good job of portraying people from a background he is not familiar with, even if there are glitches. A Chinese phoenix does not rise from its ashes. It symbolizes peace on earth, and when it flies, all the other birds follow it. Also, it's nice the way all the characters from Fuzhou learned the Minnan dialect; the Fuzhou dialect is Minbei, northern Min (Min refers to Fujian), not the Minnan, southern Min, of Xiamen and Taiwan. Big deal. We can all enjoy the book even if they speak the wrong dialect, and the author goofs up here and there.