I apologise in advance for the short review as I wasted too much time reading this book to write about it. I've read Jeffery Deaver for many years now and this doesn't even come close to the Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance thrillers. I wasn't hooked, I wasn't thrilled, I was praying for it to end.

Michael Hrubek has escaped from a mental institution and despite everyone knowing where he is going - to find Lis Atcheson, who was a witness at his trial, they feel the need to track him across country. Even Lis's husband joins in the chase, with me thinking he would be better off at home protecting his wife if he cares that much about her. Why go looking for someone when you know where they will be? So after MANY days of tracking Hrubek, he finally turns up at Lis's farmhouse and you know that not everyone will leave there alive.

I really struggled with this one; I found it boring with too many characters and I had little care about who they were or how they fitted into the story. If this was my first Deaver, I wouldn't read any more. I do think I have been spoilt by reading so many good books of late, but I will definitely stick to the Rhyme and Dance books from now on. ( )

Wow! Great read! ( )

A psychological thriller focusing on a young paranoid schizophrenic who escapes from a New England mental hospital in pursuit of a high-school teacher who testified at his murder trial, carrying with him a secret that will tear many lives apart during the course of one night.

http://beta.bookcrossing.com/journal/7859679

I liked "the Bone Collector" by this author very much and therefore I decided that I wanted to read more books by him. This one is also good. No Lyncoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, but Michael Hrubek, an escaped shizophrenic man and Lis Atcheson, the woman he is going to.

The warden, his doctor, the police, everybody underestimates what Hrubek is capable of. He hasn't taken his medication and is more clear in his head than ever, planning his trip, using what he finds on his way.
Lis is hiding things, keeping secrets form her husband and others that are close to her.

While "the storm of the century" is blowing over, her house is nearly floaded with water, Lis (together with us as readers) finds out the thruth of all that happened in the months before. And the outcome surprised me very much.

A good read, although the misfortune of Lis and her sister in the house, keeping them from going to a safe hotel is quite far fetched from time to time. That is, for me, unbelievable, but not to an extent that it got annoying. ( )

I liked The Bone Collector a lot, so I figured I'd grab this one. A schizophrenic escapes his hospital and goes on a search for the woman who testified against him at a murder trial some years before. Blah. I saw nearly every twist coming ages before it happened and when the "big" twist showed up, I was just "oh, okay, that makes sense" instead of "oh my god!!!" The writing was fairly mediocre. I was very glad it was a free book. It went back on the free shelf when I was done.
( )