About the book
A killer flees the scene of a homicide at a prestigious Manhattan music school and locks himself in a classroom. Within minutes, the police have him surrounded. Then a scream rings out, followed by a gunshot. The police break down the door. The room is empty.
Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to help with the high-profile investigation. For the ambitious Sachs, solving the case could earn her a promotion. For the quadriplegic Rhyme, it means relying on his protégée to ferret out a master illusionist they’ve dubbed ‘the conjurer’, who baits them with gruesome murders that become more diabolical with each fresh crime. As the fatalities rise and the minutes tick down, Rhyme and Sachs must move beyond the smoke and mirrors to prevent a terrifying act of vengeance that could become the greatest vanishing act of all.
Reviewed by CC Readers:
Most found it a little difficult to get into but once we were hooked then it became quite compulsive reading. We thought that the writing was good with a wealth of interesting information about escapology and a convincing New York atmosphere. You did have to suspend disbelief and persuade yourself that the vanished man really was as clever a trickster as depicted. Most of us felt that the book could have benefited by being 100 pages shorter. However, it was fast-paced and full of red herrings but not the best of its genre perhaps. Not many thought they would actually recommend it to anyone to read.
Star rating: ***
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