Finished 8-31-10, rating 4/5, thriller, pub. 2007

Book 1 in the Kathryn Dance series

Kathryn Dance was often called a human lie detector, but that wasn’t accurate; in reality she, like all kinesic analysts and interrogators, was a stress detector.  This was the key to deception; once she spotted stress, she’d probe the topic that gave rise to it and dig until the subject broke.

Chapter 2

Kathryn is kinesics expert with the California Bureau of Investigation and she has just been placed in charge of a manhunt for an escaped killer.  She had been interrogating the convict, Daniel Pell, before he escaped so she was able to get inside his head which helped her stay on his trail.  Pell had been the leader of a small cult and was hoping to start another after he set up after escaping.  Kathryn and Pell can both read people by their behavior and manipulate conversations and situations, so they were both evenly matched.

We first met Kathryn in The Cold Moon (a Lincoln Rhyme book), but you don’t need to have read that one to enjoy this fast paced thriller.  As with most of Deaver’s books I learned  a lot, not only about kinesics, but cult mentality as well.  I was disturbed by the interactions of the three women who had been with Pell before he went to prison.  I find the reasons behind joining a cult sad and the reality of it bizarre.

I enjoyed this one, but not as much as the Lincoln Rhyme series.  The characters were interesting, but not as well-developed.  It was a solid beginning to a new series and I plan on giving the second one a chance.

This is from my personal library and was chosen by Kristie, Margie, and Jason.  Here’s what they had to say…

“Great book!”  Kristie

“Really enjoyed it.”  Margie