The Burning Wire is a crime thriller novel authored by Jeffery Deaver featuring the officially retired (RET), quadriplegic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme. It is the ninth novel in the Lincoln Rhyme series.
The sabotage of a substation of the prominent electrical energy distributor Algonquin Consolidated Power and Light Company in Queens, New York causing a deadly arc flash leads to an investigation managed by esteemed criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and his team of investigators.
The initial primary suspect, Ray Galt, a disillusioned troubleman who is an employee of Algonquin Consolidated, is believed to blame Algonquin and society's reliance on electricity to be the reason he developed leukemia due to radiation from working close to power lines. Signals intelligence (SIGINT) suggests that Galt is backed by a previously unknown ecoterror group named 'Justice For'. The collected intelligence fails to specify further details of the terrorist cell, other than the name 'Rahman'.
A series of demand letters are sent after the first attack, ordering Algonquin to reduce their electrical distribution, otherwise further acts of violence involving electricity would be executed.
The protagonist, Lincoln Rhyme, must also deal with a parallel investigation into a recurring antagonist in the series: the criminal known as Richard Logan, who is nicknamed 'The Watchmaker'. A joint operation is conducted between Rhyme's office and the Mexican Federal Police after Logan is located in Mexico.
About the Author
Jeffery Deaver (born May 6, 1950) is an American mystery/crime writer. He originally started working as a journalist, but trained as a lawyer and later practiced law.
Deaver was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Many of his books tend to promote lateral thinking, particularly his short story collection Twisted. One of his books, The Blue Nowhere, features criminal hackers (one using social engineering to commit murder), as well as a law enforcement computer crime unit. His most popular series features his regular character Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic detective, and Amelia Sachs. According to a 2006 interview on The Early Show, Deaver stated that he would rotate between his new series and Lincoln Rhyme each year. Virtually all of his works feature a trick ending, or sometimes multiple trick endings. |
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The Burning Wire - Jeffery Deaver