Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on November 28, 2023
The Watchmaker has been a recurring villain in recent Lincoln Rhyme novels. The last novel suggested that the Watchmaker would soon return to seek revenge against Rhyme. His attempt is one of several plot threads that make The Watchmaker’s Hand one of stronger entries in this entertaining series.
Rhyme is a forensic scientist confined to a wheelchair. He works as a consultant for New York law enforcement with the assistance of Amelia Sachs, his NYPD wife. She collects evidence from crime scenes, as does NYPD patrol officer Ron Pulaski. Detective Lon Siletto, Rhyme’s former partner and a senior officer in Major Cases, is Rhyme’s principal contact within NYPD. Lyle Spencer purports to be a human lie detector, relying on the pseudo-science of kinesic analysis. Rhyme's caregiver, Thom Reston, helps out with research and odd jobs when he isn’t feeding all the members of Rhyme’s team. Series fans might be happy to know that all the supporting cast members play significant roles in The Watchmaker’s Hand.
The novel begins with a crane collapse and the heroic effort of the crane operator to prevent the machine from crashing into a densely populated office building. The collapse is followed by a demand from a previously unknown terrorist organization to deed certain city properties to a nonprofit corporation for conversion into low-income housing. Since housing advocates do not see mass murder as the best means to their end, Rhyme knows that the demand is meant to divert attention from its real purpose. Figuring out what that purpose might be is the novel’s central mystery, one that has Rhyme and his team chasing theories to unproductive destinations.
Other key events involve the unsolved theft of New York City infrastructure documents, including maps of tunnels and engineering plans for buildings; a police detective who spies on Rhyme; a car accident that leads to the loss of Pulaski’s badge; two politicians who are running for Congress; and a potential plot to assassinate the president. While these events seem to be unrelated, fans of the series will count on Jeffery Deaver to create an intricate plot that links them together. After unpeeling layers of deception, Rhyme will eventually arrive at the core of the scheme. It is no spoiler to suggest that the Watchmaker will be instrumental, but the real mystery is the identity of the criminal who hired the Watchmaker.
The plot is no more farfetched than most modern crime novels and, unlike many, it holds together. Deaver builds in multiple scenes of rapid action that turn a mystery into a thriller. Whether Rhyme will prevail against the Watchmaker is never much in doubt. The only question is how Rhyme will manage to survive. In the end, a new villain emerges (Rhyme calls this one the Engineer) who will likely appear in a future novel to bedevil the lives of Rhyme and his friends.
The characters are all true to the personalities they have developed over the course of the series. This novel is notable for developing the personality of the Watchmaker and, to a lesser extent, the Engineer. They become characters the reader can understand without cheering for their success. Rhyme’s forensic wizardry is always entertaining and sounds plausible (my knowledge of chemistry and geology is insufficient to make me a credible fact checker). On the whole, the excitement factor in The Watchmaker’s Hand and the strength of the plot make this installment one of my favorites in the series.
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