Clockmaker

A killer obsessed with time plans murders with terrifying precision

On a freezing December night, as a full moon glows in the black sky over New York City, two people are brutally murdered. Their agonizing deaths are accompanied by the perpetrator's cynical calling card: a watch with a moon-shaped face that ticks off the last minutes of the victims' lives. Lincoln Rhyme and his team are taking over the investigation. He has only a few hours to catch the mad "Clockmaker", as the perpetrator has made it clear that the next attack is a matter of strictly limited time. Rhyme knows that the killer must be taken seriously in this regard, for it is his obsession with time that makes him plan his next massacres with the precision of a fine clockwork.

Lincoln gradually discovers that the Clockmaker may not just be a madman on a murderous rampage, but a far more devious criminal than anyone could have imagined. In this battle of two brilliant minds, the reader is treated to more plot twists and unexpected turns than in Deaver's previous books - and a confrontation with the most terrifying and compelling criminal this author has ever created.

Second updated edition.