The Rule of Threes: A Novella

The Rule of Threes is a gripping story - it grabs you from the first page and pulls you right along for its entirety. Not only that, the characters feel very real, and are each likable in their own way. They are drawn well enough that they could very easily be successful series characters. And the story has enough twists to be compared to a mountain road. As a personal addition to all of that, the story is set right where I lived and worked for two years, although the author or time has changed some of the geography and culture of the area since then. So why is my 5 Star rating reluctant? There was a writing style used that I found very distracting, and which pulled me out of the story. It was so distracting I almost gave up on continuing the effort to read it several times. I am glad that I didn't, but if the story and the characters had not been so good, I would have rated it a 1 or 2 because it was so distracting. But the story was good enough that I finished it, and am trying another book by Mr. Deaver to see if that is his usual writing style or just something he was trying out for this novella.

Gripping, keeps you on the edge of your toes, though we are introduced to the guy who follows The Rule of Threes on page six. With the excellent writing and especially the fantastically drawn characters; you can imagine you'd spent time with them. Many twists for a novella, and some seem deus ex machina, but maybe I missed the foreshadowing, ripping through it as I did.

Summing up, time well spent, and well recommended.

ChrisP

This is the kind of book you need to stick with just a little longer for it to get really good. I must admit, it almost ended up in my DNF pile, but I am not one to give up too easily! Special Agent Constant Marlow is investigating a serial killer in Sheriff Tremain's small town. At first, I thought this was just like so many mysteries I have read that are just so so, then finally (it took a while - do not give up), it twisted, then twisted again, and again. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, it twisted yet again. This is the first book by Jeffery Deaver that I have read and I plan to read another one soon to see if this is his usual style or if I will be hooked earlier.

Frankly, though this is the first book by Deaver that I've read, I expected a more coherent story from a famous, best-selling author. The plot had several holes where I was unable to "suspend disbelief." The story flowed fairly well and the characters were interesting enough, but at first, before Deaver pulled it together a bit with the unexpected plot twist, I intended to give the book only 2 stars. Then there is Chapter 9. Chapter 9 - oh my God, Chapter 9! - was such a ridiculously implausible "jumping the shark" moment that I had to put my Kindle aside for a while and consider whether the book deserved any more of my time. I eventually decided to keep reading, but only just. In the end, however, there were just too many actions in the book that were too implausible for real life, including the conspiracy of some locals to protect the psychotic murderers - just not at all realistic for a real world scenario.