Tons of tales for suspense gluttons

SOMETIMES I don't have the strength for short stories. I'd rather stick my nose in a novel and immerse myself in one set of characters and pursue one storyline. I picked up Jeffery Deaver's voluminous collection Dead Ends and decided to first look up my favourite character, Lincoln Rhyme. Yes, there is a short story about him and his sidekicks. But the story comes towards the end of the book and I decided: No, maybe there's a rising tension line, maybe stories spill over from one short story to another – it does happen sometimes in collections. That's not the case here, yet I was glued to the page and consumed the stories one after the other.

It's like speed-reading a stack of crime novels. Over and over, an entire world is created with people, places and intrigue, delicately rendered. It's like those crime series on TV where you know each episode is a stand-alone, that the culprit is going to be apprehended and everything is going to be solved in this instalment. It's like speed dating. Faces come and go.

The first story is about a high school girl, blonde, American, a cheerleader type who babysits children for extra pocket money. She accidentally notices incriminating material in the study of two of the children's parents. The parents are watching her electronically and see that she sees it. Unfortunately, they are hardened syndicate criminals and now her life is worth nothing. They hire a hitman and the reader is fearful for the poor child. But, rest assured: There is a twist in every tale, nothing is as it appears and the ending will surprise you. By then, however, your nails have already been chewed to the quick.

Another beloved Deaver character I've become acquainted with over the years is Colter Shaw. He's a bounty hunter: If someone offers a reward for locating a missing person or lost child, he shows up and starts tracking. He's taller than six feet, muscular, a former wrestler. He asks no advance and works only for the reward, however little. In this case, it is a father who offers $2,600 to anyone who can prove that someone else is guilty of the murder for which his son is incarcerated. Shaw drives 14 hours to sign up for duty. It soon becomes clear that the press had convicted the child before the jury could even sit. In prison, he suffers: A nerdy outsider. But Shaw is a saviour like Superman and we have high hopes.

An academic with a D in political science is asked to spy for the government. He has no experience, but he seems to do well with his task until he makes a wrong assumption and ends up in mortal danger. By accident, he manages to save the day. He looks incredibly cool and they want to use him again. Would he be willing? Read for yourself.

Jim is a cop who never gets promoted. On top of that, he's tasked with providing security at a writers' convention, and while there are serial murders to solve at that. Poor Jim is highly bored among the talking writers but then, suddenly, one is found dead in his hotel room. Now Jim's ingenious detective work ensures that another writer is arrested. One roots for the good-natured, ambitious detective, but wait until you read the ending.

One of the stories, “A Matter of Blood", has the streets of Victorian London as backdrop. It is about Jack the Ripper, the most famous serial killer never to be apprehended. It offers a very credible explanation.

Two detectives have to keep an eye on a very dangerous mafia boss in Mexico after rumours that he is planning to blow up a school bus full of children. They get to know him, an absolute gentleman – and what convinced me he is a good man: He has a large library of books that is his absolute passion. Is he an innocent, philanthropic businessman or an unscrupulous villain?

A man goes to see his psychologist. He is bipolar with anxiety disorder. He lives by adopting storybook characters as his personas. His favourite is Arthur Conan Doyle's. His psychic feels it's a harmless obsession – of course, he's unaware which of Doyle's characters is actually the man's hero.

“A Significant Find" is about an archaeologist couple who travel all over Europe in search of the significant find that will turn them into household names. Then they get a tip and discover something remarkable in a cave. But of course, it's too good to be true. Read for yourself what their fate is.

“Where the Evidence Lies" is the Lincoln Rhyme story. Rhyme is a quadriplegic who can only use one arm partially after an accident on duty. He has a very sophisticated wheelchair and a studio full of hi-tech equipment – he's a forensic researcher. He absolutely believes in facts and evidence and cares little for emotions. Now he (and his assistants) are far from home and his equipment. He must question witnesses and use his logic to draw conclusions. So, he's out of his depth and it's quite interesting to read how he maintains himself.

In “A Woman of Mystery" we are once again faced with a hired killer. So it seems because he himself really is his only client: He watches women and decides who his next victim will be. The reader gets to know the woman who is now in his crosshairs, and hopes she will escape his evil clutches. Set in Italy, it's atmospheric and eerie.

Jamal is a skinny 19-year-old boy in a bad neighbourhood. The gangsters are watching him. He seems like soft prey. How is he going to stay out of trouble?

The last story kicks you in the stomach. We get to know Kyle Wallace, who eats breakfast every morning at a café from where he can watch his fiancée's house. Is she already unfaithful to him? He is determined to mend their relationship and the reader keeps their fingers crossed for him. Until the true state of affairs comes to light.

No one is what they pretend to be, the reader is deceived left and right and there are red herrings all over the place. It's par for the game in crime fiction. And Deaver is a master weaver of intricate, violent plots. However, it's the characters that stay in your head.

Dead Ends by Jeffery Deaver was published by HarperCollins and costs R594 at Exclusive Books.

♦ VWB ♦

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