The Lincoln Rhyme Collection

I bought this collection on audio CD to listen in my car as I drive to and from work, and I have to say this made sitting in traffic almost tolerable! great stories and excellent detective work by Lincoln Rhyme! A+++

THE LINCOLN RHYME CD COLLECTION BY Jeffery Deaver PUBLISHED BY Simon & Schuster Audio REVIEWED BY Barbara Rhoades This audio book is three times as much enjoyment if you are a fan of the Lincoln Rhyme series. It contains three of Jeffery Deaver's book: The Coffin Dancer, The Empty Chair and The Stone Monkey. It also has an excerpt from Mr. Deaver's newest book "The Twelfth Card". The Coffin Dancer: What do you get when you cross a quadriplegic, forensic science and an apartment full of high tech equipment? You get Lincoln Rhyme, the best detective in New York City. And he has to face The Coffin Dancer again. He has killed Ed Carney, husband and co-owner of Hudson Air, a small freight company. Rhyme is called in to help the NYPD stop him. Rhyme forms a team of the best people, Amelia Sachs, his right-hand person, Tom, his faithful care giver, DelRay, the street hardened black cop and Mel Cooper, the best lab technician anyone could ask for. This team has 48 hours to stop The Coffin Dancer before he kills Ed's wife, Percy and Brit, Ed's best friend. The Coffin Dancer is very good as he leaves no trace evidence. So in order to catch him, they must be able to think like he does. From an airplane blowing up to safe houses being breached to landing an airplane safely that has an altitude bomb aboard, the Dancer keeps the team on its toes. And just to keep things interesting, Amelia and Rhyme have a romantic entanglement going! Joe Mantegna reads this book and has the ability to provide each character with their own voice. A listener has no trouble knowing exactly which character is speaking. Mr. Mantegna speaks clearly and uses inflections in all the right places. The Empty Chair: Corporate greed is the theme of this story. Garrett Handlin lost his parents and sister when he was only a child. He begins an interest in insects to ease the pain of this loss. Then as a teenager, he kidnaps Mary Jo and the Lydia. Lincoln Rhyme comes to a hospital near Tanner's Corner to have surgery in the hopes of getting more movement. The Tanner's Corner sheriff comes begging for Rhyme's help to solve the kidnappings. Rhyme has some time before the surgery and begins an investigation. Garrett is captured and Sachs believes he is innocent. She takes matters into her own hands and breaks Garrett out of jail. In the chase that follows, Sachs kills a deputy. Not until the final moments of Sachs' trial are all the facts reveled and the real culprit is known which clears Sachs of the murder charges. Joe Mantegna has a way with voices so you know just who is speaking. His inflections are a perfect addition to the actual words of the story. The Stone Monkey: This is a story of human smuggling and the need for political asylum. The first few chapters are rather long and drawn out as the story is being set up. It reminds me of the way Tom Clancy goes into great and long details of setting up a story. After the first few chapters, the story