Product Description

Forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme and his protégée Amelia Sachs have been recruited by the FBI to capture "the Ghost" -- a homicidal immigrant smuggler. But when they corner him aboard a cargo ship, the bust goes disastrously wrong and the Ghost escapes. Now, he must eliminate the only witnesses -- two families who jumped ship and vanished into Chinatown. Against a ruthless adversary, Lincoln and Amelia race to find the families before the Ghost can silence them...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12975 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-01
• Released on: 2003-01-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 576 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743437806
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
When a vicious smuggler known as the Ghost scuttles a ship filled with undocumented Chinese immigrants less than a mile from New York harbor, only a handful of survivors--and the Ghost himself--manage to escape the burning vessel. Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic NYPD forensic detective first introduced in 1997's The Bone Collector, and Amelia Sachs, his partner and lover, must stop the Ghost before he murders the two families who made it to shore. The families have gone to ground in the all but impenetrable world of Manhattan's Chinatown, a fact that makes the pair's two allies--Sonny Li, a Chinese cop, and Dr. John Sung-- invaluable partners.

The group's race against time showcases Jeffery Deaver's many talents, particularly intricate plotting, plenty of surprising twists, and breakneck pacing. This is a real standout from a writer whose previous thrillers have earned him a solid following among mystery fans. --Jane Adams

From Library Journal
Hidden aboard the cargo ship Fuzhou Dragon, approximately two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants head for the promise of a better future in the United States. The ruthless man in charge of this cargo is a professional human smuggler and killer nicknamed the Ghost. When the Coast Guard tries to stop the ship and capture the Ghost, the ship takes on water, and the Ghost blows up the cargo hold. The surviving immigrants grab hold of a lifeboat and make it to land. Trying to start their new lives, they must remain in hiding because the Ghost is tracking them, determined to kill every single immigrant left. The task of stopping the Ghost before he accomplishes his goal falls to Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, characters first introduced in Deaver's The Bone Collector. The mind game that follows will push Rhyme to the limit of his abilities and call into question the loyalty of the people working with him. With this elaborate thriller, Deaver has written his best book to date. He balances the complexities of Chinese culture with the page-turning suspense we expect. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/ 02.] Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Deaver's latest page-turner begins aboard Fuzhou Dragon, a ship full of undocumented Chinese seeking refuge in Meiguo, "the Beautiful Country," America. The "snakehead" (refugee smuggler) on this voyage is the Ghost, whose plan for a quiet, unnoticed landing on Long Island goes awry when, a few miles from shore, he notices FBI agents waiting at the dock. Not one for loyalty, the Ghost, at the peril of women and children and many other terrified passengers, sabotages the vessel with explosives and boards a raft to safety. Having thwarted his attempted capture, the Ghost goes into hiding among the millions of Chinese immigrants in New York. So, too, do two lucky families who managed to escape the sinking Dragon. Thus begins the manhunt for the Ghost, led by forensics specialists Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs. But the Ghost is on a hunt himself, eager to kill the two families before they have a chance to rat him out. The methodical, technical way in which the detectives conduct their search stands in stark contrast to the Ghost's paranoid, frenetic manner; thankfully, Rhyme's and Sachs' characters, first introduced in The Bone Collector (1996), are more well developed here than they were in earlier outings. The series' mass popularity, however, is certain to continue with or without improved characterization. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

As Fine a Suspense Novelist as you will find!
Simply put, Jeffery Deaver is one of the best suspense novelist writing today. No other author can match his plot twists or attention to intricate detail. Best of all, he seems to be improving with each novel he writes, particularly with his Lincoln Rhyme series of books. The Stone Monkey is no exception.

The Stone Monkey is the fourth book in the Lincoln Rhyme - Amelia Sachs series (the others are, in order, The Bone Collector, The Coffin Dancer, and the Empty Chair). Rhyme is a quadriplegic and a famous forensic scientist. His partner, Sachs, is a redhead who acts as Rhyme's legs, 'walking the grid' at crime scenes. Together, they make a formidable crime fighting team.

The Stone Monkey picks up with the Coast Guard closing in on a ship filled with illegal immigrants trying to enter the US. Rhyme has found the ship and the police are trying to apprehend the notorious human smuggler known as the ghost. After blowing up the ship and killing most of the passengers, the Ghost escapes. Rhyme must find him before he kills the two familes that survived.

From this point, the plot rides like a roller coaster. The trademark Deaver twist are present and nothing is as it seems. The characters are well developed and interesting. Sonny Li makes a great addition to the team and provides some comedic relief. As readers have come to expect from Deaver, the ending is great as well.

Highly recommended to fans of Jeffery Deaver, James Patterson, John Sandford, and anyone else looking for a suspenseful thriller.

Better than THE BONE COLLECTOR
THE STONE MONKEY is by far the best in Deaver's Lincoln Rhymes series. The main plot line revolves around Lincoln's effort to stop THE Ghost, a notorious Chinese "snakehead" (human smuggler) from killing what's left of two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants. When the coast guard zeroed in on the ship carrying the "undocumenteds," The Ghost had dynamited the ship, killing most everyone on board, except for two families and an undercover cop who manage to make it to shore.
This is the best of the series because of the research Deaver did on Chinese culture, specifically smuggling of human cargo. The book is generously sprinkled with such terms as "ju-jia" or piglets, the derogatory term for the people in the hold of the ship; "Meiguo," Chinese for Beautiful County or America, and "bangshou," the lieutenant who helps The Ghost accomplish his task.
The book is also replete with solid characterization, the best of which is Sonny Li, a Chinese detective disguised as one of the illegals. He clashes with Lincoln by smoking unfiltered Camels at crime scenes and by taking a much more humanistic approach to crime detection, as opposed to Lincoln's emphasis on the evidence. Li's favorite expression is "Ten Judges of Hell" in reference to the Chinese myth that the judges of hell keep a record of everyone who has ever lived, their faults and good points.
I've had problems with Deaver's loosey-goosey approach to plotting in the past; however, in this work, he manages to keep it real for the most part, except for one minor glitch where he has the Ghost switch places with one of the Chinese dissidents. The dissident has police protection, since the Ghost is out to kill all of the survivors, but that doesn't stop Deaver from having him sneak out and get involved in a gun battle or two. Despite this slight quibble, I'd put Deaver right up there with Ed McBain as one of the best at police procedural. It's easy to follow the case as it progresses as Rhymes has his assistant Thom write the clues on a bulletin board. We see these several times throughout the book as Rhymes analyzes new crime scenes. This is a good one; you'll get your money's worth.

Lincoln Rhyme with a twist.
After I read the Bone Collector a few summers ago, I tore into everything else that Jeffery Deaver had produced. If you are just getting to know Deaver through the Lincoln Rhyme novels, some of his best fiction still awaits you. Praying for Sleep, A Maiden's Grave, The Devil's Teardrop, and many other equally devious books are in your future if you so desire. The Stone Monkey is an excellent detective story filled with intriguing forensic details and engaging characters. It also contains the Jeffery Deaver trademark twists and turns in the plot that will keep you guessing. If there is any weakness to Deaver's style it is that ALL his books have a major plot twist in them and so his fans are no longer surprised when the big knockout punch comes. Even knowing that about Deaver, as I read this book, I made my predictions and smugly assumed that I knew how this one was going to turn out...and while I did see one major event coming, I was certainly fooled by the big twist. If you loved the first three Lincoln Rhyme books you will not be disappointed. If you've only read the Lincoln Rhyme books, delve deeper into the other books of the Deaver library...there are plenty of twists lurking in their pages too.