Amelia Sachs is chasing down a killer in a Brooklyn department store when an escalator collapses, crunching a bystander. Sachs and forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme soon realize that this was no accident. The next Lincoln Rhyme novel, following The Skin Collector.

In Deaver's 12th Lincoln Rhyme novel (after The Skin Collector), NYPD officer Amelia Sachs tracks a sick and twisted domestic terrorist with a grudge against capitalism. Vernon Griffith, the People's Guardian, has stolen a long list of products installed with a DataWise5000 smart controller and, using a Wi-Fi remote and cloud technology, triggers products to malfunction and thus maim or kill victims—stairs on an escalator give way, a microwave explodes, a transmission disengages, a circuit box electrocutes, a band saw blade loosens, a stove seeps gas, and a baby monitor shocks a child. After much methodical and ingenious sleuthing, Sachs and her mentor, the paraplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme, follow a circuitous route of evidence across Manhattan until they finally identify the killer and the rationale behind the accidents. But they lose his trail. VERDICT Fans will marvel at the creative manner in which Deaver incorporates current technological and societal trends into the plots of his thrillers—in this case, remote devices signaling smart controllers. [See Prepub Alert, 10/4/15.]—Jerry P. Miller. Cambridge, MA

Bestseller Deaver's clever 12th Lincoln Rhyme novel (after 2014's The Skin Collector) finds the forensic expert no longer working for the NYPD. But Rhyme's lover, NYPD Major Cases detective Amelia Sachs, could use his help. She was chasing a murder suspect in a Brooklyn department store when she stopped to deal with a bizarre, fatal elevator accident. The lawyer for the wife of the man who was crushed in the elevator's gears wants Rhyme to assist in a difficult civil suit. Meanwhile, the suspect, a cunning killer, plots more attacks that employ ingenious ways to subvert modern technology. Entertaining subplots focus on the release from prison of Sachs's lover before Rhyme, Nick Carelli, who served time for robbery and assault; a private mission undertaken by Patrolman Ron Pulaski, a former protégé of Rhyme's; and the travails of Rhyme's new protégé, intern Juliette Archer. Convincing characters and an unexpected closing twist will remind readers why Deaver is one of today's top thriller writers. Author tour. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. (Mar.)