by Jeffery Deaver
Book 2 in the Lincoln Rhyme series
published 1998
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This return engagement for quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme is strong on forensic details as he tracks an elusive assassin known only by the tattoo that gives this fast-paced thriller its title.
The Coffin Dancer, America’s most wanted hitman, is back with a bang. Hired by an infamous airline owner to take care of three witnesses before his trial, the Coffin Dancer begins by blowing up a pilot – and an entire plane along with him…
Enter quadriplegic ex-cop Lincoln Rhyme, the man who can find forensic evidence to hang a man in the smallest debris, and his assistant Amelia Sachs. Despite the growing danger, their job is to keep the remaining two witnesses safe, and to track down the Coffin Dancer before he has chance to finish what he started… But as the first murder proved, this notorious serial killer is not easily stopped, and is more than happy to sacrifice anyone who tries to get in his way.
Three witnesses to a murder could put a millionaire arms dealer behind bars for good. When one of them, the co-owner of Hudson Air, is blown up in a plane bombing with the Dancer’s fingerprints all over it, the FBI takes the other witnesses into protective custody. Only Rhyme can decipher a crime scene, read the residue of a bombing or identify a handful of dirt well enough to keep up with the killer. Helped by Amelia Sachs, his brilliant and able-bodied assistant, Rhyme traces the Dancer through Manhattan streets, airports and subways. The psychological tension builds rapidly from page one all the way through to the stunning and unexpected denouement. At the same time, Jeffery Deaver slowly develops the against-all-odds love affair between Rhyme and Sachs.
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