Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Summary and Reviews of The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver

The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver

The Vanished Man

A Lincoln Rhyme Novel

by Jeffery Deaver
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 2003, 416 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jun 2004, 560 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

A brilliant thriller that pits forensic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, against an unstoppable killer with one final, horrific trick up his sleeve.

It begins at a prestigious music school in New York City. A killer flees the scene of a homicide and locks himself in a classroom. Within minutes, the police have him surrounded. When a scream rings out, followed by a gunshot, they break down the door. The room is empty.

Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to help with the high-profile investigation and to ferret out a master illusionist they've dubbed "the conjurer." As the fatalities rise and the minutes tick down, Rhyme and Sachs must move beyond the smoke and mirrors to prevent a terrifying act of vengeance that could become the greatest vanishing act of all.

Chapter One

Greetings, Revered Audience. Welcome.

Welcome to our show.

We have a number of thrills in store for you over the next two days as our illusionists, our magicians, our sleight-of-hand artists weave their spells to delight and captivate you.

Our first routine is from the repertoire of a performer everyone's heard of: Harry Houdini, the greatest escape artist in America, if not the world, a man who performed before crowned heads of state and U.S. presidents. Some of his escapes are so difficult no one has dared attempt them, all these years after his untimely death.

Today we'll re-create an escape in which he risked suffocation in a routine known as the Lazy Hangman.

In this trick, our performer lies prone on the belly, hands bound behind the back with classic Darby handcuffs. The ankles are tied together and another length of rope is wound around the neck, like a noose, and tied to the ankles. The tendency of the legs to straighten pulls the noose taut ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio
Deaver is clever enough to string it out to almost unbearable limits of suspense. But in the end, all this trickery really does come down to ''applied physics, chemistry and psychology.

Booklist - Mary Frances Wilkens
Well-researched and exciting, this has all the elements of good crime fiction likable leads, a colorful supporting cast, fascinating scientific analysis, and a look at the secrets of an otherwise unknown world. A sure hit.

Publishers Weekly
...giddily entertaining ... twists and twists and twists ... gyrating main story line, rich in magic lore and lingo. This is prime Deaver.

Kirkus Reviews
... the manhunt ends in a sprawling, anticlimactic third act. All the prodigious energy and ingenuity of a canny performer who just doesn't know when to quit.

Reader Reviews

Cy Hilterman

The Vanished Man was so riviting from cover to cover. I share my books with several friends and they said the same. The usual cast of characters that Jeffery Deaver winds his stories through keeps the reader trying to figure the next move. When it...   Read More

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Vanished Man, try these:

  • The Plea jacket

    The Plea

    by Steve Cavanagh

    Published 2018

    About this book

    More by this author

    An innocent client. A wife in jeopardy. A locked room mystery. Who will take The Plea?

  • Dry Ice jacket

    Dry Ice

    by Stephen White

    Published 2008

    About this book

    More by this author

    New York Times bestselling author Stephen White brings back his popular character, psychologist Alan Gregory, to take on the sociopathic killer from White’s first novel—who, many years later, has walked away from a mental hospital, hungry for revenge.

We have 6 read-alikes for The Vanished Man, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Jeffery Deaver
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

When I get a little money I buy books...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..