Product Description

A highway patrol trooper notices something strange on the side of the road: a homemade cross, fashioned as a memorial. Except the date being 'remembered' is the following day - the day the police find a kidnapped teenage girl in the trunk of a car, left for dead.

Special Agent Kathryn Dance, the kinesics expert with the California Bureau of Investigation, is on the case. The teenage victim points her to an online community where accusations fly and the criticism turns from impartial to personal - and vicious. It looks as though the bullying went too far, and one teen has finally snapped.

Then further crosses appear. Now Dance must race against the clock to find the attacker before he can carry out his deadly plans for revenge . . . in the cyber world and the real.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1171 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

Review
'Deaver hardly needs an introduction. He's one of the giants among thriller writers . . . One of the world's best plotters - his intricate twists and turns catch out even the hardened thriller reader . . . Eerie, superbly drawn and with a deft insight into the world of the cyberspace inhabited by millions of young people, it races from page to page at a speed that leaves you almost breathless. This is a true master at work - elegant, assured, supremely crafted thriller writing at its very best.' (Daily Mail )

'A cracking read' ****

(News of the World )

'This is Deaver on cracking form, employing the usual helter-skelter pace with adroitly marshalled multiple plot strands and relentlessly ticking clock. Ratcheting up tension is something at which Deaver has few equals'

(Daily Express )

'ROADSIDE CROSSES is a gripping story peopled with memorable characters. No surprise. Jeffery Deaver is grand master of the ticking-clock thriller.'

(Kathy Reichs )

'A masterclass in the art of misdirection. Jeffery Deaver dangles his red herrings artfully as he explores the dangerous overlap of the real world and the web. The eventual unmasking of the killer - after a double-twist - comes as a complete surprise'

(Evening Standard )

'More trademark Deaver brilliance . . . Read it, love it, blog it, spread the word - ROADSIDE CROSSES is undoubtedly destined for its rightful place at the top of the best-seller lists'

(Daily Record, Scotland )

'He writes the kind of fast-paced plot-driven novel which, as Tom Leonard might say "gets you from Glasgow to Saltcoats without noticing". The very pace of it means you rarely stop to appreciate the fluency of the writing, the vivid character sketches, the careful plotting involved in his twists, turns and cliffhangers.'

(Scotsman )

'Deaver is a master of the narrative twist – and he doesn’t let us down here.' (Heat )

About the Author
Jeffery Deaver was a lawyer before quitting work to become a full-time writer.

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Customer Reviews

A Second Outing for Kathryn Dance, and a Marked Improvement on the First
I was a tiny bit critical of 'The Sleeping Doll', the first in Jeff's new series featuring kinesics expert Kathryn Dance in a leading role. This is the second, and he appears to have addressed the issues that slightly marred the first volume. For a start, Kathryn herself is a more rounded character in 'Roadside Crosses' - not quite so much 'Miss Goody Two-Shoes' - and she's more interesting and believable as a result. Secondly he's placed less emphasis on her 'kinesics' skills. In 'The Sleeping Doll' she almost had superpowers in being able to 'read' people through their mannerisms and body language. Here he confines her ability more to being able to deduce when people are lying, or at least becoming uncomfortable when talking on specific subjects.

There are also less bits of misdirection crammed into the main body of the novel with Jeff deploying a whole hatful of twists closer to the ending of the book.

You've read the synopsis so I won't provide a plot summary, but confine myself to making one or two points. One of the major characters is Travis, a computer nerd who reminded me of the 'Insect Boy' from the Lincoln Rhyme book 'The Empty Chair'. Jeff serves-up some fascinating passages where he describes the 'synthetic world' and the individuals who spend so much time in there that online gaming becomes their reality. Computers have featured heavily in two earlier JD novels - `The Blue Nowhere' and `The Broken Window', and here he makes ingenious use of cyberspace once again, with a killer choosing victims from a local blogger's website.

Also the `roadside crosses' of the title begin appearing prior to any murders, or attempted murders being committed and the `ticking-clock' nature of the plot is another very familiar JD device, helping add suspense to the book.

In `Roadside Crosses' I think he's genuinely set himself the task of writing a different type of novel from the first Kathryn Dance thriller, and I feel he's acquitted himself well - this is no stale retread of earlier plots. There are some familar elements, certainly, but 'Roadside Crosses' is both lively and satisfying. However, as always with Jeff, you're going to have to suspend your disbelief for a while, as some of the twists are a bit hard to swallow. But, if you like the author's previous work you may love this; it's complex, fits together with the precision of a Swiss watch, and overall I found it a very enjoyable read.

ROADSIDE CROSSES DISAPPOINTS!
Roadside Crosses

I've been a big fan of Jeffrey Deaver & usually look forward to all his new books. Roadside Crosses though severely disappoints. It's hard to know where to begin. The convoluted plot (such as it is) concerning a watered down version of `Twitter' is so weak, implausible, and thin that a sub-story had to be introduced concerning Kathryn Dance's mother who inexplicably gets involved with an assisted suicide to pad out the pages. Yes, there are the usual twists & turns but the strange assortment of disconnected characters introduced to the ludicrously feeble main story line have no depth, little colour, and are in fact mostly implausible. I very nearly gave up on the book out of sheer frustration and boredom before the end, but when the ending thankfully did come it was so utterly preposterous and nonsensical that I nearly fell over laughing!

Forget Kathryn Dance Mr Deaver let's have some more superb Lincoln Rhyme....please.

Very disappointing
I usually love Jeffery Deaver's books, but this one is very disappointing. It's dull, heavy going and I never did get to the end. I might eventually pick it up again and try to finish it. But, only if I'm desperate for something to read. I regret buying it, actually.