Discount Price: $7.99
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780743437806
ISBN number: 0743437802
Label: Pocket
Manufacturer: Pocket
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 576
Printing Date: February 01, 2003
Publishing house: Pocket
Release Date: January 28, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 26238
Studio: Pocket
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
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...
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 very 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
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Well known for his bone-chilling psychological thrillers, Jeffery Deaver brings the two cunning detectives back in the fourth entry in the notorious Lincoln Rhyme series. Although he makes a decent endeavor to hook his readers into the story, he yet again fails to deliver.
Returning to thier familiar hometown of the Big Apple are on pursuit of the "Ghost", a ruthless Chinese immigrant smuggler. The book opens with Rhyme and Sachs pursuint the snakehead's (smuggler's) boat of illegal Chinese immigrants. When their endeavor to catch him turns into a fiasco, the two begin to realize that it's only a matter of time before he decides to kill the surviving families. Over the subsequent 48 hours, the two detectives, along with the help of a Chinese beat, hunt for the foreign smuggler.
I have to admit that THE STONE MONKEY is another letdown by Deaver, though not as quite as his previous Rhyme novel THE EMPTY CHAIR. What I liked most about this book was the beginning pursuit of the Ghost. From thereon in, the plot bengan to fall apart.
Fans are normally use to how Deaver cleverly draws his characters into his novels. From chapter to chapter, it seemed to me that the author went bananas when writing this book, failing to deliver this strenth of his into the book. Another thing I noticed while reading was that Rhyme was barely present throughout the scenes in the book. I felt that I did not feel that cunning, forensic intuition that I use to in the earlier Rhyme novels. As I was reading page after page of the investigation, I kept asking myself "Where did Rhyme go?"
What disappointed me the most while reading THE STONE MONKEY was Deaver's failing endeavor to know who the Ghost was. I was aware that he was a killer, indeed, but yet I didn't become aware of either his troubled past nor any of the losses that he has taken during then that have motivated him to commit the acts that he has.
Sad to say, Deaver has yet agian disappointed his fans by failing to deliver the strengths that make his novels enjoyable.
Rated by buyers 
-
I loved Bone Collector, but I think that was Deaver's only success, at least for me. I've read two other Rhyme novels after that and found them dry and boring, this one included. The same `walking the grid', and `walk me through-it' Sachs from BC, here and with the same outcome. Rhyme having Sachs enter the mind of the killer and then suddenly (only after his guidance) comes into so many insights, how incredibly unrealistic is this after so much time together? She is not yet able to make these insightful conclusions on her own with his leading her to them? It's trite and more of the same.
The characters are incredibly boring, the antagonist "The Ghost", come on. We don't even have a name for him (it's easy to figure out his true identity I realized what it was only 35 pages or so into the novel). The victims, the family pursued by the Ghost, we never really have an understanding of them or any compassion. It just didn't develop for me. I was aching while reading this, thinking of all of the books I had waiting for me on the shelves that were interesting, with people and plots that I felt compelled to discover.
I do not know if I will try another Deaver novel after this, that is two poor outings in a row. Sachs and Rhyme are a great partnership but it's a partnership that never grows (later they become lovers which is a complete joke!) It continues with Rhyme being the real expert and Sachs, only involved because she so understands him, not because she has the ability to understand and analyze things on her own. It's more of the same, and now it's just boring. When she was a rookie, it was great, he was in the role of a teacher, but after so many cases to follow the same `I lead you follow' rule is not only unrealistic, it's an affront to Amelia's character and her lack of real development. I suppose curing Rhyme of his paralysis and having them become lovers was the only way Deaver could come up with for a change in the dimension of their relationship, which I think is so completely ridiculous it's an affront to their partnership completely. A much older, unattractive man that has always been a father figure to her, a teacher, she is a young, attractive police officer, and then they eventually become lovers because what else is there when you lack the imagination to be creative? Disappointing! She simply cannot exist without him and now it's not just crime scenes, it's the bedroom. Is Deaver writing about these characters or living out his own fantasties? It just does not follow any true road, its contrived. More of the same.
Avoid this, or not, it's your decision of course. There are many readers who love more of the same novels, like music fans that love a band who puts out the same CD over and over. If that is what you love, you might enjoy this.
Rated by buyers 
-
I received the Stone Monkey a Hardcover book on 7/3/08. The book looked new, it is in very good shape. I have not read it yet. But I was very happy with the service I received.
Rated by buyers -
In this novel, the duo of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are on the case of an evil people trafficer, known only as the 'ghost'. The 'ghost' has just deliberately scuttled a cargo ship carrying his illegal immigrants, after locking them in the hold. However, a couple of families have escaped, and now he is ruthlessly on their trail, in the city of New York.
I found this novel a good read, if not quite a page turner. The combination of Rhyme and Sachs is always interesting, although, I feel, the large cast of characters, around them, from the different law enforcement agencies, can sometimes be a bit unwieldy, and on few occasions I had to think as to which character, belonged to which agency.
I thought there were a couple of small drawbacks to the book. Firstly, there seemed to be an awful lot of action/events going on in the space of just a few days, and, secondly, I felt some of the Chinese characters in the novel, were a bit too stereotyped. All in all, though, a fairly good book. Three and half to four stars.
Rated by buyers -
Is Jeffery capable of writing a bad novel?
The research is yet again amazing, he talks to the reader instead of over them, and there are tremendous plot twists that take nothing away from the story.
This story of a Chinese immigrant smuggler is both informative and entertaining. It is impossible not to get sucked into the story and care about the characters, which is the sign that you are reading a novel from a polished author.
Deaver is a tremendous writer and I am always impressed with each one of his novels. This is highly recommended.
Find other books like this one:
