In The Cold Moon, eighth Jeffery Deaver's series of Lincoln Rhyme novels, a man apparently has taken his own life when forensic expert Amelia Sachs first investigates the death of Ben Creely. Or at least that’s the official verdict. However, his wife is convinced otherwise. The brilliant criminologist quadriplegic police consultant Lincoln Rhyme has decided it’s time to give Amelia some responsibility to work on her own – take it to the end by herself and see how she does.
So when Amelia is speaking with Ben Creely’s wife, it is disclosed that Ben couldn’t possibly have hung himself because he could never have knotted the rope. His thumb was broken and he was wearing a cast.
This is Sachs' first chance to work on her own while still assigned to Lincoln Rhyme. She is confident she will get all the answers she’s after, and as she pokes around, it doesn’t take her long to find other incriminating things at the scene – burnt papers in a gas fireplace. From jottings on those scraps of paper she is led to a bar in the city as well as the city's 118th precinct, where there are rumors that certain cops are corrupt and are using their badge to make money illegally.
It also leads her to discover a dark secret about her father, also a police officer, forcing her to question her career and her relationship with Rhyme. There is a lot of introspection of the part of Amelia as she gives thought to what she should do about her career, and Rhyme hopes she stays on the force not only for her own sake, but for the force and him as well.
The Cold Moon is a breath of fresh air as, though it is a Lincoln Rhyme novel, it’s a story that doesn’t revolve around him as much this time, but instead we get a chance to follow Amelia and the established characters Detectives Lon Selitto and officer Ron Pulaski. Pulaski is shedding his rookie status and finally becoming an impressive and ‘think on his feet’ kind of cop.
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