Lincoln Rhyme, the brilliant New York forensic scientist, has a nemesis. He first crossed paths with Charles Vespasian Hale – the Watchmaker – in 2006’s The Cold Moon, but their paths have crossed several times since then, with Rhyme persistently thwarting Hale’s intricate schemes. Enough is enough – a mechanism cannot work if a piece of grit constantly gets in the way, and the Watchmaker has returned to New York City determined to stop Rhyme’s interference once and for all.

But Lincoln Rhyme and his team have enough on their plates as it is. A giant crane has toppled in the city – were it not for the heroics of the operator, it would have killed hundreds of people. A message is received saying that if demands are not met, then another crane will fall – and another, and another… Is this the work of the Watchmaker? And even if it is, can Rhyme prevent another crane from toppling while watching his back at the same time?

The sixteenth outing for Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs et al, and I do think that this is my favourite series of out-and-out thrillers. I’ve been here from the start – I’ve no idea what prompted me to pick up The Bone Collector from the old Blackwell’s Paperback Shop in Oxford, but something about it caught my eye and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve often cited The Coffin Dancer as one of my favourite thrillers ever, something that I still stand by, and picking up another Lincoln Rhyme book feels like I’m revisiting old friends.

And after first appearing in the eighth book – I’d forgotten he’d been around that long – the story of the Watchmaker comes to a head. He’s been lurking in the background ever since, playing minor or major roles in other books, but finally he decides enough is enough and it’s time to kill his nemesis. And we do get a good chance to get inside his head, to see what (sorry about this) makes him tick.

We also get a sense that because this is a significant return for the villain, finally bringing him and Rhyme face to face once more, that this is an ending of sorts. As such, the stakes are higher. When one character becomes exposed to the substance being used to bring the cranes down, it’s conceivable that this might be more than a bit of a cough. When another character gets kidnapped, it’s conceivable that this might be the last we’ll see of them. Interestingly, Deaver seems to have dialled back on something he used to do quite a bit – chapters often end in cliffhangers, and in past books, it wasn’t uncommon that he’d dial it back like a Saturday morning black and white serial (for old timers like me) and play that “things weren’t what you thought” card. It happens once here, and to be honest, I doubt anyone believed what apparently happened had happened in that case…

There’s nothing here that I didn’t enjoy. Oh, hang on, one little niggle – it takes an age for Rhyme to figure out one aspect of the delivery mechanism for the crane sabotage which was the first thing that occurred to me. There you go, it’s not a perfect book!

Fans of the series won’t be disappointed. Fans of thrillers won’t be disappointed. This is the master of the genre at the top of his game, and if somehow you haven’t been reading the series, there are sixteen to enjoy! And some short stories too… Now I really must get round to reading his Colter Shaw series… or just go back to the beginning…

The Watchmaker’s Hand is out on Thursday from Harper Collins in hardback and ebook. Many thanks for the review e-copy via NetGalley.