Really hard to do a blurb for a book of short stories, so let’s just pinch the book blurb. I won’t tell if you don’t…

Amongst the dead ends …

A murder at a crime writers’ conference. The method is entirely literary, the motive seems obvious – but can the detective who was first on scene puzzle out what’s between the lines?

Amongst the misdirections …

An intelligence analyst has the chance to get out from behind the desk and do some real spy work. But as he enters the field, he begins to realise just how out of his depth he is …

Somewhere lies the truth.

A brilliant sleuth, obsessed with Sherlock Holmes’s mysteries, turns his attention to a serial killer targeting women in New York’s Central Park. But as his deductions bring him closer to his prey he starts to wonder who is doing the hunting …

I’m not the biggest fan of short story collections – you’ll see that I’m not great at reviewing the British Library compilations, for example – but that’s always a little different when it comes to collections from the same author. And in particular when that author is Jeffrey Deaver, the master of the surprise twist.

You could also add in there the master of the surprise setting. Yes, there’s a Lincoln Rhyme story and a Colter Shaw story, but the other ten tales here are completely original, including one giving a new spin on Jack The Ripper – I use “spin” as I think it’s a bit outlandish to consider it an actual theory.

I’m not going to go through the stories one by one as analysing each one risks spoiling it. One or two of them aren’t as successful as the others – I appreciate the ambition with Ninth And Nowhere, for example, but I thought it didn’t work as well as some of the other tales. The other that sticks in my mind is the Colter Shaw story, which is a surprisingly straight whodunit. To be honest, I’ve never got into the Shaw books, but I’m glad to say that the Lincoln Rhyme story is excellent – a tale of what Rhyme is capable of when he has no physical evidence to work with.

What is impressive is the number of tricks that Deaver is capable of pulling. I’ve read a lot of his work over the years, and I was still caught out in most of the stories. Take the shortest story, Selfie, where I thought I was being really clever with spotting what was going on, only for everything to turn on its head as it becomes an intensely creepy little tale. I mentioned a couple of lesser stories, but the rest are really strong indeed. This is a very impressive collection that you really should dip into.

Dead Ends is released in hardback and ebook on 1st August 2024. Many thanks for the review e-copy.