Special Agent Constant Marlowe is tasked with taking over the investigation of an obsessed serial killer trolling the small town of Clark Valley in the quiet—and eerie—plains of the Midwest. Two female victims in quick succession, the same brutal MO, and every indication that victim number three is only days away. Also in the killer’s scope is Constant herself. When she interviews a local family who may be potential witnesses, she leads the devil to their doorstep, throwing their lives into chaos. Constant will do anything to protect them, but it won’t be easy. Because nothing in Clark Valley is quite what it seems.

Although I’ve been aware of Jeffery Deaver’s work for decades, I’ve never gotten around to reading one of his novels so, when Amazon offered his latest (251-page) novella ‘The Rule Of Threes‘ for free, I decided to give it a try.

‘The Rule Of Threes‘ was entertaining in a magic-trick kind of way. My first impression was that it was a conventional but well-done clever cop versus cunning serial killer story with both the cop and the killer being distinctive enough to keep the story fresh. The storytelling valued pace over detail but the dialogue worked well, the action scenes were exciting, the peaceful small-town setting amplified the impact of the violence and the level of tension kept rising.

Towards the middle, I started to realise that this wasn’t the conventional story I thought it was going to be. The main investigator wasn’t the out-of-towner-who-fearlessly-follows-the-evidence type I’d thought she was. The more I learned about her, the more dangerous and unpredictable she seemed to be. The Sherrif, who’d initially seemed like a central casting version of a grumpy disillusioned middle-aged wannabe-cowboy bully Sherif turned out to the someone quite different. Then something started to feel off about the obsessed-with-things-that-come-in-threes killer and I wondered how Jeffery Deaver was going to pull everything together in such a short time.

Then came the big twist. A twist so big that it almost felt like a cheat. I found myself going “How was I supposed to see that coming?” Then I accepted that this wasn’t a book where I was being invited to solve the mystery before the detective did, this was a rollercoaster ride thriller that I had to surrender control to and enjoy the ride. The momentum of the story pushed me forward and dropped me through twist after twist to an ending that I thought was very satisfactory.

‘The Rule Of Threes‘ was entertaining and has left me with an appetite for some more Jeffery Deaver. I think I’ll try his most recent books first.