“Otherwise I’d be out of a job. And I’d never find anybody equally difficult to work for.”

“I’m glad,” Rhyme grumbled, “I’ve set such a high bar.”

Then the subject, and its awkward accoutrements, vanished like snow on a hot car hood. The men fell silent.

Two hours later the door to the operating suites opened and another doctor emerged. Again, all eyes latched onto the green-scrubbed man but this one was Sachs’s surgeon and he headed directly toward Rhyme and Thom.

As the others in the room returned to their vending-machine coffee and magazines and text messages, the surgeon looked from Thom to Rhyme. He said, “It went well. She’s fine. She’s awake. She’s asking for you.”

The Recipes of Jacob Swann

Readers wishing to experience Jacob Swann’s skills firsthand—culinary, not homicidal—can find a link to recipes for the dishes mentioned in this book, many of them my own variations on classics, at my website: www.jefferydeaver.com.

—J.D.

Acknowledgments

With thanks to Mitch Hoffman, Jamie Raab, Lindsey Rose, David Young and all my friends at Grand Central Publishing—and my cast of regulars: Madelyn Warcholik, Deborah Schneider, Cathy Gleason, Julie Deaver, Jane Davis, Will and Tina Anderson. I couldn’t do it without you!

About the Author

A former journalist, folksinger and attorney, Jeffery Deaver is an international number-one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the Times of London, Italy’s Corriere della Sera, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Los Angeles Times. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages.

The author of thirty novels, two collections of short stories and a nonfiction law book, he’s received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world. His The Bodies Left Behind was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller The Broken Window and a stand-alone, Edge, were also nominated for that prize. He has been awarded the Steel Dagger and the Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers’ Association and the Nero Wolfe Award, and he is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers Award for Best Short Story of the Year and a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award. The Cold Moon was recently named the Book of the Year by the Mystery Writers Association of Japan, as well as by Kono Mystery Wa Sugoi magazine. In addition, the Japanese Adventure Fiction Association awarded The Cold Moon and Carte Blanche their annual Grand Prix award.

His most recent novels are XO, a Kathryn Dance thriller, for which he wrote an album of country-western songs, available on iTunes and as a CD; and before that, Carte Blanche, the latest James Bond continuation novel, a number-one international bestseller.