Latest news from Lincoln, and a quick round up from the Skin Collector (note - spoiler alert! - don't read on if you ever plan on reading the novel!):
- Lon is left in hospital at the end, having been poisoned, but the smart money says he will have pulled through by the next instalment.
- Rookie is no good at undercover work, but in fairness it did turn out that he was up against the Watchmaker himself, rather than a lawyer appointed to collect his remains.
- The Watchmaker interludes turned out to be more important than they first appeared, firstly as we discovered that he'd faked his death to escape from prison, and secondly when we discover that he had masterminded the whole plan.
- Looks highly likely that the Watchmaker will be appearing again in the next book. (Note the long phone conversation between Rhyme and Logan in one of the last chapters. "Nemesis" comes up. Not sure how happy I am with this - would prefer Deaver to bring new ideas and new adversaries to the fray in each novel. In danger of getting a bit Kyle Craig-ish (i.e. Patterson at his most lazy!))
- Seth was Billy and Billy was Seth! Felt like something like that might be coming along. Seth's character was only introduced at the start of the book and was feeling fairly expendable from the outset, but nice twist with him being Billy, and the centipede being washable!
- Similarly nice twist with Pam being Lovely Girl, although as always, the clue was there, and in big bold letters with the "LIAM" and "ELA" tattoos and the reference to couples sharing inkings between each other (with Billy tattooing "WIL" and "PAM" onto Pam in a final struggle near the end).
- Sachs' relationship with Pam went through a tough time, with Sachs doing a good job of not jumping up and down and shouting "told you so" at the end.
- And Lincoln himself seemed to be on pretty good form - quite upbeat in comparison to the dark moods he's been through in previous novels, and he even occasionally admitted acting based on hunches and feelings, rather than operating entirely based on cold logic. Progress indeed.
And that's not to mention the dastardly plot to kill / maim / blow up / poison etc the inhabitants of New York!