In a surprising vehement tone, Boling said, “We give too much information about ourselves online. Way too much. You know the term ‘escribitionist’?” — Page 55
Synopsis from the back cover:
A highway patrol trooper notices something strange on the side of the road: a homemade cross, fashioned as a memorial. Except the date being ‘remembered’ is the following day—the day the police find a kidnapped teenage girl in the trunk of a car, left for dead. Special Agent Kathryn Dance, the kinesics expert with California Bureau of Investigation, is on the case. The teenage victim points her to an online community where accusations fly and the criticism turns from impartial to personal—and vicious. It looks as though the bullying went too far, and one teen has finally snapped. Then further crosses appear. Now Dance must race against the clock to find the attacker before he can carry out his deadly plans for revenge… in the cyber world and the real.
Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver is a psychological thriller. This post will be in a Q&A style.
What led you to pick up this book? I really enjoyed Kathryn Deaver’s earlier thriller (The Sleeping Doll), so when this new book came out in July, I bought it without hesitation. It did not disappoint.
What did you like most about the book? The story has lots of twists and turns. This time, Kathryn Dance is up against a perpetrator in areas she knows nothing about: blogging and the Internet. She gets help from a professor who is a subject-matter expert, and they form a great partnership. The book references the case from the previous book, but you don’t need to know what happened in the first book to enjoy this one, so please go ahead and indulge. However, Dance’s mother does get involved in this instalment for something that happened in the previous book. So Dance has two things demanding her attention: her roadside crosses case and her mother.
I did learn a new term called ‘escribitionist’ as mentioned in the beginning of this post. It is a term for blogging about yourself. I guess I fit into this category, although I don’t disclose personal information such as telephone numbers, addresses, etc. You never know how the information you post about yourself is used by the people “watching” you online. Things to watch out for when you reveal them include your likes and dislikes, a particular habit or phobia; even your favourite colour could be used against you. This is quite scary, actually. The book makes me think more deeply about the things I choose to reveal online about myself and my friends. But whatever I do, I will always respect their privacy.
What did you like least? I wouldn’t say I dislike it, but the novel goes into the technical parts for quite a bit, mostly about reading people because that is what Dance is great for. It also explains what blogging is about, for the benefit of Dance, who is new to the concept.
What did you think of the main character? Kathryn Dance is brilliant and smart. She is a good single mother to her young son and daughter. Her FBI husband died in an accident. She reads people very well; after all, she is a kinesics expert.
What about the ending? I liked the ending and the romantic tension/possibility between her and the two men, Dr Jonathan Boling (the professor) and Michael O’Neil (her unofficial partner at work).
Here’s one humorous quote on page 60 in relation to a question asked by Dr Boling, who has no background in crime investigation:
He frowned. “Do you call them ‘clues’ or ‘evidence’?” “You can call ‘em broccoli if it helps us find the perp.” “Let’s see what the veggies reveal.” He gave her another URL.
From here, you will see that whatever is on your computer hard disk can be recovered: emails, websites browsed, deleted data. The data-retrieval exercise on the victim’s damaged laptop leads the investigative team to a blog called The Chilton Report, an important start to the case.
Would you recommend this book? Yes. I think people who blog would appreciate it more, but if you don’t, don’t fret. I believe you would still enjoy it.
Would you read more books by this author? Yes. I am looking forward to more of Kathryn Dance’s thrillers, but the next one is said to be released sometime in 2011!
Would you re-read the book? Perhaps. I would refer back to certain pages for references to human behaviour.
