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IntenselyFocused

Intensely Focused

I'm not obsessed, I'm just intensely focued.

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SPOILER ALERT!
The Burning Wire - Jeffery Deaver

I enjoyed this book. I didn't figure out the mystery ahead of time, which I always appreciate.

There were times where it felt like Deaver was putting in some of the information about electricity because he'd found out some cool fact and wanted to share it (or maybe prove he'd done his research) rather than because it was strictly necessary. But I can live with that, especially since I thought the use of electricity as a murder weapon was innovative.

I also thought the information about green energy was useful and it's something I wish more people understood. I love green energy too -- but there's simply no current technology that can replace more than a fraction of the power we currently get from "dirty" technology. Even if everybody had solar panels on their roof (and the start up costs make that highly unrealistic) it wouldn't be enough.

I'm also not sure why Deaver keeps acting like Sachs driving 70 mph is really fast. Unless she's supposed to be doing it on residential streets or something. Seventy is standard on many portions of the freeway.

I really don't know what to do with the assisted suicide thing. It seems entirely random (or incredibly heavy handed about choosing life or death, take your pick). Rhyme just seems like an odd choice as spokesman. He obviously has an active mind and is still accomplishing great things. Why would someone like that be a candidate for assisted suicide. It's not that I fail to understand how becoming disabled could be depressing and make something think of suicide, at least at first. But clearly Rhyme hasn't let it stop him from what he loves and if he were profoundly depressed I don't think he could continue to do what he does.

We had an assisted suicide initiative on the ballot in my state within the last few years. The spokespeople were primarily very successful people, including one who was once high up in the military but had since retired. They also had degenerative incurable diseases that would eventually become not only incredibly painful but rob them of their mental faculties. That, it seems to me, is who you want for your spokesperson.

There's no reason why Rhyme's mental faculties should deteriorate any more than the next person's. His body is crippled, his mind is not. And I know Rhyme keeps saying he doesn't define himself by his disability but clearly that is part of his self definition. He's constantly aware of how people look at him and he frequently calls himself a "crip."

And while we're on the subject, I figured that Rhyme would want to get the surgery. I'm glad Deaver talks about realistic (minimal) improvements. And I understand that Rhyme likes to do things like that alone. That having been said, what he did was exceptionally cruel. It is exponentially worse to be the person waiting rather the person having surgery and by not telling Tom or Sachs about it beforehand he didn't allow them any time to mentally prepare for it. Even when everything is fine waiting takes a toll. When I believed the person having the surgery had the tougher time I would have not been happy with what he did but I could understand it. Having been on both sides of the issue I can't cut him any slack.

I also thought it was really interesting that after The Broken Window which was largely about how much information data mining could provide and how accurate it was, this book argues that human intelligence is at least as important if not more so. My personal opinion is they work best in conjunction when both sides respect the other's expertise.