Enjoyed this one very much, another great suspense thriller from author Jeffery Deaver. Never disappoints, highly recommend!

I tried really hard with this but was so difficult to get into. The rule of threes seemed like a very different style of writing to the norm from Jeffery Deaver and I didn't really enjoy it. Also the number of times the main character is mentioned by her full name just makes you start counting and losing track of the story.

...So I thought I'd try the audio version. Oh my - that really finished me off. a very monotonous voice that almost puts you to sleep and has emphasis on all the wrong words making it a really trick read.

Lots of twists but not a great effort from Deaver this time, sorry.

Usually I like Jeffery Deaver's writing but this book didn't work all too well for me. The story was good, actually, and I liked both Constant Marlowe (who was ever-present) and the twist at the end. I was not expecting that!! But the roundabout way in which this book was written irritated me. There was no need for certain things to happen and they made no sense as well. Then why were they there in the book?

I still like JD's writing and will look forward to his other works.

This novella gets 3 stars. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Title: The Rule of Threes
Author: Jeffery Deaver
Publisher: Amazon Original
Pub date: 3/01/2024

Constant Marlowe takes over the lead in a serial killer case. As she investigates, she discovers the town has its own issues and secrets. Constant is one tough cookie. Despite the attempts to derail her investigation, she keeps fighting to get to the bottom of things.

If you enjoy police procedurals, check this one out. The twists and turns will have you reading well into the night. I’ll admit that I never saw the depth of the reveal coming.

Thank you #NetGalley and #AmazonOriginal for the opportunity to get lost in #TheRuleofThrees.

Constant Marlow is working on an investigation of a serial killer whose MO is in threes and after the first two she is working at stopping the third and wanting to find the killer. A book with good characters.

Once again Jeffrey Deaver brings home a novel with a twist that will definitely surprise you.
Constant is called to look into a series of murders that appear to be the act of a serial killer. The killer is leaving clues, tire tread marks, shoe imprints and so forth.
Constant works along side of Sheriff Tremain and his deputy. During her investigation..Constant is attacked, seemingly because she is working with the deputy ( who is Indian ) and therefore must be supporting a land issue between Indian tribe and County.
In the end, nothing is as it seems and still it gets resolved….mostly….
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC.
I do recommend.

I am so used to reading the Lincoln Rhymes series by Jeffery Deaver that it took my brain a minute to process that this is a new character and they will use different tactics to find the killer.

I like Special Agent Constant Marlowe, she takes charge and kicks butt. I love the background information we have learned about her and I love the way her brain works. I thought the self-taught Sheriff was an interesting character and his lab rivals Lincoln's. I hope this is the beginning of a new series.

I always think of Jeffrey Deaver as the King of Twists. I've been reading him since The Bone Collector, and I've never been disappointed. His short stories are especially good, and The Rule of Threes is basically a short novel.
I like the new characters and all the twists.
Constant Marlowe is a special agent and she's very smart and capable but still jumps to conclusions. She's on the hunt for a serial killer but nothing is what it seems. She's got her own unique skills and respects what others can bring to the investigation. I hope we get a sequel to this because I definitely wanted more!
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I had been doing a binge of all the Colter Shaw books and this one came up as available on Netgalley.

I really liked the Constant Marlowe character and I think this is a good introduction as well as a good mystery. I think it did a good job of exposing the many layers of people and politics in small towns (well, all towns really). I look forward to seeing a full length story with this character.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and netgalley to review.

This was like a crime show in tv. It was probably unrealistic in parts but I did have a fun time reading it and some of the twists were pretty shocking.

“The Rule of Threes” is a short story by author Jeffery Deaver that mixes suspense and intrigue in a small Midwestern town. I don’t enjoy short stories anywhere as much as I do full length novels but Jeffery Deaver is one of the best at writing them.

Special Agent Constant Marlowe is a determined and relentless investigator tasked who is attempting to capture a serial killer who is single handily terrorising the town of Clark Valley.

The killer already has two female victims and with a third in his sights the tension is building up to fever pitch. The killer’s is brutally killing his victims and it is a race against time for Marlowe to prevent further murders. Marlowe is committed and will do all she can to catch the killer and protect the innocent people of Clark Valley.

I am always amazed how Jeffery Deaver manages to put so much substance into his short stories, the characters are surprisingly well developed and the plots are detailed considering they are not full novels. Each character has layers and it is difficult to work out who can be trusted.

The tension build throughout and there are twists and turns are well formulated to keep the reader guessing. The killer’s fixation on the number three and the patterns he follows adds to the suspense as well as adding a darkness to the story.

This is a good short story written with so much development that it defies its length

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Jefferey Deaver is at his best when writing about twisty tales and psychological thrillers. This is one of his best. It is touted as Novella length but is a healthy read, full of twists and turns. Hero and former boxer Constance Marlowe has her hands full when she arrives in a small town to catch a killer that has struck twice in recent weeks. He has attacked young women on remote trails, attacking them sexually and brutally murdering them by bludgeoning. He left a few clues, eye drops, distinctive shoes, and little else. Constant is left mesmerized and frankly shocked by the skill of the small town police force, the clues that are not clues, and the small town's lack of diversity. This is one you won't want to miss. Hoping that Deaver writes more about Constant, she is an intriguing character all her own. Thanks to #NetGalley#JefferyDeaver#TheRuleofThrees for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I am not a fna of this novella by Jeffrey Deaver. Special Agent Constant Marlowe is taking over the investigation of an obsessed serial killer trolling the small town of Clark Valley in the quiet plains of the Midwest. There are two female victims with the same brutal MO, and every indication that victim number three is only days away. When she interviews a local family who may be potential witnesses, she leads the killer to their doorstep, throwing their lives into chaos. Constant will do anything to protect them, but it won’t be easy. Very strange story and difficult to follow.

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. While called a novella, it reads more like a full although somewhat short novel. I like this new character and hope to see her again. There were maybe a few too many twists but I was totally blown away by the ending and would highly recommend this.

If Jeffrey Deaver had an alto-ego her stage name would be Miss Direction.

In this short story he re-introduces us to Special Agent Constant Marlowe. A compelling and unconventional law enforcement officer worthy of a whole book all to herself, if not a series as the investigator.

That said I just found the team she heads up in Bowman County a complete delight and full of interesting characters. Initially the Sheriff feels put out that her specialist skills in hunting and capturing serial killing takes the investigation out of his hands. But in part due to his shared values, her personality and a willing team of officers not used to serious crime makes for an engaging story.

I struggled with the first third of the novella as it seemed like a grisly case of a mounting death count with Marlowe unable to identify the perpetrator or save the next victim.

Perhaps with a less trusted author I might of given up rather than re-reading the first few chapters again. But I have always been gratified by Deaver’s story telling and therefore resolved to read it in full in one sitting.

I wasn’t disappointed. I was completely bemused and left wondering what was going on and the plot twists and turns like the Mississippi River. I just loved the links with Tom Sawyer and this threw me as well.

I think the amateur detective and the knowledge gained from true-life crime documentaries was a starting point for the author here. A work of great skill and plot manipulation which should flummox the most ardent follower of this genre.

So glad I read it finally at my third attempt and so disappointed that it finished so abruptly when I could have continued in this story for many more hours.

This is a thriller set in a small town in the Midwest. Two young women have been murdered, so special agent Constant Marlowe is on the hunt.
This is a hard hitting story with lots of twists and a few red herrings. There is no way you will guess killer. Our devious author makes sure of that. All the characters are fascinating. Particularly our heroine, who has a few tricks up her sleeve, and the team she works with, are better than she had hoped for.
I'm hoping this is part of a series starring this heroine. I like her and would like to read more.
Exciting story.

Completely did not see the twists in this story….liked the main character Constant, her detective skills, and the story definitely went overboard in the twists… did not enjoy the part of the land grab…didn’t seem to mesh that well with the rest of the story.

I've long been a fan of Jeffery Deaver and I really enjoyed The Rule of Threes, which is billed as a novella, but is actually more accurately described as a shorter novel. It's action-packed and filled with misdirection and nothing is as it seems.

The story moves quickly with no dull moments so it holds the attention from start to finish. The characters are well drawn and really interesting. I would definitely recommend this one.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Published by Amazon Original Stories on March 1, 2024

The Rule of Threes is a serial killer novella that challenges the reader to identify the killer. To solve the puzzle, the reader will need to identify the killer’s motivation. Jeffery Deaver adds so many plot twists that the reader will be challenged to keep up with the novella’s changing landscape. Solving the mystery is out of the question.

Constant Marlowe is the protagonist in one of Deaver’s ongoing series. Constant is the kind of police detective who makes her own rules. Those rules aren’t always consistent with the law. Fictional cops who go Dirty Harry on criminals are popular with consumers of crime fiction even if, in the real world, cops who don’t obey the law have no business being cops.

Constant makes her way to Clark Valley, Illinois to investigate a serial killer. Only two women have been killed, so it might be more accurate to say that she is concerned about a budding serial killer. The killer earns the name BRK (for Bludgeon, Rape, and Kill) because that’s what he does to his victims and the media like to identify serial killers by cool names or initials.

The first victim was killed three days before the second. Both are young women of similar size who have short dark hair. As Constant examines the crime scene, Joseph Ray Whelan is hiding in the woods, watching her work. Is he the killer? That would be telling.

A Native American Deputy Sheriff is assigned as Constant’s local contact. They use a gas station security camera to identify license plates of cars that drove past the park where the second killing occurred, hoping one of the drivers might have witnessed something. That strategy brings them into contact with Glen Hope, who was driving his daughter Tamara to her college residence in a nearby town. They stopped to eat lunch in the park, but they give Constant no useful information. Tamara will later become an attempted murder victim, perhaps because BRK believes she is a witness who needs to be removed.

Although her investigation doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, a couple of big dumb guys attack Constant. In the story’s background is a newly discovered treaty that may grant an indigenous tribe the rights to certain land. The attempted thrashing may have been inspired by white supremacists in the Eagle Brotherhood who think that Constant’s presence in the area has something to do with the treaty. They don’t realize that Constant used to be a professional boxer. She likes nothing more than punching big dumb guys. She thinks the guys have been hired to attack her but someone with a rifle foils her plan to beat the truth out of them.

Other key characters are in the business of fencing stolen goods or money laundering. The disparate parts of the story — probably too many for a novella — come together when Constant, using her brain rather than her fists, pieces together clues that reveal an explanation for the killings. She exposes the killer, or thinks she does, but the story continues.

Like most modern crime novels that depend on plot twists, the reader must accept implausible developments for the sake of enjoying the story. What seems to be a final twist at the end is soon followed by another. And another. And one for good measure at the very end. All the twisting struck me as overkill, but such is the way of the modern crime novel. The ending is a bit abrupt, but at least it puts an end to all the twists.

The Rule of Threes is better than the last serial killer story that Deaver wrote for Amazon Original Stories. It might be criticized as formulaic if the formula is “stuff as many surprises into the story as possible.” That is, in fact, an approach that Deaver often takes.

The notion that a character is obsessed with “threes” is gimmicky but contributes nothing to the story. Constant is a fairly one-dimensional character so plot is everything. While I wasn’t entirely sold on the plot, it moves quickly and is reasonably entertaining. The word count is sufficiently high that the novella offers a meatier reading experience than many Amazon Short Originals, including others that Deaver has written, so the story earns an unenthusiastic recommendation.

RECOMMENDED

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

The Rule of Threes by Jeffery Deaver is a novella that plunges readers into the depths of a small-town mystery with the introduction of Special Agent Constant Marlowe. Deaver, known for his intricate plots and sharp twists, does not disappoint in this latest addition to his repertoire.

Set against the backdrop of Clark Valley, a seemingly tranquil town, Marlowe’s investigation into a series of brutal murders quickly unravels a tapestry of deceit. The novella’s title, The Rule of Threes, is a clever nod to the pattern emerging in the killer’s method, but also to Deaver’s narrative technique, which is to mislead the reader with a triad of false leads before revealing the truth.

Deaver’s mastery of suspense is evident as he weaves a complex web of red herrings and unexpected turns. The protagonist, Constant Marlowe, is a formidable character, combining the tenacity of a seasoned investigator with the grit of a former MMA fighter. Her encounters with the local neo-Nazi bikers add a layer of adrenaline to the story, showcasing her physical prowess and moral fortitude.

The novella’s strength lies in its pacing and Deaver’s linguistic precision. He carefully crafts each sentence to both reveal and conceal, guiding the reader through a labyrinth of assumptions only to surprise them at each corner. This meticulous attention to detail is what makes The Rule of Threes a compelling read.

While the story occasionally stretches the bounds of plausibility, it remains a solid piece of detective fiction. Fans of the genre will appreciate the procedural elements, while Deaver’s loyal readers will enjoy the familiar thrill of being outwitted by his narrative sleight of hand.

The Rule of Threes is a testament to Jeffery Deaver’s ability to maintain tension and intrigue over the course of a shorter work. It’s a quick read that packs a punch!