The Vanished Man

The world has changed and so has Bond, James Bond.
    Jeffery Deaver brings superspy 007 into the twenty-first century with his #1 bestseller
    CARTE BLANCHE
    “Brilliantly captures Fleming’s style . . . with Deaver’s trademark twists flying.”
    —The Washington Post
    “Ian Fleming was a master. . . . Deaver too is a genius and this publishing marriage was truly made in heaven.”
    — The Sunday Express
    “The pairing is as smooth as vodka and vermouth.”
    — Parade
    “A new, streamlined incarnation for a new generation of global fears.”
    —The Guardian
    “[A] worthy homage. . . . Think of Jack Bauer let loose in Whitehall.”
    — The London Times
    “Thrilling and genuinely surprising.”
    — Heat
    “Deaver combines the best of Fleming’s crisp, eclectic style without compromising his own ability to tell a cracking story.”
    — Literary Review
    “Intricate and inventive, surprising and satisfying.”
    — Publishers Weekly
    “Fantastic. . . . Jeffery Deaver truly got it .”
    — Ann Arbor News
    Suspense fiction that “stokes our paranoia” (Entertainment Weekly), from the inimitable Jeffery Deaver!
    EDGE
    “Wildly twisted . . . a nail-biter.”
    — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
    “Ingenious.”
    — The New York Times Book Review
    “Deaver unveils some nifty new tricks in this edge-of-your-seat thriller.”
    — Publishers Weekly
    “Twist-filled. . . . The odds seem to change with each turn of the page.”
    — The Wall Street Journal
    The “grand master of the ticking-clock thriller” (Kathy Reichs) puts special agent Kathryn Dance on a harrowing online manhunt
    ROADSIDE CROSSES
    Chosen as a Hot Summer Thriller on TheDailyBeast.com !
    “Clever and twisted. . . . Don’t miss this one.”
    — Library Journal
    “The techno-savvy Deaver . . . has one of those puzzle-loving minds you just can’t trust.”
    —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
    “Deaver’s got the world of social networking and blogs down cold. . . . That dose of realism adds a fresh, contemporary edge.”
    —David Montgomery, TheDailyBeast.com
    Be sure to read his ninth sizzling Lincoln Rhyme bestseller
    THE BURNING WIRE
    “Deaver, master of the plot twist, does his usual magic. . . .”
    — Booklist
    “Shocking twists . . . electrically charged.”
    — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
    And praise for all of the Lincoln Rhyme novels, “masterpieces of modern criminology” ( Philadelphia Daily News )
    “A thrill ride between covers.”
    — Los Angeles Times
    “Devious and heart-stopping.”
    — Ottawa Citizen
    “Dazzling.”
    — The New York Times
    “Prime Deaver . . . prime entertainment.”
    — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
    “Deaver must have been born with a special plot-twist gene.”
    — Booklist
    “Keeps the pulse racing while challenging the emotions. . . .”
    — Orlando Sentinel
    “A mastermind of manipulation.”
    — Library Journal
    “High-tension wired. . . . Deaver . . . fills every keystroke with suspense.”
    — People

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To Madelyn Warcholik

“A conjuring trick is generally regarded by magicians as consisting of an effect and a method. The effect is what the spectator sees. . . . The method is the secret behind the effect and allows the effect to take place.”
    —Peter Lamont and Richard Wiseman,
Magic in Theory

I
    EFFECT

    Saturday, April 20
    “The expert magician seeks to deceive the mind, rather than the eye.”
    —M ARVIN K AYE, The Creative Magician’s Handbook

Chapter One
    Greetings, Revered Audience. Welcome.
    Welcome to our show.
    We have a number of thrills in store for you over the next two days as our illusionists, our magicians, our sleight-of-hand artists weave their spells to delight and captivate you.
    Our first routine is from the repertoire of a performer everyone’s heard of: Harry Houdini, the greatest escape artist in America, if not the world, a man who performed before crowned heads of state and U.S. presidents. Some of his escapes are so difficult no one has dared attempt them, all these years after his untimely death.
    Today we’ll re-create an escape in which he risked suffocation in a routine known as the Lazy