books

There's life -- and then there's virtual life, the online world that exists in blogs, chats, games, social networks. What happens when the line between them gets fuzzy?

In his author's note at the beginning of his latest thriller, "Roadside Crosses" (Simon & Schuster, 416 pages, $26.95), Jeffery Deaver describes the novel as "blurring the line between the 'synthetic world' -- the online life -- and the real world." And that it does, in an unsettling, very real way.

Deaver is perhaps best known for his series featuring forensic genius Lincoln Rhyme and officer Amelia Sachs. The first novel in that series, "The Bone Collector," was made into a feature film. This book features his newest star: Kathryn Dance, a California Bureau of Investigation kinesics (body language) expert. Dance, introduced in the Rhyme novel "The Cold Moon" and featured in "The Sleeping Doll," really comes into her own in this intricately plotted novel.

Dance is assigned the case when roadside crosses begin popping up. Rather than commemorate victims, these crosses announce future crimes. A girl is left to drown in her car; another is tied up in her basement amid toxic fumes.

Suspicion quickly lands on Travis Brigham, a troubled teen who spends hours playing a MMORPG, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (think World of Warcraft). Travis was recently involved in a fatal accident that killed two teenage girls, and he is the subject of vicious comments posted on a popular blog. The victims of the crimes noted on the crosses are among those who have posted remarks harshly critical of him.

As Dance investigates, she becomes immersed in the online world. She begins to understand how easy the Internet makes it for people to lash out at others and how few people understand the repercussions of their actions.

What's said on the Web stays on the Web, and there's really no such thing as remaining anonymous, she learns.

The book has wonderful subplots. One involves a death that occurred in "The Sleeping Doll," but it is explained well enough that a new reader will follow the connection. Another brings a romance for Dance, a widow with two children.

Deaver invites readers to visit the websites that pop up in the course of the story. Do it. It adds a strange realism and eeriness to the story, and it will drive home the point: It's often hard to separate the real and virtual worlds.

Judy Romanowich Smith is a news designer at the Star Tribune.