The Tracker series by Jeffery Deaver has been made into the TV show “Tracker” — starring Justin Hartley as protagonist Colter Shaw — and it’s something my wife and I watch (although I’m probably a bigger fan than she is). Recently, I started reading the books, too.

Deaver and I were once part of a group that met informally in a restaurant called Old Europe (although, with its breaded pork schnitzel, potato salad, and German lager, it could’ve been called Old Germany). He also authored the Lincoln Rhyme series, the first of which was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington as the paraplegic, crime-solving titular character.

In short, Deaver is a (very rich) writer specializing in crime fiction, and his Tracker books don’t disappoint. The volume I’m reading right now is The Final Twist from 2022, which concerns Shaw’s occasionally estranged brother, Russell.

In both the TV program and the books, Shaw, a survivalist, seeks rewards for rescuing lost individuals, and he does some of that in this one, too. But the main plot hinges on the possible killer of his father and features a courier bag containing a signed judge’s order from just before the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco. The order allowed corporations to be considered individuals; the novel’s villain is a billionaire with dozens of corporations who wants to take over America and the rest of the world.

If this sounds familiar (see Citizens United and you-know-who), you won’t be surprised to learn that the plot is somewhat formulaic. But the proceedings are elevated in the book because Deaver is a master at building suspense. The TV show is another matter; it’s quite formulaic.

All of which goes to confirm the old adage: The book was better.

Darrell Delamaide is the author of two suspense novels, Gold and The Grand Mirage, as well as nonfiction books Debt Shock and The New Superregions of Europe.