The Bone Collector (1997)

Book 1, in the Lincoln Rhyme series

Written in 1997 this novel introduces Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic forensic criminalist as its main protagonist with Amelia Sachs, a 31 year old police officer, as its main character, along with them it showcases strong secondary characters in Lon Sellito, a homicide detective working for the NYPD and Thom, Lincoln Rhymes’ full-time care assistant. The movie adaptation starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie was made in 1999. To this day, this series is a success and still strong in the ratings.

In “The Bone Collector”, the plot depicts a frantic race to save lives and catch a killer , it has a generous hunk of CSI style forensics investigation, is action packed with a multitude of wild chases, some fascinating disclosures and a few gruesome scenes and the pages are filled with Interesting and colourful characters. We have drama and suspense everywhere and there isn't much down time for a breather.

Rhymes is a high-level quad, a man trap in a broken body with a sole falcon living on his windowsill as company and it quickly becomes apparent that he is a bitter, angry and aggressive, he is strongly considering suicide. When his loneliness is interrupted by his former colleague who needs help in an ongoing crime investigation his interest eventually peaks at the highest level, just what was needed for Rhymes set aside the decision of suicide. Assisted by the beautiful Amelia Sachs they track down a killer whose ingenious clues hold secret to saving his victims. There is a lot going on I will abstain to divulge in order to tease you….

This is quite a captivating story an absolute page turner …... “The Coffin Dancer” is the next to follow the Lincoln and Amelia saga and I surely will add it on my TBR list.

Too many books …too little time but never too late to read a good story. ( )

ANIMOTO http://animoto.com/play/Fs1kz7Sy108E9zFFbxEZCw ( )

Thriller mysteries aren't generally my cup of tea but I really did enjoy this one. It was extremely fast paced and the serial killer added some historical intrigue to New York City that I found appealing.

The book starts off as young Detective Sachs discovers a hand emerging from the dirt. As she assesses the crime scene she realizes that the killer left behind clues that have to be deciphered in order to find the next victims before they too are killed in an unfortunate manner. She gets paired up with Lincoln Rhyme, formerly one of the best criminalists in the country and now quadriplegic, and together they make an unlikely duo as they try to track down one of the smartest and most demented serial killers New York City has ever seen.

This novel is great, but not for the faint of heart, there are scenes that will make your stomach churn and make you sleep with the light on. Lincoln and Sachs have their hands full with one crafty and disgusting serial murderer.

This suspenseful read is also the basis for the movie, "The Bone Collector," starring Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, and Queen Latifa. The movie follows the novel quite well and is a great adaptation. Fans of the lead character, Lincoln, will be pleased to learn that there is a whole series dedicated to his thrilling adventures. ( )

Once upon a time, during my undergrad, I did a module on crime fiction. It was fascinating stuff, but I had major problems with the lecturer. One problem was that when I sent in an anonymous suggestion that she warn students of the level of sexual violence in one of the books, she responded that students shouldn't be such "fragile little flowers", and should have expected it on a course about crime. I constantly regret not standing up and pointing out to her that I am not weak for wanting a warning before I read stuff like that -- I am, after all, someone who has been sexually assaulted -- and that "crime" does not and should not automatically mean "rape and torture". In all the other books we read for the course, it just meant murder. Anyway, that took my breath away, but the following week was even worse.

She told us that she was thinking about adding new books to the course, and asked for suggestions. This, as near as I can get it with an imperfect memory, is what she said: "Should I add more feminist crime novels? More female detectives? Gay and lesbian detectives? A black detective? A dog detective? A disabled detective -- no, that would be really scraping the barrel."

I am extremely tempted to package this book up and mail it to her with the words "Scraping the barrel?", except that they won't stick in her mind as they did in mine and doubtless in the minds of other disability-knowledgeable people.

This is a pretty smart book. It deals with the issues of its disabled protagonist without making him a superman. It deals with the reactions to him honestly. It deals with the idea of euthanasia and the protagonist's desire to go through with that -- and other people's reactions to that. It doesn't, so far as I could see, fetishise disability (there were one or two points where I went, "uh, y'what?", but they were minor quibbles) or diminish it. We get the details of Lincoln Rhyme's bodily needs in the same way as we get crime scene info.

It is a bit graphic in some places, but there's a sort of clinical tone that carried me through it, unlike in Val McDermid's work. As far as I can remember, thinking back through it, there isn't much sexual content, at least.

The thriller aspect, for me, took a backseat to my curiosity about Rhyme, the way he thought and felt, the way he dealt with the situation. I didn't work things out ahead of Rhyme, and I'm not sure you're meant to, though this isn't to make you feel stupid -- Sachs and the other people assisting Rhyme are also intelligent and sharp, just not in the same way. I think if you know the ending or have a mind like Rhyme's you could keep following the evidence, but I stuck to the human interactions...

In any case, I enjoyed reading it, and while I'm sure that there are quibbles to be had with the portrayal of disability, I thought it was a solid effort. And I think I will send an email to the lecturer I had for that module with some more feedback... ( )

Great book. Anyone who enjoyed the movie must read this book! Much better than the movie. Much more detail, and the plot is slightly different. Great read. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. ( )