Product Description

New York City is thrown into chaos by the assaults of the Bone Collector, a serial kidnapper and killer who gives the police a chance to save his victims from death by leaving obscure clues. The cops go to Lincoln Rhyme, an ex-NYPD forensics expert left paralysed after an accident on the job. Rhyme reluctantly postpones his ambitions towards suicide and puts together a forensic investigation team, enlisting as his eyes and ears young police officer Amelia Sachs.

Rhyme digs deep into the only world he has left - his astonishing mind - and slowly begins to narrow the noose around the Bone Collector. But the kidnapper is narrowing his own noose - around Lincoln Rhyme.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92009 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The hero of Jeffery Deaver's thriller The Bone Collector is Lincoln Rhyme, a forensic scientist known to his peers as "the world's foremost criminalist". Rhyme will need all his reason--and his considerable stock of high-tech tools--about him to solve this latest brain-twister: a serial killer with method to his madness. In tried and true thriller fashion, the killer's crimes are described in lurid detail, as is the astounding technological equipment with which Rhyme examines the evidence--everything from an energy-dispersive x-ray unit to a mass spectrometer.

Every fictional detective has his or her gimmick, from Sherlock Holmes's violin to Nero Wolf's orchids, and Rhyme is no exception. He is a quadriplegic who can move nothing but a single finger. Gadget-philes will be in seventh heaven reading about Lincoln Rhyme's tools; other readers might feel the book could do with a few more plausible characters and a little less technology. --Amazon.com

Review
Praise for Jeffery Deaver's other novels -- : 'There's no question...about Deaver's unexcelled ability to pull the wool over your eyes. When he describes a colorless, odorless glass of liquid as water, don't assume it is until somebody drinks it down - or maybe till an hour later.' -- Kirkus Reviews on THE TWELFTH CARD 'The best psychological thriller writer around' -- The Times 'The most creative, skilled and intriguing thriller writer in the world ... [Deaver] has produced a stunning series of bestsellers with unique characterisation, intelligent characters, beguiling plots and double-barrelled and sometimes triple-barrelled solutions.' -- Daily Telegraph 'This is a novel that will chill your blood on the warmest day of any summer holiday. Keep looking over your shoulder...' -- Independent on Sunday 'Jeffery Deaver is a master at crafting intricate crimes that are solved through guile, tenacity and sheer creative genius. And Lincoln Rhyme is one of a kind.' -- Harlan Coben

Review
'Sophisticated chiller... compulsive reading' Guardian

'Engrossing, entertaining and fizzing with energy, this is a suspense thriller to keep narcolepts awake' Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News

'Those who were gripped by Deaver's last novel, A Maiden's Grave, will not be surprised at the double-double-take finale, but I am willing to bet they still won't get it. Another genuinely compulsive chiller from the best psychological thriller writer around' Peter Millar, The Times

‘Superlatively plotted novel, rich in reversal and false endings’ The Sunday Times

'Deaver marries forensic work that would do Patricia Cornwell proud to a turbocharged plot that puts Benzedrine to shame' - Kirkus Reviews

'Deaver's villains are often intelligent as well as violent and, in his latest yarn hae has created a most unusual hero, plus his most inventive killer...the plot twists dramatically' Middlesborough Evening Gazette

'Take Patricia Cornwell's forensic investigation, add Thomas Harris and serial killers and mix in the tension that made Deaver's last novel A Maiden's Grave such a gripping read and you have THE BONE COLLECTOR, with the added bonus that it features one of the most original investigators in the history of crime fiction' Shropshire Star

'Truly gripping' Peterborough Evening Telegraph

'Deaver has made a very good fist of scaring the pants of his readers. One to be read during daylight hours, and definitely not in a taxi' Irish Times

'Full of twists and turns, building up to a nail-biting climax' Yorkshire Evening Press

'A suitably bizarre hero for a flamboyantly grotesque thriller...The Bone Collector craftily blends aspects of several recent trends in crime fiction. This breakneck thrill-ride reads like a movie, but there's some admirable writing' Wall Street Journal

'Jeffery Deaver has produced one of the most explosive thrillers of the year. Don't miss it' Liverpool Daily Post

'Undeniably effective, but ultra-grisly. Approach with care' Literary Review

‘The contemporary psychological thriller doesn’t get any better than this, the stunning and ingeniously-wrought tale... This is a sensational thriller, brilliantly researched, chilling and almost unbearably gripping to the very end’ Northern Echo

‘Unsettling stuff with a surprisingly heart-warming ending’ Dorset Evening Echo

'Sophisticated chiller... compulsive reading' (Guardian )

'Engrossing, entertaining and fizzing with energy, this is a suspense thriller to keep narcolepts awake' (Val McDermid )

'Those who were gripped by Deaver's last novel, A Maiden's Grave, will not be surprised at the double-double-take finale, but I am willing to bet they still won't get it. Another genuinely compulsive chiller from the best psychological thriller writer around' (Peter Millar, The Times )

‘Superlatively plotted novel, rich in reversal and false endings’ (The Sunday Times )

Customer Reviews

Rhymes first though not his best
Strangely this is the last of the Lincloln Rhyme books that I decided to read, strange in that it is infact the first book of the Lincoln Rhyme series. The reason I had not read it is that it didnt seem as grabbing as the other titles and whilst its good it certainly doesnt rank amongst the Rhyme-Deaver best.

The book is identical in plot to the usual Rhyme novel stop the badguy before they kill again, using a team of NYPD cops a disabled genius and a supermodel policewoman (sounds ridiculous right). It is infact a brilliant blend that makes for a great book every time.

Rhyme in his first book is contemplating suicide whilst trying to stop a copycat killer obsessed with human bones, the killer leaves clues at the crime scene in order to give the police a chance to save the next victim and on goes the story.

Typical Deaver puts in a twist or two at the end and though this one was a little obvious (im not sure if its generally obvious or just because ive read every RHyme-Deaver novel) it was still good to get to. Definitely a book worth adding to your shelf but not quite as good as The Coffin Dancer or a few of his other brilliant novels.

Deaver...A Genius!
This book has every element for an overly gore filled blood-fest: Blood, death, more blood, more death, and oh so many bones. However the scillful handling of otherwise pulpy materiel transforms this into a rivoting read with more twists than a corkscrew factory in a black hole. Deaver has the unique ability to draw us into a false sense of security before bringing the entire plot down in tatters, and still have us desperate for more. And anouther Rhyme novel 'the twelth card' is on the way HALLEJULA!

NO BONE TO PICK WITH THE BONE COLLECTOR...
This is an especially suspenseful thriller made more so by the personal angst of the main character, Lincoln Rhyme. A quadriplegic, forensic ex-detective for the New York City Police Department, Rhyme is brought out of retirement by the police department to assist them in the apprehension of an apparently psychopathic killer who is loose on the streets of New York.

The forays into bits of arcane New York history, as well as the sleuthing done almost entirely through the application of forensics and deductive reasoning, make for a very interesting read. While at times it seems that no one could be as uncannily accurate as Rhyme in deciphering the meaning of the physical evidence, this contrivance does serve to move the plot along. With the story line so engrossing and the crime scenes horrific, as well as ingenious, it is the kind of book that is hard to put down, because you simply cannot wait to see what happens. The surprise ending is the icing on the cake.

Assisting Rhyme with his work is Police Officer Sachs who, while not as compelling a character as Rhyme, is essential to the story. It is her character who does the 'heavy lifting' so to speak. Highly intelligent and resourceful, with an innate appreciation of the importance of physical evidence, she inspects and preserves the crime scenes, as well as gathers the physical evidence from which Rhyme ultimately weaves his magic. She also serves as somewhat of a Deus Ex Machina in that she saves the day in more ways than one.

Sachs is a wonderful foil for Rhyme in that she runs hot to his cold. She is driven by her desire to help others, as well as by her own personal demons, while he is ever the calm, cool, collected clinician, whose desire to preserve a crime scene may supercede the milk of human kindness latent within his emotionally atrophied soul. The personal connection that Rhyme ultimately develops with Officer Sachs is one that leaves you hoping that they will be teamed up again in yet another novel.