Bone Collector [Paperback]

Jeffery Deaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 1997

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Deaver (A Maiden's Grave) is too fond of gimmicks. They range in this novel from the extreme (his detective here, Lincoln Rhyme, is a quadriplegic who can move only one finger) to the moderately eccentric (beautiful policewoman Amelia Sachs, who acts as Rhyme's arms and legs, suffers from arthritis). And his villain, a serial killer who models his crimes on ones he finds in a book on criminal life in old New York, has an uncomfortable way of slaying each of his victims in ways guaranteed to stop the heart or turn the stomach: buried alive, flayed by high-pressure steam, eaten by hungry rats, burned alive, attacked by mad dogs. All this takes place in the course of one busy New York weekend as the killer helpfully leaves playful little clues as to where he's going to strike next and Rhyme uses his immense savvy (and a battery of computerized testing tools) to figure it out. The whole affair, in fact, is incredibly silly, though the headlong narrative, with Sachs arriving in the nick of time (driving at 80 mph through New York streets) to perform rescues that seem to belong in a comic strip rather than a novel, never lets up, and there is plenty of genuine forensic knowledge in evidence. There are dramatic switcheroos up to the very last page, and a climactic battle to the death that might make even teenage boys wince. For it seems to be at that kind of readership?uncritical and doting on violence?that the novel is aimed. 100,000 first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; film rights sold to Martin Bregman and Universal Pictures; simultaneous Penguin audio. (Mar.) FYI: An HBO movie of A Maiden's Grave, starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, will air in January 1997.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Coronet; 1st ed pb edition (September 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340682116
• ISBN-13: 978-0340682111
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (306 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,265,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffery Deaver was born outside of Chicago in 1950. His father was an advertising copywriter and his mother was a homemaker. He has one younger sister who writes novels for teenagers ' Julie Reece Deaver.

Deaver wrote his first book ' which consisted of two entire chapters ' when he was eleven, and he's been writing ever since. An award-winning poet and journalist, he has also written and performed his own songs around the country. After receiving a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri, Deaver worked as a magazine writer, then, to gain the background needed to become a legal correspondent for The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, he enrolled at Fordham Law School. After graduation he decided to practice law for a time and worked for several years as an attorney for a large Wall Street firm. It was during his long commute to and from the office that he began writing the type of fiction he enjoyed reading: suspense novels. In 1990 he started to write full time.

The author of twenty-two novels, Deaver has been nominated for six Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, an Anthony award, a Gumshoe Award, and is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year. In 2001, he won the W.H. Smith Thumping Good Read Award for his Lincoln Rhyme novel The Empty Chair. In 2004, he was awarded the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Garden Of Beasts and the Short Story Dagger for "The Weekender." Translated into 35 languages, his novels have appeared on a number of bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the London Times and the Los Angeles Times. The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme. A Maiden's Grave was made into an HBO film retitled Dead Silence, starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin.

Jeff has also released two collections of his short stories, called Twisted and More Twisted.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WALKING THE "GRID" WITH LINCOLN AND AMELIA, June 17, 2000

By 

Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bone Collector (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel) (Hardcover)

In The Bone Collector, the first in a series featuring Lincoln Rhymes, we are introduced to probably one of the best criminalist minds that have ever been written about. Perhaps it's because the main character, Lincoln Rhymes, does not have the day to day trivialities that cloud up one's mind on a daily basis. Rhymes is a quadriplegic and can only move one finger. He is a former NYPD criminalogist whose spine was severely injured while working a crime scene. Now he is confined to his townhouse apartment in Manhattan where, with the help of some state of the art electronics and equipment, he is still able to help the NYPD solve some gruesome crimes.

Enter Amelia Sachs, a beautiful policewoman, who becomes Lincoln's protege, possible love interest and eyes and ears on upcoming crime scenes. I read this book after the movie trailers were out so it was easy to picture Denzel Washington as Rhymes and Angelina Jolie as Sachs. Deaver is a master at explaining and detailing police procedure and is so adept at analyzing a crime scene that by the time I was finished, I felt as if I could "walk the grid" and "bag the evidence". The homicidal maniac in this book is as evil as they come but Lincoln is able to stay one step ahead of him. If there is a book that can honestly be termed a "page-turner", this is it. Upon its completion, however, I don't know if I'll ever be able to ride in a NYC cab and, if I do have to and I see some little toy hanging from the rear view mirror, "I'm outta here".

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will Blow You Away!, February 15, 2000

By 

Karen Bierman Hirsh (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bone Collector (Lincoln Rhyme Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Jeffery Deaver is one the great writers of today -his thrillers are wonderfully twisted, intelligent and fast paced.

This was recently made into a movie which did not do the book justice. Lincoln Rhyme, the NYPD's best and considered to be the world's foremost criminalist - is paralyzed in an accident and seeks solace in silence yet the police desperately need him.

Walking the beat, Amelia Sachs discovers a body buried beneath an overpass (all but his ring finger) and she seals the area off in hopes of salvaging what clues might be left. This action brings her to the attention of Lincoln. The NYPD teams them up to hunt down what might be the cities most deranged killer.

This book was fabulous - but it had a major flaw -it ended! I fell in love with Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs and I couldn't put the book down. It was thriller through and through - and as a bonus it was well written and the characters were so real that you almost felt like you were there with them.

I can't wait to see where Jeffery Deaver takes us next

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For those who truly like the gruesome and creative, May 16, 2000

By 

Andrea Egger, author of Grave Accusations (Gallup, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bone Collector (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow-- a top forensic police officer working from his bed as a quadriplegic. Such a great idea that has NEVER been thought of before!

And from the very beginning, where police find a man buried alive with one hand sticking out of the ground, a finger shaved of skin and wearing a woman's ring, the depraved of New York City shine through this book about a serial killer/kidnapper. A beautiful woman must help our "crip," as he calls himself, solve each crime, for which the killer leaves clues to the next victim, before the victim dies.

A great suspense novel, one which I wanted to read before I saw the movie with the gorgeous Denzel Washington playing the quadriplegic and newcomer Angelina Jolie playing the red-headed "partner" for this forensic, bedded genius.

Deaver has created two superb characters who work together with superb sexual tension between them. Readers should check out the next book, "The Coffin Dancer," which features the same players. Hopefully Deaver has more coming for us.

Deaver is Patricia Cornwell caliber, a hard task to accomplish!