Sunday Synopsis

The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For the longest time, I thought I had already read this book. I was thinking it was part of Jefferson Bass's Body Farm series, but I finally figured out that it's not. It's a different series, a different author, and only now on my "read" list.

Lincoln Rhyme is a brilliant criminalist forced into early retirement when an accident leaves him a quadriplegic. Amelia Sachs is a police officer who meets Rhyme by accident. Earlier that morning, she had stopped a train on its tracks and prevented foot traffic from walking through a crime scene, until other officers showed up and overruled her decision. Rhyme has been asked to come out of retirement to help the NYPD find a sadistic killer who is leaving clues about each of his next victims at the crime scene, and he wants Sachs on the case with him. Rhyme convinces Sachs to be his eyes, hands, and feet as she walks the "grid" according to Rhyme's directions.

This killer is smart. He knows how to avoid leaving prints and trace evidence. The team learns that the unsub has an unusual fascination with bones and the underground, and he fancies old New York. Will Rhyme, Sachs, and a slew of detectives and experts be able to find the unsub? And how will the unsub react if he can't stump them with his clues?

This is a very cleverly detailed story, and it was hard to put down. Amelia Sachs is the first character we meet. We are then introduced to Lincoln Rhyme. Both characters are difficult to like, especially in the first third of the book or so. The story is so good, though, that it's easy to get around that. At least the characters are well-developed and not caricatures.

The story was convoluted, not difficult to follow, just so many meticulous details went into the plot. There are so many twists and turns that you most likely haven't read about in every other serial murder plot. I'm not sure if that means Jeffery Deaver's mind is crazy or crafty, or maybe, a little of both. (Just kidding.) You're definitely in for a bumpy ride! The only time it got predictable was near the end.

I really couldn't put it down, which must be why I read this almost 400 page book in five days. It usually takes much longer, but I was really hooked!

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