After a paralizing accident on a crime scene, forensic specialist Lincoln Rhyme has not the will to live anymore. His life is chained to a bed, being quadraplegic, his bitter existence only punctuated by the loneliness. Until a gruesome murderer and kidnapper begins a speeding race of murder and staged crime scenes, where any clue might get the police enforces or ruin the life of the next kidnapped victim. Each time a victim is found, there's a new challenge, a new set of clues that leads to the next crime scene. Rhyme gains complete control over the case, even though he is now merely a civilian. Along the way he recruits an efficient group, included Amelia Sachs, a patrolwoman disappointed by her work and just hours away from her retirement from the streets. She had the bad luck to find the first body and the first pack of clues. Rhyme knows she is not a pro, but he wants her to be his sensorial aid in the crime scenes. She is not as skilled as a tech might be, but Rhyme suspects she has natural talent. Setting aside their personal stories, they run against the clock to prevent each of the grisly murders the killer is plotting around specific places in NY. But the deranged man that calls himself the Bone Collector has a very specific agenda and he won't stop until his deeds are fulfilled.

 

   Deaver is plainly a master. Like his killer, he stages clues in each part of his book, leaving them scattered to fool the reader. The killer is artisticly drawn, his "good guys" aren't fake, they seem real, palpable. The crime story is perfectly woven, very complex, but, at the same time, written with frightening speed.

 

   The novel works in two levels: as a classic crime tale, and a dark but human read. The crime part is unflawed, a tight work that is helped by the skillfull forensic research Deaver did. The human side of The Bone Collector is strong, too. Rhyme is one of the most appaling mystery characters to come in many a year. His cynical point of view only makes the already grim panorama dimmer. But his sarcasm isn't just the product of his no-use-as-a-human-anymore trauma. It's a shield against the exterior, a way of giving up life at last. But the introduction of Amelia and the new found strenght to work levels the balance. His drama unfolds as we know the scary life of a discapacitated person and the risks that the man took as a chriminalist.

 

   The ultimate surprise comes at the end. But before that, the revelations go in crescendo until each of the puzzle in everyone's life is fit. Deaver doesn't conform with revealing the identity of the killer; he takes several parts of his plot and he turns and leaves them at a new horrible perspective where nothing was what seemed to be. From previous works, the reader might always think that he won't never surprise again, but he manages to do it somehow.

 

   So, never will you lift your eyes from The Bone Collector.