I only had one bone to pick with The Bone Collector, but otherwise it's a very well written suspense thriller. Lincoln Rhymes' deductive ability rivals that of Sherlock Holmes making him the best forensic scientist in the country until an accident leaves him a bitter and suicidal quadriplegic. Unable to move anything, but his head and two fingers he is trying to convince a Kvorkian style doctor to help him kill himself when the Bone Collector, an especially gruesome serial killer, strikes for the first time. Friends on the police force bring the case to Rhymes both to pick his still brilliant brain and to give him a reason to go on. Using a patrol woman as his 'legman', a la Archie Goodwin, Rhymes goes up against his handicap, his depression and even the FBI in an effort to keep the Bone Collector from killing again. The Bone Collector is very well written, has lots of fascinating detail regarding forensics and is filled with interesting characters. This was also the best 'arm chair' detective novel I've read since Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series. The book's only flaw, the 'bone' I mentioned earlier I had to pick with it, was really, really dumb, but involves a spoiler so if you want to read it go to my spoiler box below. Otherwise, let's just say that in my opinion the climax of the book was completely impossible and I doubt I would believe it even if I saw it in real life. One other small nit to pick is that while some clues were dropped as to the Bone Collector's identity there weren't enough to give the reader a fair chance at figuring it out for themselves. Otherwise The Bone Collector was very good and well worth reading

Begin highlighting at the asterisk to read the spoiler.* At the end of The Bone Collector the killer catches Rhymes alone and tries to kill him. Rhymes tricks the man into coming close enough that he can grab him by the throat with his teeth, holding on during the man's attempts to pull loose until he eventually tears out the Bone Collector's throat killing him. I'm sorry, but that's not only unbelievable, it's really, really dumb.*

Grade: A

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