The Skin Collector (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel, 12)

If you love a good thriller and mystery, I would definitely recommend the Lincoln Rhymes series. The Skin Collector was another amazing book that I stayed up later to just read more. I do not want to spoil anything. All I’ll say, is this book will be especially enjoyable for people who’ve read the books in order.

I am going to buy the next book of the series now!

In Jeffery Deaver’s 11th entry in the Lincoln Rhyme series, he is still the literary master of the plot twist. Just accept the fact that you will not draw an easy breath from the end of the first chapter until the last page of the book. As the cliché goes, you are constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, and Deaver has a full closet of them to utilize this go round.

As the book promo states, someone is killing New Yorkers by tattooing them with poison. And it’s not that the ink contains poison, causing a get-sick-and-wither-away scenario similar to the Victorian arsenic-in-the-soup method of solving domestic strife. Oh, no! There is no ink, only poison. Heavily concentrated plant-based poisons are used to end the victims’ lives in a short and horrifically agonizing way. But the poison might as well have been ink, because the inflamed flesh is still an impeccable artistic design, complete with cryptic message.

We witness the killer destroy his first victim in the first chapter. We learn his name in the first words of the second chapter. And we spend a great many chapters watching and listening to this man. In fact, we are inside Billy Haven’s head far more in this book than we have ever been allowed inside one of Deaver’s villains before.

At first, the novel takes much the same tack as previous Lincoln Rhyme novels. Rhyme is still all about the physical evidence – the facts, ma’am, nothing but the facts – and is his usual blunt, gruff, sarcastic self. Sachs is still walking the grid, getting the evidence and facts for Rhyme and trying to obtain a psychological profile and accompanying motive to go with the facts.

And, as usual, we have a secondary case to worry with. The Watchmaker, a villain who has starred in several previous novels and is one of Rhyme’s most respected adversaries, has died, unexpectedly, in prison from a heart attack.

Then, as you get a bit further into the story, Deaver’s style changes. Certain words here and certain actions there make you begin to shake your head and squint your eyes. Events that would usually, in previous novels, receive an explanation in a subsequent chapter are left dangling. Certain scenes just feel wrong, not awkward or poorly written but incomplete.

Only little things seem to receive this treatment, but it happens often enough to have a cumulative effect on the reader’s concept of reality. You find yourself going back and re-reading paragraphs because “Do what!” just keeps rolling off your tongue.

Before too long you begin to wonder whether these are writing quirks or actual clues for the reader, clues to which Rhyme and Sachs have no access. And knowing how much Deaver likes to twist the reader in the wind, particularly at the ends of chapters, the decision to treat them as “hidden” clues begins to feel right.

In the end, with Deaver’s writing style, the best you can do is hang on with all your fingers and toes and lean into the curves. Just accept the fact that you will feel off balance most of the time.

And read slowly for maximum exposure to those clues. The last two chapters are worth it.

If you've ever read a Jeffery Deaver novel in the past, then you already know that no matter the story, it's going to be solid, hard to put down, and filled with unexpected twists and turns. The Skin Collector most assuredly carries all of those attributes.

You shouldn't be surprised. After all, this is Deaver's 11th Lincoln Rhyme novel. Presumably you've read at least some of the previous Lincoln Rhyme mysteries and already know Rhyme is a brilliant criminalist locked into a body of a quadriplegic, with almost nothing intact but his brilliant mind. But he's molded his apartment environment to work for him, and rarely needs to leave. Every bit of lab equipment he owns rivals or exceeds the best out there. For Rhyme, though, those are mere tools for a long-term passion: Figuring out puzzles that come from murders, often of the most heinous type.

In The Skin Collector, there are clear parallels to Deaver's earlier novel, The Bone Collector. For me, this wasn't bothersome, but from reading other reviews it's clear other readers were bothered, or even annoyed. However, The Skin Collector is, after all, part of a series. (It's also not the only series that Deaver has in a long career with more than 30 books, most if not all published in a variety of languages because they're so popular.)

But I digress. The Bad Guy in the story is a tattoo artist and a perfectionist. He's also very smart — and indeed, thrilled to be the subject of Rhyme's investigation. That happens quickly because the Bad Guy essentially tattoos people to an early grave. You'll get no spoilers from me. Read the story to see what I'm talking about. Just know that the Bad Guy's own understanding of forensics makes him a worthy rival for Lincoln Rhyme.

Of course, given that Deaver made Rhyme a quadriplegic, it only makes sense that secondary characters must be compelling and offer opportunities for plenty of action in the story. The best? Amelia Sachs, who drives a muscle car and manages to push aside any fear she has to go after the Bad Guy. She's gutsy, shrewd and coincidentally, more than a mere colleague to Rhyme. The point? Without Sachs, it's unlikely even Deaver could pen a mystery on the level he does because of the physical limitations his main character has.

I suggest that before you read The Skin Collector, you read some of the other Lincoln Rhyme novels, or at least, yes, The Bone Collector. It's not critical, but it might push you from a four-star review to a five.

In “The Skin Collector,” Jeffery Deaver’s latest Lincoln Rhyme novel, the master of suspense and surprise creates a New York that is bustling and horrific. The book features a few of the characters first seen in the first Rhyme novel, “The Bone Collector,” but you needn’t have read that one to enjoy this, although you probably should.The author depicts the city as if it’s a painting by Hieronymus Bosch. It begins in a sleetstorm on November 5 (a day not without some significance to certain “progressives” who like to assume the aspect of a 17th-century religious fanatic to protect their identities, and umm, well). We are first introduced to the creeptastic perp who commits his first grisly crime before we segué to Rhyme, Sachs, and the usual gang.

And as the tale continues with its cutting back and forth between the perp, the victims, and Rhyme’s people, so does that sleet. And the sense of claustrophobia, as much of the action takes place in New York’s rabbit warren of underground tunnels, some of which date back more than a century. A scene in a tunnel made my skin crawl, and I’m not especially claustrophobic. And as Rhyme, Sachs, et al. race to apprehend the perp, the sleet goes on, improbably. In New York City, sleet is almost always temporary, either as snow transitions to rain or the reverse. It’s not a permanent thing, as in this novel. But no matter. It adds to the bleakness.

The novel appears to be the first of a pair, or perhaps Mr. Deaver is planning on the, yes, dreaded trilogy. But it's complete in itself.

THE SKIN COLLECTOR focuses more on the crimes and the investigations than on personal stories. that being said you will still get insights in to the characters. Unlike the bone collector this killer is obsessed with skin, not bones. Rhyme is racing against time as the killer seems willing to kill and kill again. because This killer is more complex and challenges Rhymes' skills and those of his team, There are enough twists and turns to keep the book moving and you hanging on for the ride. In any Deaver book there is a vast amount of knowledge on display about a variety of subjects. This book is not short on detail and interesting facts. If you have never read any Jeffery Deavers' books this is the one to read. It will send you back to read the rest of the Rhymes series. As for me well I am a Jeffery Deaver fan for life I have been reading his work since A Maiden's Grave (1995). His writing style is effervescent! My personal favorites Twisted( collection of short stories, ) and The Devils teardrop (1999)

I'm having a hard time deciding how many stars to give this, because I liked it, but at the same time, there are several things about it that drive me nuts. First, I really don't like the villain having a personal vendetta against the series protagonist. This was one of the things that totally ruined the Patricia Cornwell books for me, although Lincoln Rhyme is certainly more worthy of being the object of a vendetta. James Patterson has done this with Alex Cross and Michael Bennett, Deaver has done it several times with Rhyme, JD Robb almost always does it with Eve Dallas. Heck, even NCIS is doing it with Leroy Jethro Gibbs! Authors, you don't always have to make it personal! It doesn't add anything to the protagonist's motivation to solve the crime. It's okay to have bad guys who are bad without having them trying to take revenge on Lincoln Rhyme or Alex Cross or Kay Scarpetta. Did Agatha Christie ever let her murders get personal? Well, okay, there was Curtain, but that was her swan song. So just stop it, okay?

Then there is Deaver's propensity for red herrings. It's like he writes twenty different endings for his books and can't decide which one to choose so he uses all of them. It was clever the first time, but now it is just the same old same old. I know when I reach the end that it is not really the end, that there are at least three more endings before we find out what really happened. Consequently I figured out the identity of the skin collector and his relationship to Rhyme and Company pretty quickly.

And there is Deaver's tendency to tell, not show. It's especially obvious in the Kathryn Dance books, but it was pretty obvious in this one too. Deaver tosses a plan out there, then shows what the bad guy is really up to and how the bad guy is evading the plan, but then wait, never mind. Rhyme was onto the bad guy all along, and Deaver tells us what Rhyme really thought and did in about two paragraphs.

And yet, and yet, I always enjoy Deaver's books and look forward to the next one. The background information on tattooing in this book was very interesting. Even knowing that once again it was personal, it was fun following the various twists and turns of the plot. And yes, I will look forward to the next one, even though I'm sure it will be personal as well, with lots of red herrings.

I have read books by Jeffrey Deaver for years and Lincoln Rhyme has always been a favorite, as well as the cast of characters he is surrounded by. This book was no less as intricate and involved a plot line as Deaver is known to write, therefore the intelligence and deductive abilities of "Rhyme and Company" are as amazing as ever. I thought that Lincoln, although he is not known for his warm and social graces, was a bit less so than usual in this book. . He seemed to put out a more disagreeable demeanor and rougher reactions to people and their conversations than he usually does, I can't say it was a pleasant change. For me, it was harder to like him despite his clever brilliance, and I thought the people he keeps around him should have been more aggressive in taking him to task on his attitude. Otherwise, the plot and the characters were complicated as usual, although near the end the story seemed to twist into several angles I thought were not needed. It just seemed to prolong explanations of plots not really in the original story line. A bit of writing overkill, in my opinion.

Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series has been a favorite of mine since the BONE COLLECTOR. And now he’s back with another collector, this time the SKIN COLLECTOR, seemingly about a tattoo artist who poisons people.

When Deaver includes a seemingly innocuous scene about the Watchmaker‘s funeral, you should pay particular attention. Lincoln sends his worthy enemy flowers, but of course he doesn’t trust him, so he sends Ron Pulaski to see who shows up. The Watchmaker’s lawyer does, and he files a harassment complaint. This plot thread then disappears, so you should smell a rat.

The main plot involves a tattooist named Billy Haven who seems to be sending Lincoln and crew a message. His first victim’s stomach is etched with the words “the second”. There’s no evidence of rape or any other motive involved. When Lincoln discovers a book with a chapter on the Bone Collector, mentioning Lincoln himself, he naturally assumes he’s dealing with a serial killer. Like John Sanford, Deaver gives us occasional glimpses of Haven’s machinations; hence we know his name. He also hints at what’s to come.

This is a masterful book in respect to what Lincoln, Sachs and the others can do with trace evidence. For instance they find bits of marble which lead them to a hospital addition, just in time to foil another murder. But the killer gets away and kills again, and we are given several other numbers for Lincoln to figure out.

We also learn lots of arcane information about the art of tattooing and what it means to various people who get them, thanks to two “experts” Lincoln brings in to discuss what’s going on. This guy is good, they say; he does things in minutes that would take others at least an hour.

Meanwhile the tattooist makes several attempts on the lives of the team, Rhyme and Sachs included. We know this won’t work, but Lon Sellitto does take a hit. There's also a sub plot involving Sachs' foster daughter Pam that also means more than it seems at first.

Okay, my gripe with this book is that it’s overcooked. Nothing is as it seems. All of a sudden we get one of Deaver’s patented wild twists, and we’ve got an entirely different plot, and then it changes again. At the end Lincoln is reveling in some new trace evidence he’s found, involving the last of the twists. In other words, what we have here is a cliffhanger. I personally despise cliffhangers; if this wasn’t the Rhyme series, I wouldn’t read the next book.