“The Skin Collector” by Jeffrey Deaver – An Artist in the Flesh

It has been around ten years since Lincoln Rhyme made all the headlines as the NYPD's hero to have caught the notorious Bone Collector.

Just when it seems that Rhyme may live out his days as a genius forensic detective in relative ease and peace (at least as much as the job allows that), a fresh scourge takes hold of New York City, prowling its seedy underbelly in search of more and more victims.

Naturally, as the case goes, this new threat calls for Rhyme to put himself and his team of experts on a relentless, 24/7 manhunt in search of a demented maniac who takes please in tattooing his victims with poisonous ink, leaving cryptic clues on their skin... clues that point to the infamous case from a decade ago, leading things to become much more personal than Rhyme had anticipated.

If you have already read Deaver's masterpiece, then you pretty much already know what the expect from The Skin Collector in terms of style. The writing itself is consistently solid, being very easy to digest and rather fast-paced. In the beginning, you are presented with the setting, characters, and the basic plotline.

Following that, we are presented with the essential clues to the case, and from that point onward it turns into an up and down rollercoaster, with more twists and turns than you can count them.

Rhyme truly it as his best here, connecting the kinds of threads nobody could have imagined, though I have to admit that at certain points it gets a bit too far-fetched, even for his genius-like abilities.

I guess that in the end it is a matter of taste, but I believe that the ending of the book deserves to be discussed, and by that I mean the final gauntlet of twists that are thrown at us. The hunt for the serial killer him/herself was actually very thrilling and satisfying, seeing cryptic clues deciphered by the experts who are inching their way closer and closer to the inevitable confrontation.

Without spoiling anything, the ending quickly devolves unpredictable and borderline ridiculous, shifting the main focus on the novel, and perhaps even, in my opinion, wasting all the build-up that happened before it.

With that being said, there are many people out there who seem to have really enjoyed that aspect of the book and the sheer surprise factor it brings to the table, so I definitely believe that it is not something you should see as an obstacle to reading the book. At worst, it just makes the last part underwhelming in comparison to what was delivered earlier.

Also, I should mention that even though reading The Bone Collector will get you acquainted with the characters and the first case that is sometimes referenced in this book, I don't believe it to be necessary for enjoying The Skin Collector.

It stands as a separate novel in its own right, and missing out on a few references here and there certainly won't ruin the whole thing.

All in all, if you are looking for a good murder mystery thriller and aren't afraid of big twists coming at you one after the next, and perhaps things getting a bit ridiculous, then this is most certainly one thriller worth your attention.

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Jeffery Deaver Personal site Jeffrey Deaver is an American crime mystery novel whose best-known work is arguably The Bone Collector. He holds a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri, a law degree from Fordham University, and has been awarded the Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association, and the Nero Wolfe Award amongst numerous others.