The Skin Collector
Crime, Female Detectives, Mystery, Thriller
Jeffery Deaver
Lincoln Rhyme, Book # 11
Grand Central Publishing
May 13, 2014
ebook
448
English
June 20, 2017 June 30, 2017
A new type of serial killer is stalking the streets of New York – one more devious and disturbing than ever before.
They call this butcher The Skin Collector: a tattooist with a chamber of torture hidden deep underground. But instead of using ink to create each masterpiece, the artist uses a lethal poison which will render targets dead before they can even entertain the prospect of escape . . .
Drafted in to investigate, NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme and his associate Amelia Sachs have little to go on but a series of cryptic messages left etched into the skin of the deceased. As the pair struggle to discover the meaning behind the designs, they are led down a treacherous and twisting path where nothing is as it seems. And with the clock rapidly ticking before the killer strikes again, they must untangle the twisted web of clues before more victims – or they themselves – are next.
About the Book
I forgot how much I loved Lincoln Rhyme!
More I read, more I find out about my “genre”, I like mystery and crime books, that is obvious but I like when there are a few chapters dedicated to the killer. If it’s a serial killer even better. I love when the killer “plays” with the detectives but unfortunately I always choose wrong books…
This is the 11th book by Jeffery Deaver’s series Lincoln Rhyme. My passion for books in general and this genre in particularly started with the first book of the series, “The Bone Collector” which I read twice.
The book begins with an homicide in the disused underground of New York. The killer uses the tunnels to move from place to place and when he finds a victim he lures her or him in the underground where he tattoos the skin with poisonous ink. The tattoo is a message for Lincoln but is it the real motive of his killings?
Lincoln Rhyme, a retired and quadriplegic detective of NYPD is on his trail and with his assistant and companion Amelia Sachs who moves through crime scene after crime scene, they try to understand the killer and catch him. Lincoln thinks this killer is trying to emulate a deceased killer known as the Bone Collector, but is it true? Or is there something hidden? Since he has this admiration for the Bone collector, he’s called the Skin Collector since he’s obsessed with skin.
Meanwhile, another killer, the Watchmaker, who Lincoln helped to apprehend is declare dead. Lincoln thinks that the Watchmaker still has associates so he sends Ron Pulaski undercover to the funeral home. Here he meets a shady lawyer who turns out to be interesting for the case.
There are some twists in the book, when you think it’s over, you still have a few chapters to read and you ask “Mm what now?”, then you turn the page and there is something new. The killer is not the killer? Or it is but there’s something more?
I love Lincoln as a person, I love his sarcastic way of saying what he has to say and even if I totally saw the “killer” coming, the tale was so intricate that I didn’t care if I knew about the killer and his motivations about half way.
The only flaw of the book is when the two cases unite, I find this little detail a little stretching but overall the book is amazing.
I’m sorry for Lon Sellitto, I hope to read about him in the next book.
