The Skin Collector

Summary

In his classic thriller The Bone Collector, Jeffery Deaver introduced readers to Lincoln Rhyme—the nation’s most renowned investigator and forensic detective. Now, a new killer is on the loose: a criminal inspired by the Bone Collector. And Rhyme must untangle the twisted web of clues before the killer targets more victims—or Rhyme himself.

The killer’s methods are terrifying. He stalks the basements and underground passageways of New York City. He tattoos his victims’ flesh with cryptic messages, using a tattoo gun loaded with poison, resulting in an agonizing, painful death.

When a connection is made to the Bone Collector—the serial killer who terrorized New York more than a decade ago—Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are immediately drawn into the case. 

Rhyme, Sachs, and the NYPD must race against time to answer the many questions the investigation uncovers: Whom will the killer attack next? What is the message behind the victims’ tattoos? Does the killer’s own inking—a fanged centipede sporting a woman’s face—hold any significance? And what is his ultimate mission? 

As time runs out, Rhyme discovers that the past has returned to haunt him in the most troubling way imaginable.