I’ve seen the movie adaptation of Jeffery Deaver’s The Bone Collector at least a dozen times. It is probably in my top twenty favourite movies and it wasn’t until about six years ago that I found out it was based on a book. I learnt this after talking about books I was reading to someone I used to know through work. He recommended and leant me Deaver’s book The Empty Chair and I leant him Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. I remember him saying that Deaver was very thorough in his research for his novels and as I read The Empty Chair it did feel like he had a in-depth knowledge of what he was writing about.
I enjoyed The Empty Chair and knew I’d have to get a hold of the other books in the series, but as time passed I just never got around to it. What with the everyday life stuff and trying to write and read other books I simply forgot about them until the other day. I was looking around Audible to see what I fancied spending my credits on and The Bone Collector jumped up from the deepest parts of my consciousness and instantly I knew it was the novel I wanted to download next. It was worth it.
The Bone Collector tells the story of a quadriplegic forensic criminalist (Lincoln Rhyme) who wants to die, and has been shutting the world off from him since the accident that made him a quadriplegic. Just as he’s found someone to help him die though the New York police come to him asking for assistance in solving a murder/kidnapping and after initial refusing their request he gives in and gets back to work. He requests the police officer who was first on the scene of the first murder to assist him, and from there the story unfolds.
There was obviously differences between the book and the movie but for the most part I could understand the reasons why the filmmakers made the changes, but I watched the film after I’d finished listening to the audiobook and found that I still enjoyed the movie. I understand that adaptations will almost never be 100% true to the source but as long as it has the same tone and outcome then I find that normally works well for me and The Bone Collector did.
I did look on Audible for the next book in the series but it, and the third one, are only available as abridged audiobooks and I’ve no interest in an audiobook if it’s abridged. So I popped onto Amazon and ordered the next two; The Coffin Dancer and The Empty Chair. I know I’ve read The Empty Chair before, but in the time since I’ve read it I’ve grown a lot as a reader so I’m keen to read it again. Despite a number of books on my To-Read list I think I’ll be fast tracking them and getting at least the 2nd book in the series read early on next year.
Peter Germany's World 