TV Tuesday: Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector

My husband and I were thrilled to see that NBC was bringing one of our favorite book series to the small screen this winter: the series of mysteries/thrillers by Jeffrey Deaver, starring paraplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme. The new series is called Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, referring to the main character and the title of the first book in the series. Featuring a great cast and suspenseful mysteries, we are thoroughly enjoying this new show so far.

In the beginning of the first episode, we see how Lincoln Rhyme, played by Russell Hornsby, came to be in his current state, confined to his home. While tracking a serial killer dubbed The Bone Collector, the killer gets the best of Lincoln, and the detective ends up falling from a height flat on his back and unable to move, as the killer taunts him and sneaks away. The show then flashes forward three years to the present. Lincoln is confined to his home, able to move only his head and a few fingers, aided by a lot of expensive electronic systems and a nurse. When a series of murders in the city appears to indicate the return of The Bone Collector, Lincoln's old boss Michael Selitto, played by Michael Imperioli, consults with Lincoln. Lincoln chooses a young NYPD officer, Amelia Sachs (played by Arielle Kebbel), to wear a body cam and investigate the crime scenes with him watching from home. With that, the partnership between Lincoln and Amelia is born. In each episode, the two investigate a difficult case, along with a forensics team and Detective Selitto, but all the while the threat of The Bone Collector (who seems to have gone back underground) is in the background.

So far, the show is an excellent recreation of the outstanding novels. The characters are slightly different than as described in the books (my husband says they didn't make Lincoln nearly cranky and mean enough), but the essence of the stories is here: a brilliant but paralyzed forensic criminologist paired with a young female police officer solving unsolvable crimes. Each episode presents a new case that grabs the team's attention, while the tension around The Bone Collector slowly builds. The audience can see who the Bone Collector is and what he's doing, so that adds to the suspense. When the killer makes it clear that he knows who Amelia is and targets her family, as he did years ago with Lincoln's, the stakes are even higher. The weekly mystery plots are twisty and compelling, the cast is outstanding, and the suspense keeps growing. We've watched the first three episodes so far and can't wait to see more--Lincoln Rhyme has quickly become one of our favorite TV shows that we wait for each week!

Lincoln Rhyme airs Fridays at 8 pm Eastern time on NBC. We watch it On Demand, and for now, all three episodes are also available for free on the NBC website. It is also available on Amazon for $1.99 an episode or $19.99 for the full first season.