Book
Lincoln Rhyme was once a brilliant criminologist, a genius in the field of forensics until an accident left him physically and emotionally shattered. But now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits. With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City's past and reach further into the darkness of the mind of a madman who won't stop until he has stripped life down to the bone.
I actually listened to the audio version of Jeffrey Deaver's first novel in the Lincoln Rhyme series, I've read it previously but fancied something to multitask with during lockdown. 10ish hours later and here we are.
The Bone Collector is an excellent start to the Lincoln Rhyme series, the characters are well crafted on the page and it's easy to get invested in them. There's great suspense as we switch between unsub and police scenes that all makes for a good pace. Even though it was published back in 1997 it still manages to come across like it could be set present day instead of being over 20 years old and I imagine that's why it's still such a popular series.
Movie
Despite having not seen this for years I always remember it. With early Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington it's quite a shock to see them looking so different. The only sad thing about rewatching the film is that it's dated, lots of recognisable actors looking very young and lots of technical equipment that I'm sure the youths wouldn't recognise but us oldies are relatively familiar with.
I don't mind any of that thankfully and given that the story isn't much of a diversion from the original it's still a compelling watch. Just one thing I will never understand... why they changed Amelia's surname for it... if IMDb trivia is to believe it's because it sounded too much like "sex". Right. Sure.
TV Show
I don't want to go into too much detail about the series here as I already waffled a fair bit about it, you can read more about the first episode of the series on my previous post.
Comparison
The Bone Collector
So, we have the book, The Bone Collector, the movie, The Bone Collector and the TV show, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt For The Bone Collector... I mentioned in my other post that those titles mean very different things but didn't really go into much detail about what I meant. One book, one film and a ten-part TV series. When I saw the ad for the show I had only really registered the Lincoln Rhyme part of the title, that held a lot of promise, it might touch on the cases featured in the books or bring us all new ones. The addition of that subtitle instantly changed that dynamic, had they done the thing every book lover yearns for? Had they made the book scene for scene? Or had they changed one of the fundamental things in the book to create a completely different beast?
They didn't do the one you'd hope for.
The Bone Collector character doesn't diverge a lot between the book and the film but he's been completely changed for the show. To accommodate the fact he's in the whole run they've given him a new story, they've attempted to elevate him to the same level as Rhyme to give us more of a battle between the two characters. In doing that they've taken away the essence of what made him the Bone Collector, the MO is twisted and he's been given an entire life story to allow him to be an ongoing thread. The trouble is that that hasn't made for an intriguing character, it's revealed so early to us that there's nothing to latch on to, he's not really a bad enough bad guy to feel worthwhile.
Rhyme's Backstory
When they changed the Bone Collector they made the massive decision to pit him directly against Rhyme in a much bigger way, they made him the reason that Lincoln is in the situation he's in, Rhyme's personality feels like it's been changed from the book/film to take account for that.
Amelia's Life
Amelia is different across all the versions, though as you've come to expect from my comments the book and the film are slightly closer to each other than they are with the show. The significant change is that she now has a sister and after a suitably tragic backstory they're together with Amelia living a rather motherly role. The sister seems to be calibrated as a serial killer beacon so I suspect that her inclusion is partly to get Amelia more engaged with the work of Lincoln's new team.
The Changing Carer
Thom, Thelma and Claire, three different carers with one very similar purpose. They're all there to give Lincoln a shot of reality accompanied by some sass. I liked that the switched up Thom to Thelma, the book, while great, was lacking in significant female characters. The show then brings us Claire, she is just as dependent on Lincoln as he is on her and I'm interested to see how they handle that in the future episodes (as much as I'm not keen on watching them). I really hope it isn't just an attempt at getting some topical points.
Changing Times, Changing Mediums
When something gets adapted for a certain audience there are things that have to be considered, books get to be more in-depth with characters and plot, the film will be able to visually handle (and probably benefit from) some graphic detail when it comes to crime thanks to certificates and shows should benefit from being more compact and getting us to the solutions quicker. The thing that particularly struck me was the way they handled Lincoln's disability and how they handled that graphic detail in the crimes. Both are handled very differently when it comes to visual media. The film is quite open about both and it's uncomfortable but feels honest on some level, while we might not see some of the crimes we still get to witness them through reactions and that holds just as much weight. The show seems to be much more sanitised, it hardly ever feels like you're getting pulled into the scenes with the characters, perhaps it's trying to be the anti-CSI or Criminal Minds by being bright and clinical, I'm not entirely sure.
The obvious differences between the three is its technology. While the book managed to camouflage its dated computers on a reread, the film doesn't have that luxury. The show however has a completely futuristic update that I'm not entirely convinced works. Maybe that's just me jumping to conclusions but I really feel that the people who want to watch crime dramas are people who want to read the details and not have them obliterated by overly fancy screens... but hey ho.
With 23 years between the book and the show a lot of things have changed that need to be accounted for, the world works in a very different way than it did when The Bone Collector first came out. Some of the things I've mentioned above fall into this too, Amelia taking on her sister, Claire and her illness, there's a lot that's adapted to modern life that I don't think would even have been considered 20 years ago for inclusion in the film. From characters and their jobs to the way disability is portrayed, it's clear that they've tried to cover a lot of bases, I just hope that they're all more than just token gestures to tick boxes.
Conclusion
Each format has some merit to it and regardless of how I feel about the show it has basically managed to adapt itself for a modern audience. The show does come out in third place though, by a very long way, it might even be a DNF. I just don't feel like the characters needed to be changed that much to be adapted for the small screen, and ultimately those changes hurt the dynamics of the group. Making the Bone Collector an ongoing character rather than just the thing that brings the group together was a bold move but one that also changes that dynamic. I think I've said this before about other series, but I dislike major storylines that play in the background of all the individual episodes. You have 40-45 minutes to tell us a whole story before moving on and if you're having to devote some of that time to rehashing the ongoing piece with new evidence then you're probably not telling the episode's story properly. That in a nutshell is why that subtitle, "Hunt for the Bone Collector", felt like a stab in the gut when I noticed it.
As a personal preference I would always have to plump for the book in the Lincoln Rhyme debate, Deaver's writing is engaging and brings the characters of Rhymes and Sachs to life. That being said, the film is not far behind its heels. Growing up with ricketty technology I don't mind seeing it one the screen and it really is a fairly loyal adaptation with some excellent acting in it.
What You Should Do
I think it's fairly clear that I'm going to recommend the books to you. More often than not they are the best way to enjoy a story, and let's face it, when you read it you're just creating your own film or TV show in your head of it anyway! If you're of a certain age like me then you probably would get enjoyment out of the film too though if you want it in a quicker bite-sized chunk.
Despite my dislike for the show there is one situation in which I might be inclined to recommend it to you, and that's if you haven't read the book or seen the film. Love of the original content does not help the show, but without that it might be watchable... though I still scrunched my face up a little as I typed that.
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