Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Russell Hornsby, Arielle Kebbel, Roslyn Ruff, Ramses Jimenez, Brooke Lyons, Tate Ellington, Courtney Grosbeck, Brian F. O’Byrne, Michael Imperioli, Claire Coffee, Tawny Cypress, Jaidon Walls, Rose Evangelina Arrendondo, Tracie Thoms.

As a species we are far more obsessed with serial killers than we are arguably with a range of subjects that would surely be more beneficial to our soul, and yet, whether you are a fan of working your own grey cells to the point of examining every one you know as a possible suspect, for any imaginable inclination in the disease of murder, or whether you find a sense of titillation, a gruesome understanding of the way the mind thinks; to be in the room as they speak their own gospel and truth is perhaps the zenith of police investigation.

If written with a sense of style and purpose, if the shadow of life is permitted to breathe, then a detective drama can reflect the desire, the complication, and the absolute fear to which these creatures, these broken minds, are driven. If sensationalised, if given life without the promise of potential on behalf of the detective, the solver of the puzzle, then the effect is not one of resolution but instead commercialisation, not humbling but of self-aggrandisement, of gratification for the masses, and it is to this realm that the short-lived series Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector falls head-first and without that possibility of redemption anywhere in sight.

Based upon the exceptionally written 1997 novel by Jeffery Deaver, the series focuses in on more detail upon the career of quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme and his team as they hunt down the notorious killer, The Bone Collector.

The problems start when the production utilises the modern capability of forensic science with all its flashing warnings of computerised investigation, and that of portraying the lead as one who is supposedly on par intellectually with Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes; in this mix should be a story-line worth exploring, or at least fitting in with the vision supplied by the author, or even coming close to the cinematic version starring Denzil Washington.

However, the dichotomy of pitting mind with modern science, and the way that the writers turned Lincoln Rhyme into an already unlikeable human being with a serious case of superiority complex into one immersed in disdain and arrogance, makes this particular average at best, and at times a mortifying case of too much exposure, far too many episodes spun out to fulfil a story that could have been delivered in half its allotted time.

There are some golden moments in which the series gets to grip with the mind of the serial killer, but it doesn’t go far enough, especially when showing the way that both the killer and the detective are gripped by the same sense of self, almost too congratulatory, sycophantic, to deliver a true competition, the battle of wits, between the pair.

Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector lasted one season, and unfortunately the way it was assembled makes it easy to ignore; even for those in tune with their own detective skills.

Ian D. Hall