The Cutting Edge. Finished 8-30-19, 4/5 stars, thriller, pub. 2018

Book 14 of the Lincoln Rhyme series (1st-The Bone Collector, 2nd- The Coffin Dancer, 3rd- The Empty Chair, 4th- The Stone Monkey, 5th- The Vanished Man, 6th- The Twelfth Card, 7th- The Cold Moon, 8th- The Broken Window 9th- The Burning Wire, 10th-The Kill Room 11-The Skin Collector, 12-The Steel Kiss, 13-The Burial Hour)

In the early hours of a quiet, weekend morning in Manhattan’s Diamond District, a brutal triple murder shocks the city. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs quickly take the case. Curiously, the killer has left behind a half-million dollars’ worth of gems at the murder scene, a jewelry store on 47th street. As more crimes follow, it becomes clear that the killer’s target is not gems, but engaged couples themselves.

Soon the Promiser makes a dangerous mistake: leaving behind an innocent witness, Vimal Lahori, a talented young diamond cutter, who can help Rhyme and Sachs blow the lid off the case. They must track down Vimal before the killer can correct his fatal error.         from Goodreads

Lincoln Rhyme was a brilliant criminologist for the NYPD until he was injured in the line of duty.  He became a quadriplegic, but thanks to his skills the NYPD still goes to him for high profile cases.  And sometimes when they don’t he seeks them out himself which is how he found himself using a backdoor to get on the Promiser case.

I really liked this latest addition to the series.  It was set in New York’s diamond district so I learned about a new area of the city and diamond cutting.  There was more than one mystery going on and it looked like they were never going to intersect, but of course they did (not gonna tell you how!)

I saw The Bone Collector movie with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie before I started this series and this is what I said after reading the first book.

My only other issue is that I have a copy of the book with Denzel on the front, so that’s how I’m picturing Rhyme, but it is clear in the book that Rhyme is not black.  I think Sachs said at one point that he looked like Robert DeNiro.  I like picturing Rhyme as Denzel (who wouldn’t?),  but when repeated references were made to his white skin it threw my mental picture off.  (here)

I have learned to ignore references to his whiteness and continue picturing him as Denzel and I guess that’s what the casting director went with in the new Lincoln Rhyme series coming out in January.  Take a look.

So, what do you think?  I’ll probably give it a try.   What about you?