History Literature / LincolnRhyme

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Garret Haldon in ''The Empty Chair'' -- but then again, he's a 16 year old kid.

* StillbornFranchise: The [[Film/TheBoneCollector film version]] of the first book never spawned sequels.

* {{Badass}}: Roland Bell, who is proficient at shooting GunsAkimbo and has gone toe-to-toe with a multitude of dangerous criminals.
** Stephen Kall in ''The Coffin Dancer'' is a PsychoSoldier turned ProfessionalKiller with all of the special combat training that affords: he is proficient with most firearms at long and short ranges, regularly uses explosives of all kinds to his advantage, and expertly sees through every deception sent his way. He's the closest thing to a genuine OneManArmy portrayed in the series. [[spoiler: The real Coffin Dancer, Jodie, is all of the above and more, with the added bonus of being a MasterOfDisguise.]]
** Kwan Ang, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Ghost]], manages to outrun and outthink Rhyme multiple times despite being just one random human trafficker, and demonstrates superb skills at gunfighting and hand-to-hand combat. [[spoiler: This foreshadows his true nature as a ProfessionalKiller.]]
** Jacob Swann from ''The Kill Room''. One only needs to look at the climax of the novel, in which he [[spoiler: outruns a massive police sting including a helicopter, smashes through a glass door, and engages in a [[GoodOldFisticuffs fist fight]]-turned-KnifeFight with Sachs that lasts over several minutes, not stopping when his hand is impaled on Sachs's blade]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Part of the [[spoiler: twist endings]] of ''The Bone Collector'' and ''The Empty Chair''. [[spoiler: One of the kidnapped victims that was rescued in ''The Bone Collector'' turns out to be a domestic terrorist that blows a bomb in the UN building at the end of the book. And one of the rescued victims in ''The Empty Chair'' almost kills Lincoln in revenge for the arrest of her boyfriend]].

** Vernon Griffith's first victim in ''The Skin Collector'' falls into the motor of an escalator and is so horribly crushed and mangled by the gears that he almost splits in half, and he immediately begs Sachs to [[MercyKill kill him]].

* DropTheHammer: Unsub40 / [[spoiler:Vernon Griffith]] bludgeons someone to death with a ball-peen hammer in ''The Steel Kiss''.

* EvilLuddite: Unsub40 / The People's Guardian / [[spoiler:Vernon Griffith]] in ''The Steel Kiss'' hates "Shoppers" and kills people with electronics to make a point. [[spoiler: 'cept that's not really his motivation, it's actually a revenge plot and when he refers to "shoppers", he refers to the people that bullied him and his brother during his school years during the workshop class.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: Lincoln Rhyme. See ItsAllAboutMe below for more details.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Rhyme can be quite like this, easily dismissing that he might be at fault for anything.
** Particularly bad in "The Steel Kiss" where he steals Mel Cooper for a civilian liability case, even if it means Sachs is left to run a case with less than stellar technicians. [[spoiler: Even worse when it turns out they're actually working in parallel, and taking Mel Cooper from her means they lost evidence.]]

** TwistEnding: ''The Bone Collector'', ''The Empty Chair'', and ''The Skin Collector''.

* ScienceMarchesOn: The 2nd book ''The Coffin Dancer'' has Rhyme use his new computer, with a blazing speed of 200 Mhz.

* TenMinuteRetirement: Rhyme, at the beginning of the series.

* ToThePain: In ''The Skin Collector'', Billy Haven's MO is to use a tattoo gun to inject lethal doses of poisons known for not only their lethality but also the pain they can cause into his victims' abdomen.

* VillainousBreakdown: In ''The Coffin Dancer'', [[spoiler: the titular villian, after getting shot by Sachs and having his right eye destroyed, still tries to murder his target, slowly crawling towards her with a sharp stone in his hands.]]

* DropTheHammer: Vernon Griffith bludgeons someone to death with a ball-peen hammer in ''The Steel Kiss''.

* EvilLuddite: The People's Guardian / [[spoiler:Vernon Griffith]] in ''The Steel Kiss'' hates "Shoppers" and kills people with electronics to make a point. [[spoiler: 'cept that's not really his motivation, it's actually a revenge plot and when he refers to "shoppers", he refers to the people that bullied him and his brother during his school years during the workshop class.]]

* EvilLuddite: The People's Guardian / Vernon Griffith in ''The Steel Kiss'' hates "Shoppers" and kills people with electronics to make a point.

* NothingIsScarier: 522 going on the offensive. Absolutely nobody is safe when he gets his fingers into their personal lives. [[spoiler: Sellitto is framed for failing a drug test and temporarily suspended, Sachs has her treasured car repossessed and scrapped, and the power to Rhyme's house is turned off, leaving his life support reliant on battery power. And if it weren't for Sachs running into him, it would have gotten even worse.]]

* OmniscientDatabase: Lincoln was working on several, he's dismayed to find out some were not completed once he was out of the force.

* OnlyOneName: Thom. [[spoiler: We find out eight books in that his last name is 'Reston'.]]

** ''The Killing Room'' (2013)

* PlotTwist: Every ''single'' book has multiple. Sometimes even two or three in quick succession.

A DetectiveDrama series written by lawyer-turned-novelist Jeffery Deaver, currently at eleven books with a twelfth on the way.

* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Detective Banks after losing an arm in a shootout, and the Hardy Twins from the 6th book forward]].

** [[spoiler: In the climax of ''The Twelfth Card'', Amelia beats down the killer (who has a gun) with a stone.]]

* ServileSnarker: Thom, Rhyme's caregiver.

* StreetSmart: FBI Agent Fred Dellray.
* SuperOCD: The Watchmaker is this.

** ''The Vanished Man'': [[spoiler: The Conjurer sneaks into Lincoln Rhyme's apartment, toys with him for a while, and tries to kill him by burning the house down -- or at least, acting like that was the plan]].

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Detective Banks loses an arm in ''The Coffin Dancer'', courtesy of Stephen Kall.]]

** To a lesser degree, [[spoiler: Charlotte the MadBomber from the end of ''The Bone Collector'', who reappears in ''The Cold Moon'' as TheManBehindTheMan.]]

** To a lesser degree, [[Charlotte the MadBomber from the end of ''The Bone Collector'', who reappears in ''The Cold Moon'' as TheManBehindTheMan.]]

* CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of the series, Rhyme goes from a suicidal alcoholic to a moderately well-adjusted man with a host of [[TrueCompanions true friends]] and a stable relationship. [[spoiler: He even regains the use of his right arm at the end of ''The Burning Wire''.]]

* LifeOrLimbDecision: A variation -- Rhyme tells Sachs to cut a body's hand off rather than risk damaging the handcuffs which he wants to examine.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Part of the [[spoiler: twist endings]] of ''The Bone Collector'' and ''The Empty Chair''. [[spoiler: One of the kidnapped victims that was rescued in ''The Bone Collector'' turns out to be a domestic terrorist that blows a bomb in the UN building at the end of the book. And one of the rescued victims in ''The Empty Chair'' almost kills Lincoln Rhyme in revenge for the arrest of her boyfriend]].

* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Detective Banks after losing an arm in a shootout, and the Hardy Twins from the 6th book forward]].

* SayingTooMuch: [[spoiler: How Pam figures out that her boyfriend Seth McGuinn is really Billy Haven]] in ''The Skin Collector''.

** The Skin Collector, aka Billy Haven, is [[spoiler: Seth McGuinn, Pam's boyfriend. Also, the Watchmaker was FakingTheDead and disguised himself as his own lawyer.]]

** Jacob Swann from ''The Kill Room''. One only needs to look at the climax of the novel, in which he [[spoiler: outruns a police helicopter, smashes through a glass door, and engages in a KnifeFight with Sachs that lasts over several minutes, not stopping when his hand is impaled on Sachs's blade]].

** In ''The Coffin Dancer'', [[spoiler: Stephen Kall turns out to be an ArmoredClosetGay with an attraction to the real Coffin Dancer. He still ranks as one of the most competent and deadly villains in the series.]]

* StraightGay: Thom isn't explicitly identified as gay until ''The Empty Chair'', and it's difficult to tell beforehand.

** The Bone Collector was [[spoiler: Lincoln's doctor, Peter Taylor, who is actually the supposedly dead man from the story Rhyme told Sachs.]]
** [[spoiler: The real 'The Coffin Dancer' first appearance was that of a hobo, and stayed in that character for the majority of the book.]]
** [[spoiler: In the ''Stone Monkey'', 'The Ghost' was pretending to be an injured chinese illegal immigrant.]]
** [[spoiler: In the ''Vanished Man'', 'The Conjurer' was not the magician, but his assistant.]]
** [[spoiler: In the ''Twelfth Card'', the mastermind was the director of a historical archive.]]
** [[spoiler: The person behind the UN Bombing at the end of ''The Bone Collector'', and behind the plot to kill as many people as possible in a military award ceremony in ''The Cold Moon'' was one of the 'Bone Collector' victims that was rescued just in time]].
** [[spoiler: In the ''Broken Window'', 'God' is the security guard]].
** [[spoiler: In the ''Skin Collector'', 'Billy Haven' is Seth, Pam's boyfriend. Also, 'The Watchmaker' disguised himself as his own lawyer.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: 'The Watchmaker' was behind 'Billy Haven']].

** [[spoiler:''The Bone Collector'' is recreating the murders of James Schneider, a fictional serial murder, also known as ''The Bone Collector''. ]]
** [[spoiler:''The Conjurer'' is recreating famous magic tricks performed by famous magicians as part of his killing spree]].
** [[spoiler: ''The Watchmaker'' does this twice, using a clock motif in ''The Cold Moon'' and electricity in ''The Burning Wire'']]
** [[spoiler: 'Billy Haven' kills his victims by mixing body modification and poisons, in ''The Skin Collector'']].
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: ''The Stone Monkey''
* ThoseTwoGuys: Detectives Bedding and Saul, AKA The Hardy Twins

* ToThePain: [[spoiler: Billy Haven's MO is to use a tattoo gun to inject lethal doses of poisons known for not only their lethality but also the pain they can cause into his victims' abdomen.]]

** To a lesser degree, [[spoiler: Garret Haldon in ''The Empty Chair'']]
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: In ''The Cold Moon'', it's present in the other books as well, but to a lesser degree.
* UnPerson: A variation. 'God' takes possession of people's identities to commit crimes, then plants evidence that leads the police straight to the real, and innocent, people.
** Then proceeds to [[spoiler: Up the ante and do that to the whole investigating team, faking drug test results for some, having the wives of others flagged as illegal immigrants, cutting the power to their apartments and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking repoing their cars]].]]
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: The Coffin Dancer, after getting shot by Sachs and having his right eye destroyed, still tries to murder his target, slowly crawling towards her, holding a sharp stone in his hands.]]

* WhoWatchesTheWatchmen: 'God' has access and can control all the data.
* XanatosSpeedChess: [[spoiler: ''The Coffin Dancer'' and ''The Conjurer'']]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: [[spoiler: The fake ''Coffin Dancer'' was a really good shot, but Swann from ''The Kill Room'' takes the cake]].
* INeedYouStronger: [[spoiler: This is the motivation of ''The Bone Collector'' for his killing/kidnapping spree - he wanted Rhyme to have the will to live before killing him. Before that case, Rhyme is actively pursuing a way to euthanize himself and thus, killing him would have been unsatisfying]].
* InsufferableGenius: Lincoln Rhyme is brilliant and does seem to have a problem showing it off. He is rough and rude to just about everybody.

* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:The reason ''The Bone Collector'' wanted to kill Rhyme in the end]]
** [[spoiler: Also the reason Agent Coe was after ''The Ghost'' in ''The Stone Monkey'']]
* JackTheRipoff: The 'Bone Collector', the 'Conjurer' and the 'Watchmaker'.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: ''The Conjurer'' killer in ''The Vanished Man'' tends to do this in his internal monologues, in which he addresses the reader.

* LocardsTheory: Brought up a lot, and sometimes quoted.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Justified and deconstructed - Amelia Sachs is a patrol cop with no forensics training beyond reading Rhyme's textbook on the subject, and she's only involved in the investigation at his insistence (he feels she has good instincts) and against her and her SO's objections. When Rhyme pushes her over the limit by ordering her to [[spoiler:dissect a body,]] she storms off the scene.
* ManBitesMan: [[spoiler: How ''The Bone Collector'' meets his end.]]
* MasterOfDisguise: Several of the Unsubs, like [[spoiler:The 'Coffin Dancer' and The 'Conjurer']]. Dellray is a heroic example.
* NaiveNewcomer: Pulaski, from the 6th book forward. He's eager to learn and always looks up to Rhyme, Sachs and Sellito.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Part of the twist endings of ''The Bone Collector'' and ''The Empty Chair'']]
** More specifically: [[spoiler: One of the kidnapped victims that was rescued in ''The Bone Collector'' turns out to be a domestic terrorist that blows a bomb in the UN building at the end of the book. And one of the rescued victims in ''The Empty Chair'' almost kills Lincoln Rhyme in revenge for the arrest of her boyfriend]].
* NoNameGiven: The Coffin Dancer. [[spoiler: Joe D'Onofrio is a fake identity.]]
* NobodyPoops: Sorta averted. They go into some detail on how Thom has to help Lincoln do his business because, well, he's a quadriplegic.
* NothingIsScarier: 'God' going on the offensive and basically turning everyone into 'Job'
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Pulaski. Sometimes, he comes up with interesting insights in a case, plus he knows Latin, something even Rhyme was impressed about.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: [[spoiler: Webley and Peabody in ''The Stone Monkey'']]

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: ''Kara''
* OnlyOneName: Thom. [[spoiler: We find out 8 books in that his last name is 'Reston']]

* PhoneInDetective
* PlotTwist: Every ''single'' book. Sometimes even two in quick succession.
** TwistEnding: ''The Bone Collector'',''The Empty Chair''
* ProfessionalKiller: The Coffin Dancer, [[spoiler: both Stephen Kall and "Jodie"]] and the killer in ''The Twelfth Card''. [[spoiler: The 'Watchmaker' is one, posing as a psycho.]]
* ProperlyParanoid: Robert Jorgensen, a poor doctor whose life has been hell after 'God' decided to steal everything from him.
** TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight: He turned out to be spot on about pretty much everything. Including there being an RFID in the book he thought had "cursed" him.

* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Detective Banks after losing an arm in a shootout. The Hardy Twins from the 6th book forward]].

* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: [[spoiler: Billy Haven's background in ''The Skin Collector''. Also Pam's mother, one of the victims rescued in the ''The Bone Collector'' and what later found to be a domestic terrorist.]]
* RockBeatsLaser: [[spoiler: How 'God' would get the information from the SSD datapens. More specifically, SSD had a system that would wipe all electronics, be it a pen drive or a cell phone, so 'God' would just write everything down on a legal pad instead]].
** [[spoiler: In the climax of ''The Twelfth Card'', Amelia beat down the killer (who has a gun) with a stone.]]
* SayingTooMuch: [[spoiler: How Pam figures out that his boyfriend, Seth, is actually Billy Haven, the unsub in ''The Skin Collector''.]]
* ScienceMarchesOn: The 2nd book ''The Coffin Dancer'' has Rhyme use his new computer, with a blazing speed of 200 Mhz.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Sachs's reaction when Rhyme tells her to [[spoiler:cut the hand off the body of a woman she saw die not ten minutes previously.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:Robert Jorgensen]] in ''The Broken Window'' [[spoiler:manages to save Sachs' life by tailing her and eventually tracking down "God". Sadly he gets shot in the process.]]
* StateSec: NIOS comes off as this in ''The Kill Room''
* StillbornFranchise: The [[Film/TheBoneCollector film version]] of the first book.
* StraightGay: Thom.
* StreetSmart: FBI Agent Dellray.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: An ancillary victim in ''The Coffin Dancer''. [[spoiler:The real John Sung in ''The Stone Monkey'']]. A poor cop in ''The Vanished Man''
* SuperOCD: The 'Watchmaker'.
* SwarmOfRats: One of the victims ends up covered in rats.

** [[spoiler: 'The Bone Collector' was Lincoln's Doctor.]]

* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:''The Conjurer'' during his prison break]].
** [[spoiler: The 'Watchmaker' in ''The Skin Collector'']].
* FatBastard: The 'Watchmaker''s partner.
* FishOutOfWater: In ''The Empty Chair'' where the action takes place in the swamplands of North Carolina. Rhyme even mentions this.
* ForTheEvulz: 'God' in ''The Broken Window'', specially when it comes to the poor doctor. He destroyed his life, his marriage, his medical practice, just for shits and giggles.

* GeekPhysiques: Cooper, who is Rhyme's main forensic lab guy, is often described as this, both when it comes to his actual body build and the way he dresses, but has a hot blond girlfriend and is a champion at tango competitions.

* GPSEvidence: In the first book, all the evidence points the location of the next victim. They cross-reference the evidence and are able to pin point the exact location some where in NYC. The ''Bone Collector'' was leaving these traces on purpose however.
** [[DeconstructedTrope This is actually explained that the more unique evidence is, the easier it is figure out where it's from]].

* HardboiledDetective: Sonny Li in ''The Stone Monkey''. Detective Lon Sellito and FBI Agent Dellray as well.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: A victim in ''The Vanished Man''
* HeroesWantRedHeads: Lincoln eventually ends up with Amelia, and in ''The Broken Window'' recounts with some embarrassment that his first love was also a redhead. Amelia seems more amused than anything.
* HeroWorshipper: Pulaski towards Sachs, Sellito and Rhyme. [[spoiler:'God' towards Andrew Sterling, the CEO of SSD, whom he considers 'God' instead]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: In ''The Stone Monkey'', the old Chang Jiechi decides to meet the Ghost while pretending to sell his family, in order to murder him in lieu of his son Sam.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Malerick the 'Conjurer', who's eventually tricked and captured thanks to Kara, who's a skilled magician like him.]]

* DeadPersonImpersonation: [[spoiler:'The Conjurer' in ''The Vanished Man'']].
** [[spoiler:'God' in ''The Broken Window'']]
* DeepSouth: ''The Empty Chair''
* DirtyCop: [[spoiler: Just about the whole department in ''The Empty Chair'']]
** [[spoiler: Also present in ''The Cold Moon'']]

* DoingInTheWizard: In ''The Vanished Man'', where the killer seems to know magic tricks.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: A cop in ''The Vanished Man''
* EvilIsPetty: 'God' in ''The Broken Window''.

* EyeScream: [[spoiler: The Coffin Dancer gets one in the climax of the book, courtesy of Amelia.]]

** Kathryn Dance, originally an AscendedExtra who got her own book series, makes an appearance in ''The Broken Window'' and ''The Burning Wire'' searching for the Watchmaker. Similarly, in the other book series, Lincoln Rhyme makes several appearances and even helps out with a case on-site.
* ChastityCouple: Lincoln and Amelia, though one book has Amelia's narration make it clear that he's still physically capable of having sex (and thus could father children if they wanted) but neither of them having any interest in it.

* TheChessMaster: Lincoln Rhyme goes into shades of this while trying to catch a perpetrator. He is also shown to be proficient at chess, beating the computer at one point.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Garret Haldon in ''The Empty Chair''.
* CoolCar: Sachs' 1969 Camaro. [[spoiler: Ends up getting completely destroyed in ''The Broken Window'' when 'God' has it repo'd and sent to a junkyard for it to be trash compacted. Gets replaced by a Ford Torino Cobra.]]
* TheCracker: 522 / 'God' in ''The Broken Window''.
* CrazyPrepared: Just about every Unsub in their respective books.
* CreepySouvenir: The ''Bone Collector''. No points awarded for guessing what he collects.

** The murder victims of 'The Conjurer', and later on 'The Watchmaker'. [[spoiler: Subverted in the case of the latter, who "pretended" to murder his victim.]]

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Detective Banks loses an arm in ''The Coffin Dancer'']]

* ArmorIsUseless: Averted. Several characters have been in shootouts and it's been noted that the reason they came out pretty much with minor injuries was thanks to their kevlar vests.
* AscendedExtra: Detective Roland Bell, a homicide/witness protection detective, with a very memorable scene in ''The Coffin Dancer'' in which he goes toe to toe with the [[spoiler:Fake!]] Coffin Dancer, while brandishing [[GunsAkimbo two guns]], in a [[GunKata close quarter gunfight]]. He ends up replacing [[spoiler: Banks after he's PutOnABus after losing an arm in a previous gunfight against the same perp]].
* AsYouKnow: Done in the books to give a quick intro to the characters and their nature if they picked up the series halfway through and did not read ''The Bone Collector''. Like a quick summation of Rhyme's accident that left him a quadriplegic. It gets more jarring as the series progresses though.
* BadassGay: [[spoiler: Stephen Kall, the mercenary initially assumed to be the Coffin Dancer, is an ArmoredClosetGay and one of the most competent foes in the whole series.]] Thom also proves he's no slouch every so often.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: The 'Coffin Dancer' and The 'Conjurer' in their respective books.]]
** [[spoiler: Lincoln Rhyme himself in ''The Empty Chair'' book]].
* BigBrotherIsWatching: 'God' [[spoiler: Also, Sterling, SSD and the Government, where they have a dossier of just about every american, which keeps track of each and every single thing they do, including real time location, political affiliations, religious beliefs and everything else you can think of]].

* ArchEnemy: The 'Coffin Dancer' is implied to have been this to Lincoln Rhyme in the past.
** The 'Watchmaker'.
** [[spoiler: To a lesser degree, Charlotte the MadBomber from the end of ''The Bone Collector'', who reappears in ''The Cold Moon'' as TheManBehindTheMan.]]

* AloneWithThePsycho: [[spoiler: In ''The Bone Collector'', and an especially creepy version - alone with the psycho while ''paralyzed below the neck''. And said Psycho is your '''DOCTOR''']].
** [[spoiler: Also happens in ''The Empty Chair'', where a nurse wants to kill you as you're about to go under anesthesia]].
** [[spoiler: In ''The Stone Monkey'', whenever Amelia is with John Sung, who's actually Kwan Ang the Ghost.]]
** [[spoiler: And again in ''The Vanished Man'', where 'The Conjurer' sneaks into Lincoln Rhyme's apartment and almost kills him in a fire, or at least was highly convincing in that that was the plan]].
** [[spoiler: Once more in ''The Burning Wire'', this time with 'The Watchmaker'.]]

* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: Rhyme is made of this, especially at the beginning.

* DrivenToSuicide: Rhyme, at the beginning of the book, is looking for assistance as he's a quadriplegic. He changes his mind later on.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Most of the books take place in the span of a few days at the most. Since the majority of real-life murder cases are either solved [[RaceAgainstTheClock within the first 48 hours]] or not at all, this counts as TruthInTelevision.