New York, in the midst of huge centennial celebrations, is thrown into uproar by the assaults of the Bone Collector, a serial kidnapper and killer who gives the police a chance to save his victims from death by leaving obscure clues.

The police go to Lincoln Rhyme, an ex-NYPD forensics guru left a quadriplegic after an accident. Rhyme reluctantly postpones his dream of ending his life and puts together a premiere forensic investigation team, enlisting as his eyes and ears Amelia Sachs, a young officer. He digs deep into the only world he has left - his astonishing mind - and slowly begins to narrow the noose around the Bone Collector. But the kidnapper is narrowing his own noose - around Lincoln Rhyme.