A REALISTIC PORTRAYAL

A tremendous amount of research was conducted to make the character of Lincoln Rhyme, a man who is completely paralyzed from the neck down but can control the movement of one finger, as believable as possible. Noyce first began his research in England, where advances into the treatment of quadriplegia were made following World War II.

"Prior to that time, once you severed your spinal cord it was really the end, but increasingly, it has become the beginning of another life-a completely different one, but not the end of living," says Noyce.

In the United States, Noyce and Washington met with leading spinal cord specialists at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, and several hospitals in the Los Angeles area. Washington also met with over a dozen quadriplegics, including actor and activist Christopher Reeve.

Queen Latifah, who stars as Rhyme's nurse Thelma, also met with the extraordinary Reeve. She says, "I definitely left feeling inspired. Christopher has a lot of love for what he does. He understands his situation, has hope, a positive attitude, and he's able to share that with other people in the same situation, and that's important."

Latifah also met with a number of nurses and care givers. She explains, "I had to know what kind of injury Rhyme had, and what kind of care he needed. There is no person more intimate with a quadriplegic than his care giver, because she sees the up's and down's and good and bad of everything."

As Washington says, "Your care giver is your lifeline."

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