Product Description

In two previous New York Times bestselling novels, Jefferson Bass enthralled readers with ripped-from-the-headlines forensic cases, memorable characters, and plots that "rival Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Drawing on research at the Body Farm—three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition—Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real.

A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone.

In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious package—a set of cremated remains that looks entirely unreal. With the help of a local crematorium, he investigates and discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: A facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly, instead scattering them all around the grounds.

Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality—with the force of a lit match meeting spilled gasoline. En route to trial, his nemesis, medical examiner Garland Hamilton, has escaped from custody. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse, played for the ultimate stakes: Brockton's own life. With help from his loyal graduate assistant, Miranda, and ace criminalist Art Bohanan, Brockton eventually tracks Hamilton, but when the police arrive, they find only a smoldering ruin. Sifting through the ashes, Brockton finds the incinerated remains of Hamilton . . . or does he? The answer—along with Brockton's ultimate test—comes in a searing moment of truth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #500173 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-01
• Released on: 2008-02-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060759858
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The lack of a strong central plot undercuts the third forensic thriller by bestseller Bass, the team of Dr. Bill Bass, founder of Tennessee's world-renowned Body Farm, and journalist Jon Jefferson (after 2007's Flesh and Bone). Two cases occupy Dr. Bass's fictional alter ego, Dr. Bill Brockton—the death of Mary Latham, a 47-year-old Knoxville native, whose charred remains were found in a burned-out car, and a disreputable Georgia crematorium that simply dumped bodies on its grounds. These probes soon take a backseat to a cat-and-mouse game with the doctor's arch nemesis, Garland Hamilton, who tried to frame him for murder in Flesh and Bone. When Hamilton escapes from incarceration before going to trial, Brockton must keep looking over his shoulder. While a smattering of Bass's trademark authentic forensic detail lifts this main narrative thread, a more focused look at a single case might have made the novel a better read. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"[A] fine thriller...this third installment is the best of a steadily improving series, but it’s doubtful we’ve seen the finest moments yet." -- Booklist

Review
"[A] unique corpse, solid science, quirky humor and a lovable protagonist." (USA Today )

"A superb mystery...written with more flair and literary sensibility than anything by John Grisham." (Charlotte Observer, praise for CARVED IN BONE )

"A gripping murder mystery." (Emily A. Craig, Ph.D., Kentucky State Forensic Anthropologist and author of Teasing Secrets from the Dead )

"CARVED IN BONE introduces a captivating protagonist and is full of obscure, fascinating forensics. [A] fine new talent." (Stephen White, New York Times bestselling author of MISSING PERSONS )

"[A] fine thriller...this third installment is the best of a steadily improving series, but it's doubtful we've seen the finest moments yet." (Booklist )

"Carved in Bone brims with terrific forensic detail . . . the real deal." (Kathy Reichs, New York Times bestselling author, praise for CARVED IN BONE )

"A superb mystery-well-plotted, filled with memorable characters, based on accurate forensic science." (Charlotte Observer )

"[F]ascinating...a delightful course in "how to examine a skeleton," and the intrigues of the Tennessee moonshine backwoods!" (Michael M. Baden, M.D., author of Remains Silent and former Chief Medical Examiner, New York City )

Customer Reviews

A Bone Detective With Heart
THE DEVIL'S BONES by Jefferson Bass is the third novel in the Dr. Bill Brockton forensics series. Jefferson Bass is the pseudonym of Dr. Bill Bass, a forensics specialist that founded Tennessee's Body Farm, and Jon Jefferson, the journalist who co-wrote Dr. Bass's nonfiction books.

I enjoy the CSI world a lot, and I can differentiate between Hollywood DNA results (done while you wait) and real-world DNA results (six months waiting list), but I'm still a sucker for a well-told tale with plenty of hard science behind it. THE DEVIL'S BONES has a lot of both going for it.

I enjoyed Dr. Brockton's first-person "aw shucks" kind of down-to-earth storytelling quite a lot. I grew up in small towns where PHDs still wear cowboy books and haven't quite shaken the rural accents. I always looked up to those men and women (yes, there are women there who haven't gotten out of cowboy boots either) because they knew so much but hadn't gotten away from the lives they'd grown up in. To me, his character felt very natural and real.

However, I was constantly aware that this was a third novel in a series because I was reminded over and over again that I wasn't privy to the events in the preceding novels. To my way of thinking, there were simply too many ties to the last couple of novels to make this one easily picked up and absorbed by a new reader. I'm going to go back and read the other two books in order, because I was well entertained, but I really regretted not having read them before I read this one. So that's a caveat for new readers that might be interested in this. I think the series is well worth the investment, though.

There's also a lot going on in this novel. In the beginning, Dr. Brockton tries to help a colleague out on a murder investigation that includes burning various body parts in an automobile fire at night. Readers are treated to a lot of scientific data right off the bat, but in a way that's immediately absorbable and makes a lot of sense. I particularly enjoyed this case because it ran throughout most of the book.

A second investigation leads Dr. Brockton into the grisly discovery that a crematorium isn't doing its job. Instead, the owners have elected to simply toss the bodies into the woods. That storyline was actually taken from recent news. I remember the news articles I read on the real case and was appalled. The authors' descriptions of the horrendous circumstances of what those abandoned bodies were subjected to are graphic.

The storyline that I most regretted involved Dr. Brockton's ongoing battle with Garland Hamilton, a medical examiner who has it in for the forensic anthropologist. Over the course of the last two books, Hamilton murdered Dr. Brockton's love interest.

Occasionally the writing jarred, however. The writers are given to hyperbole from time to time, such as having Dr. Brockton "bound" into action. I haven't met anyone that's ever claimed to have "bound" into action. There are a few other instances of this kind of overstatement that reminds you you're reading a book, but thankfully they're few. Just noticeable.

I had a good time with the novel. It's fast, fun, and breezy, and has a lot of scientific facts and information about arson, burned bones, crematoriums, and other forensic details to keep my interest piqued. Not only that, but Dr. Brockton's narrative made me feel like I was again back home in those small towns where I grew up. He's an engaging character and I look forward to reading more of his investigations.

"Seeing a skeleton was like reading a diary."
Dr. Bill Bass (founder of the famed Body Farm at the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility) and Jon Jefferson are back with the third installment in their series featuring professor and forensic anthropologist extraordinaire, Dr. Bill Brockton. Brockton has endured one tragedy after another; his wife, Karen, died of cancer, and medical examiner Dr. Jess Carter, with whom he had a close personal relationship, was the victim of a psychopathic killer who had a vendetta against Brockton. Although he has an attentive son, a kind daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, Bill is often lonely and his work provides the welcome distraction that he needs.

With the capable assistance of his devoted research assistant, Miranda Lovelady (I am not making this name up), Bill investigates the suspicious death of forty-seven year old Mary Louise Latham, who apparently perished after smoking in a car and setting the surrounding grass on fire. Although Mary's husband, Stuart was in Las Vegas when his wife died, he had a plenty of motive for eliminating her. To get a better idea of the circumstances surrounding the possible crime, Bill and Miranda set fire to two sets of bones sitting in two wrecked cars and subsequently examine the remains. Observing the scene is Art Bohanan, the Knoxville Police Department's senior criminalist and Bill's good buddy. Later, when Bill takes a look at Mary's skeleton as well as the farm where she lived, he makes several significant discoveries that shed light on what may have happened.

Other matters that preoccupy Bill are a case involving the Trinity Crematorium (whose owner, Delbert Littlejohn, may be perpetuating a cruel fraud on his clueless clients) and his forthcoming testimony in the trial of Jess's alleged murderer. Trepidation turns to terror when Bill's archenemy escapes from jail. Will this maniac come after Brockton in an effort to permanently silence him? Do dead bodies decay in hot weather?

"The Devil's Bones' is fatally marred by too much cutesy dialogue ("a little less conversation, a little more incineration," "It's not the heat, it's the stupidity," "even a blind squirrel finds some nuts"), minimally fleshed-out characters (no pun intended), and an underdeveloped and predictable plot. "The Devil's Bones" has two saving graces: the authors' rich use of local color and the wealth of information provided on cremation and forensics. Such details make books of this type perennially popular in our criminology-obsessed culture. Unfortunately, this novel is CSI-lite; it will appeal mainly to undemanding readers who enjoy unchallenging and escapist fiction.

Third's the charm
In this third Body Farm novel, Dr. Bill Brockton takes on three bone chilling cases. The first involves establishing whether a woman was burned alive or her remains were incinerated at some later time to falsify the time of death. The second to find out whether the cremains of Dr. Brockton's former defense attorney's deceased Aunt Jean really are hers. The third, to find out if Dr. Brockton's nemesis, the former Knox County, Tennessee Medical Examiner and murderer of Brockton's love interest, really incinerated himself in a cabin fire after he escaped from jail.

The plots of all three are interwoven in authentically like real crime happens. Of course, we have some old favorites returning: Art Bohannon, the wise-cracking KPD fingerprint specialist; Miranda Lovelady, the gifted and hardworking grad student; Burt DeVriess, aka "Grease", the slick defense attorney; and Jim Conner, the new Sheriff from Cooke County, Tennessee. Of course, the forensics are topnotch, the tension doesn't let up, and there's just enough good-humored wisecracking to keep reader blood pressure from skyrocketing.