Bone by Bone Hardcover - 2008

by O'Connell, Carol

A stunning stand-alone novel from the national-bestsellingauthor who 'has raised the standardfor psychological thrillers' (Chicago Tribune).

Carol O'Connell's most recent Mallory novel, Find Me,was one of the most highly praised suspense novelsof the year. 'A terrific find: a tightly wrapped, expertcombination of suspense, mystery and show-stopping character'(Janet Maslin of The New York Times); 'yet another exampleof the spot-on talents of one of America's finest writers of mysteries'(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). In Bone by Bone, however,she may have written her most unforgettable novel yet.

In the northern California town of Coventry, two teenagebrothers go into the woods one day, but only one comes back.No one knows what happened to the younger brother, Josh,until twenty years later, when the older brother, Oren, nowan ex-investigator for the Army CID, returns to Coventry forthe first time in many years. His first morning back, he hears athump on the front porch. Lying in front of the door is a humanjawbone, the teeth still intact. And it is not the first such object,his father tells him. Other remains have been left there as well.Josh is coming home . . . bone by bone.

Using all his investigative skills, Oren sets out to solve themystery of his brother's murder, but Coventry is a town full ofsecrets and secret-keepers: the housekeeper with the fugitivepast, the deputy with the old grudge, the reclusive ex-cop fromL.A., the woman with the title of town monster, and, not leastof all, Oren himself. But the greatest secret of all belonged to hisbrother, and it is only by unraveling it that Oren can begin to discoverthe truth that has haunted them all for twenty years.

Written with the rich prose, resonant characters, and knife-edgesuspense that have won the author so many fans, Bone byBone is further proof that 'O'Connell is one of the most poeticyet tough-minded writers of the genre' (San Francisco Chronicle).