Friday, April 30, 2010

The Bone Thief - Jefferson Bass


All caught up on Kathy Reichs? Miss the early Scarpetta novels? The Bone Thief is the 5th book in The Body Farm series by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Jefferson is a veteran jounalist and forensic anthropologist Bass is the actual founder of The Body Farm. (This was the setting for one of Cornwell's first Scarpetta books)

Dr. Bill Brockton is the recurring character and guess what - he's a forensic anthropologist at the Body Farm. So absolutely all the technical details and descriptions are accurate.

In The Bone Thief, Brockton stumbles upon a black market dealing in stolen body parts. The FBI wants Bill to use Body Farm parts in a sting operation. When Bill's good friend Dr. Garcia suffers a tragic accident and needs a body part that he will probably never receive through regular donation protocol, Bill is forced to reexamine his own principles.

A good series and one I will continue to follow. The technical detail is great, the plot is very current, drawing from recent headlines. The secondary plot line involving Bill's personal life is sometimes a bit awkward and forced. The supporting character of lab assistant Miranda has lots of potential to develop into a larger role.

Read an excerpt of The Bone Thief.

8 comments:

Mystica said...

This sounds like a Patricia Cornwell book which I love.

Anonymous said...

Someone else recommended this series to me. Glad it hear it is worthwhile. I'll put it on my wishlist.

Kerry said...

I read Bones of Betrayal and just couldn't love it. I wanted to - WWII history wrapped into modern forensic mystery sounded awesome to me - but I found the writing style annoying and too many holes in the plots. Maybe it's worth a second shot, as the concept really did sound good.

jenny wilson said...

Sound like my kind of series will look out for these books

bermudaonion said...

I bet both my husband and I would enjoy this series because we like Reichs and early Scarpetta. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Jenn's Bookshelves said...

You know, I started reading this series but stopped shortly afterward. I really need to pick it up again. Thanks for reintroducing it to me :)

Ladytink_534 said...

I haven't read any of Kathy Reichs' books but I'm fond of those kinds of stories. This one sounds really neat!

Charleydog said...

I have read every book that Jefferson/Bass series and I love them. Patricia's Cornwell's "Body Farm" is based on Dr. Bass's body farm.

pboylecharley AT hotmail DOT com