Old Bones

Authors Preston and Child did such a great job on 'Old Bones' that once you start reading, you won't be able to put it down.'Old Bones' follows two women, Nora Kelly and Corrie Swanson, with a small segment following a man named Clive Benton, all of who end up being intertwined within this one novel. The entire story revolves around the dark history of the cannibalistic Donner Party, while bringing in fictitious elements to give the readers a well-rounded adventure.The story gets rolling after Benton visits Kelly with a historical diary that belonged to a member of the Donner Party- - - Kelly is a well-known archaeologist, while Benton is an accredited historian - - - Benton tells Kelly that the journal revealed a lost camp which had never been discovered by anyone, and that this camp could be one of the biggest archaeological finds of the century. While Kelly has to convince the director of the Archaeology Institute to fund the expedition, Benton springs on her and the director that there is a possibility of twenty million dollars worth of gold coins that belonged to a member of the Donner Party could still be located at this lost camp, and, of course, the director quickly agrees to fund the expedition.Before this, I have never read a book by Preston and Child, but after reading 'Old Bones,' I am anxious to read their other works. The writing is fluid, and keeps the pace going quite well, and the transition between the two main characters is done flawlessly without any confusion as to whose view point you are viewing. The fictitious take on the historical Donner Party is done masterfully enough that even I had to go back to actual historic documents to see what was true and what was not. In one book, readers get dark history, paranormal elements, archaeology, thriller moments, mystery and suspense.Although the story is a well-written one, there is one scene that could have had great potential, but nothing ever came of it: "Taking a few more steps, she passed through a particularly dense stand of trees and suddenly emerged into a roughly circular clearing. Odd: there was no reason for a break like this in such thick forest. She shone her light around, but there was nothing: just a soft bed of green moss, undisturbed by tracks, and a few scattered boulders." The way this scene is written leaves readers to believe that this may be important later on, but the area is unfortunately never mentioned again.The story brings FBI agent Swanson into the lives of Benton and Kelly after a string of grave robberies and one presumed murder takes place; the former and latter have one thing in common: they are descendants of a member belonging to the Donner Party." 'So where do we fit into this?' asked Nora.'The commonality I referred to. All four individuals were descended from a single person: a man named Parkin.'Nora saw Clive start in surprise. 'Albert Parkin?' he asked. 'Of the Donner Party?''Exactly. And I've been led to understand he's one of the individuals in the camp you're excavating.' " Agent Swanson isn't exactly welcomed with open arms at the expedition.The amount of archaeological understanding that was put into this novel is astounding. Preston and Child relay a lot of terms and devices used in the career field such as when Benton uses a bamboo pick to loosen the surface of a quad area and a whisk to gently work dirt away from findings. But this story isn't all archaeological terms, there's also a lot of great development among the characters.These characters are written differently just enough that the reader should be able to tell them apart easily. Kelly is a leading archaeologist, who has led many different expeditions, but she is also still dealing with the grief of losing her husband years before. Benton is a historian that is a descendant of a member belonging to the Donner Party,and Swanson is a junior FBI agent that is eager to work on her first active case. Even minor characters are distinct among themselves.Yet, the story is not flawless, there are quite a few inconsistencies, but the major problem I have found with the novel is the changing of characters' names in which they are addressed by. One scene, Nora would be referred to as Kelly - her last name - then more than usually the next paragraph, she would be called Nora. This happens with the main characters too often than it should, that it can confuse the reader and upset the flow of the story itself.And unfortunately, the paranormal and horror elements are few and far between. We get an amazing retelling of the Donner Party tragedy not once, but throughout the story, reliving the cannibalism that took place, as well as the fictional element of gold leading to murder:" 'Then you'll recall that when Wolfinger's wagon became stuck while crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert, two men - - - Reinhardt and Spitzer- - - volunteered to go back and help dig it out. Those two men returned, claiming Indians had killed Wolfinger.'' Yes, yes, ' Dr. Fugit said, concealing a growing impatience.'Well, that was a lie. Even at the time the members of the party were suspicious that something untoward had happened to Wolfinger. Reinhardt and Spitzer were viewed with a great deal if suspicion, and the two men afterwards kept to themselves and were somewhat ostracized by the rest. When Reinhardt was dying of starvation in the Lost Camp, he made a deathbed confession: Wolfinger had not been killed by Indians. Reinhardt and Spitzer had gone back, murdered Wolfinger, and taken his gold.' He paused. ' This information has been known to historians for over a century, but nobody, incredibly enough, thought to ask the next question: what happened to the gold? ' "I highly recommend this book to fans of Thomas Harris; the writing is very similar and the character Swanson reminds me a lot of Harris' character Clarice Starling (refer to 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Hannibal'). I also recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history, especially that of dark history, such as the Donner Party tale.For more book reviews on mystery novels, check out my blog at GoreAndTea.com

A friend recommended this book to me, but I was skeptical because I've always been such a fan of the Agent Pendergast novels. I really didn't think an old character from that beloved series could stand on her own in a new series. Happily, I was wrong. Nora is one of two strong female characters who each pack a punch on their own. Sure, they spar with each other, but in a real situation, who wouldn't? I thought I had the whole mystery figured out, but in true Preston/Child fashion, I was fooled. And...I was surprised and horrified by the "real" motive for the murders. Looking forward to the next book!

I always enjoy Preston and Child's mysteries based in the high desert and mountains of my Southwest home. Their characters were in this novel all old friends from previous reads which is always a delight

Fascinating and riveting, introducing the collaboration between archeologist Nora Kelly and junior FBI agent Corrie Swanson. Great read! I couldn't put it down!

I'm happy to say they've left the Pendergast muddle for the time being and gone back to telling a pretty decent spooky story. I was happy with the pacing here; it tells you what you need to know, then moves on to the next part of the story, whoever is telling it. And it's a pretty convincing tale - I actually had to look it up and see if there was such a thing as the Lost Camp (there isn't). I read it in one sitting, more or less, and I was not bored. Pendergast makes a cameo at the end, but it's the kind of appearance he needs to be making for a while - it's fun, shows off his unique gifts as well as his more irritating side, and it's short. He sounds like himself, finally. I've been firmly of the opinion that the character needs a rest for a while - at least until he has a worthy opponent. Time to let people like Nora and Corrie pick up the threads for a while. And pick it up they do. spoilers below...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Corrie has developed very well, and convincingly. It's really good to see that she hasn't entirely put her smart mouth and feisty nature into neutral, and that she can still deliver the smackdown when some meathead needs it. I love that her mentor is actually a decent guy, and guides her without trying to control her or patronize her. We've already seen how she does with "authority figures" but in this case, it's really her own youth and inexperience that give her the most headaches, not someone suppressing her. She's still smart, which is good, because Nora seems to have lost a few brain cells. Nora still has plenty of book smarts, but her people smarts need work. I sniffed out the bad guy very quickly, as did Corrie, and it seems unlike Nora not to have noticed his lie about not knowing about her husband. This guy shows up at her camp, claims to have handpicked her for this expedition and that he's done all kinds of research on her because he's an historian and research is his thing, and yet he claims he had no idea her husband died? The minute I saw that, my response was "bullsh*t". And of course, once you spot one lie, the others start to jump out. But Nora never seems to notice any of this. Here's hoping she gets it more together next time.The big reason this got only 4 stars and not 5 is that then ending felt a bit weak. Yes, I get that they wanted to set up the new Big Bads out there without giving away too much, but it left a lot of threads dangling and unanswered, which made the story feel a little unfinished. I would have loved one more scene at the end, maybe featuring the mysterious Big Bad (Darth Eli Glinn and his new company, whatever that is, anyone? just speculating, relax) that actually shed some real light on what they were after, instead of one more round of Pendergast Explains It All. That was a weakness in Verses of the Dead too, that Pendergast had to come in and explain what had happened, to Smithback 2.0, because otherwise, it was incomprehensible. This is not incomprehensible, but kind of incomplete. But I'm willing to give this new series the benefit of the doubt and see where it goes next. It's off to a good start.

I' m not always a fan of detective stories but this engaged my interest. A lot of the story involving the character's was very true as I have experienced in my own life though from a male rather than female perspective. It applies whatever the gender of the recipients. Notwithstanding that, the characters were well presented and the story was baffling enough to make you think. I really enjoy this type of craftsmanship in a story so it definitely gets my vote and recommendation.

This book is tall and narrow and as such, very difficult to hold with one hand and has to be held open with two hands. Why can't the publisher make these books the same shape as every other publisher's paperbacks. I was really looking forward to this book but it will be going straight in the recycling. I won't give it to a charity shop as I don't want to inflict the frustration on another.

I’m a big fan of Preston & Child, love their incredible imagination and weird supernatural thrillers. I was immensely disappointed with this one. Not much happened, at all, until the last quarter of the book when it got interesting. I was around half way through when I realised very little has happened and there wasn’t really much of a mystery! Disappointing. Not one of their best, by a long way.

Two characters from the Preston Child universe come together here in a well paced, atmospheric thriller that will hold your interest throughout. A guest appearance by special agent A.X.L. Pendergast at the end is the icing on the cake.An intriguing story, originating from an actual historical event, with decent characters and great plotting, which keeps you guessing until the end. In my opinion, well worth reading.

It was great to have a storyline with my two favourite characters Kelly and Swainson. Also no mention of D'Agosta which was a great bonus as his loud ignorant presence is a great turn off .Thrilling take on a real tragedy . Fantastic