This was another good read in the series, although I didn't like it as well as I did CARVED IN BONE. I'm still enjoying the character of Dr. Bill Brockton, based on the author, but this second installment didn't hold my interest as thoroughly as the first title did.

That being said, though, there is a major shake-up in the plot with this one, and overall it's a good read. It just took me quite a lot longer to get through it than I had expected.

We'll see how the third one goes! ( )

Body Farm - 1 ( )

I did not enjoy this second body farm novel as much as the first one, but the forensic details were still fascinating. Professor Bill Brockton becomes embroiled in a battle with creationists. He also testifies against a colleague, and gets involved with Jess Carter, the new medical examiner. From there the story gets rather far-fetched, but it was still a good read with an exciting ending. ( )

#2 in the Body Farm mysteries featuring Dr. Bill Brockton, founder of the research institute dedicated to learning more about how we decompose. In the first book, I enjoyed the forensic parts but was not crazy about the main character, and that trend continued in this book. For all that Dr. Bill Brockton is the consummate “nice guy,” I just can’t get attached to him, nor do I really care much about him—even when he’s suspected of murder. He’s just boring milquetoast for me. But I *did* enjoy the forensic aspect of the book a lot—if not for that, it’s doubtful I would have continued reading it. Lots of gory details, so if you’re squeamish, I wouldn’t read this book. Bill gets embroiled in the creationism/intelligent design vs. evolution debate in this book as well as working on the murder of a guy dressed in women’s clothes that appears to be a hate crime. When a colleague of Bill’s—whom he just happens to have slept with also—ends up murdered and displayed in his own Body Farm on top of the body they’re using to research that hate crime murder, he is a strong suspect in the case. Can’t see why, when ‘whodunit’ was as plain as the nose on your face, at least to me.

I’m debating whether to continue on in this series or not. The whole package just seems really uninspired, great forensic details or no. One of those, “It wasn’t really bad...it was okay, BUT”...kind of books. ( )

This is a big book physically and in impact. This is the second in the series about Bill Brockton, forensic anthropologist and director of the Body Farm, the facility that investigates the forensics of decompositionl

Brockton develops as a character quite a lot in this book, and it is a character worth knowing. He is a decent man, a good man, with empathy for the people he deals with. In this novel, he begins a romance, his first since his wife's cancer death a couple of years ago. But things begin to go badly wrong for the doctor, a Perfect Storm of troubles on the personal and professional front. One problem is the threat of a lawsuit after he gives a pro-evolution lecture in one of his classes... the chapter is marvelous, by the way. Brockton is tested and how he changes and comes through this makes for a fascinating story. ( )