This is my first read from Tess Gerritsen. I loved every single thing about this novel. I loved how it went from the 1830's to the present time. An excellent page-turner. Tess Gerritsen pulls you into the novel. It feels like your one of the characters in the novel. I really couln't put the novel down. The ending was very sad. I gave this novel a 10 out of 10 which is a perfect novel. Lots of action. Mystery. It keeps you going. ( )

Pretty interesting. To go back and forth from now to the 1800s. The hunt and the 'who's the reaper' question marks hanging throughout added a touch of excitement. Also an unexpected twist to the ending.

And in the name of science, we make sacrifices..even if it means seeing someone you know ending up on the dissecting table? *gulps
I cannot imagine it happening but I am thankful it did, otherwise medicals would nvr have been able to improve.. ( )

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This was the first novelI read by Tess Gerritsen....it was an ok book...I got lost a few times with the story line, but in the end it turned out be interesting.

Seeing how they "stole" cadavers for medical use was quite interesting....characters were interesting as well. ( )

Switching between past and present, The Bone Garden is a captivating tale of murder and mystery. Although I had a rough start with it, I really got into it around pages 100-120 – once I had finally accepted that, against my expectations, the book was mostly set in the past rather than in the present.

Even though Gerritsen is known as a mystery author, The Bone Garden was very close to an historical fiction work. All the descriptions of the 19th century medicine were captivating – and only made me more thankful to live in the 21st century! I thought there was a really good balance between story and medicine, and I could easily imagine the world as it was then.
The narration jumped from present to past, but also from one character to the other. Since I had such a hard time getting into it, I ended up a little confused between all the names and personnalities. I also thought the story moved slowly, maybe too much at times. As the end neared though, the action quickens and I really wanted to know what would happen. I also loved how, in the end, the present was linked very closely to the past.
Another thing I liked was the dark, mysterious vibe that envelops the story. There was a lot of “hiding in the dark” and “running through the night”, giving it the semblance of a gothic tale.

I have a hard time rating this book and I don’t want to be too harsh on it : I think that my appreciation of it depended a lot on the mood I was in, which wasn’t one favorable to a slower story set in the past. All in all, it was still a very well written novel with a good mystery and an interesting ending. ( )

I am a Tess Gerritsen fan however this book didn't meet her normally high standards. The concept of the story was very interesting and the historical section very well done. However, the current day section was a tad pat and didn't really add anything to the story. One mediocre book by Gerritsen is still better than some of the books on the best sellers list. ( )

I am a huge Tess Gerritsen fan and this book did not disappoint. It is a murder mystery with a twist. The murder took place in the 1800s and is solved in the present day. The author does an amazing job of ttelling the story by transitioning back and forth from the 1800s (based on letters) to the current times. The characters were well developed and I hated to see the book end. ( )

In the present, in the backyard of Julia Hamill's old Boston house, a long-buried body is unearthed. In 1830, long before the invention of the term serial killer, medical student Norris Marshall is accused of being a mass murderer. To dig himself out from under suspicion, Norris seeks help from a fellow student, one Oliver Wendell Holmes. Together they pursue the cold-hearted killer, while, in the present day, Julia Hamill tries to find out the identity of the body buried in her backyard. As her fans well know, this is not Gerritsen's first shot at combining the modern and the historical. Yet it reads as though it might be: it's clunky, with overly familiar plotting and an attempt at 1830s-era dialogue that's often painful to the ear. Incorporating real people into historical fiction is a well-worn device, and while the author succeeds in bringing Holmes vividly to life, she doesn't really do anything particularly special with him—a fictional character would have served the story just as well. ( )

A better than usual pulp ficdtion thriller that incorporates flashbacks to the 1800s. I really liked reading about what it was like to be a medical student at that time. The book started a little slow, but definitely picked up the pace in the middle so I didn't want to put it down. ( )

So far I like it! This is my first Gerritsen novel so I'm hoping her others are just as good. I'm not usally a fan of who dun it crime novels, but this author may change my mind! ( )

Lovely intertwined past/present story. I want to go to Bosten imidiately. ( )

Alternating between past and present, this book takes you on a journey through the history of a family. The past is set in Boston in the 1830's, centering on a group of medical students at Boston Medical College. The present focuses on a divorced woman who recently bought an old home outside Boston and stumbles on a skeleton in her yard. Through various resources, old documents and relatives, the whole story of the house, the family and the past unravels. Very well written! The characters are interesting, though I think the past story is much better written than the present (which is only there to support telling the other plot line). I wish the story in the present would have a bit more meat to it, but the book as a whole was extremely interesting. ( )

I liked this book. It traveled between the past and present to reveal a murder mystery/love story that stayed with me long after I read the last page. A new owner of an old house discovers the skeletal remains of a woman in her garden. The autopsy reveals they are more than 100 years old. Thus the mystery of who is this long undiscovered homicide victim? She receives an unexpected call from the home's previous owner's family member who wants to share with her the papers left behind hopefully somewhere in this forgotten treasure will be the answers. Letters soon tell the story of a vicious murderer, a mysterious child, and her aunt who fiercely tries to protect her from those wanting to harm her. A good read. ( )

Trying to recover from a divorce, Julia Hamill has bought a 130-year-old home in Massachusetts. She wants to fix it up, work in the garden and feel like she has done something all on her own. While digging in the garden, she unearths a skeleton that is found to be that of a woman who was murdered. Julia ends up feeling haunted by the woman and the time frame that she came from and the reader discovers much about the history of the surrounding area and is taken back in time via letters written(fictitiously) by none other than Oliver Wendell Holmes.

This is my third Tess Gerritsen book and I chose it because of the fact that it alternated between the past and the present. I would classify this as my favorite book by Gerritsen so far. I was captivated by the characters of Rose Connolly and Norris Marshall and I also liked the fact that I didn’t find the mystery predictable. I was hooked from the beginning and didn’t want to put this one down. (4/5) ( )

This was another of those, I kept reading until it was finished books. I would like to say I didn't put it down, but I had to go to work. It moved from past to present, but at a nice pace and the ending was part surprise and part expected but in a nice way. The author kept the pace going, kept the suspense at a high but tolerable level. With slight breaks so you catch your breath before the next shock.

I recommend this book.

One of her better novels. I really liked the history of medicine that Gerritsen intertwined here. The story was fast-paced, unpredictable and with likeable characters. Exactly the things I look for in a thriller. The historical element was a bonus. ( )

The historical part of this book was great, despite the West End Reaper being heavily based on Jack the Ripper. I really enjoyed the story of Rose and Norris, despite its sad end. However, the present day stuff wasn’t really needed. I feel like Gerritsen really wanted to write historical fiction, but she was afraid it wouldn’t grab her usual readers so she had to throw these present day ties in. I could have done without Julia altogether. ( )

A woman in present day Boston finds old bones buried in her backyard. She becomes intrigued by finding out who this mysterious woman was and meets an old man who is the family historian of the house she now lives in. The present days scenes are interspersed throughout the book with the main focus being on the retelling of the mysterious death of the woman from the past. Taking place in the 1830s, a group of medical students is working on the post maternity ward, where childbirth fever kills the majority of patients. One doctor, Norris Marshall, becomes enamoured of a young girl who stays by her sister's side. Once her sister dies a series of murders start to take place. These are mutilations of nurses, then a doctor, and the killings just do not stop. Police are certain the killer must be a surgeon and one policeman in particular turns to Norris as his suspect. With the help of the people he thinks he can trust Norris must make the law believe he is innocent of the crimes.

Oliver Wendell Holmes and medicine of the early 1800s take the forefront in this mystery which was a page-turner from page one. I love this time period and I love historical medicine so it is no surprise I loved this book. I found Gerritsen's depiction to be well-researched and accurate (at least, to my knowledge). This is Tess Gerritsen's first stand-alone since she started her popular Dr. Maura Isles series. Though Dr. Isles does make a cameo appearance near the beginning of the story. There is always some trepidation when reading a stand-alone by a favourite series author but there is no reason for concern here. The characters are well developed and the plot is exciting and has a shocking conclusion. Even though I love the Dr. Isles series, I have to say I enjoyed this book the most of any other I've read by Ms. Gerritsen. ( )

Excellent and gripping. Some parts are morbid and disgusting. A woman buys a house and discovers a skeleton in her back yard. She wants to discover the identity of the person. This investigation takes her back to the 1830's when medical science was just beginning to research humans after death. Many murders are taking place all in the name of science. An innocent man is wrongly accused of murder. A mother dies in child birth and her child must be hidden, but why? EXCELLENT! ( )

I thought The Bon Garden was a good book for not being the usual Tess Gerritsen's book.

I liked this storyline. The way it took place in historical times made it seem eerie to me. Also Tess did a great job when she would switch back and forth from past to present. It was easy-flowing.

I look forawrd to read more books by this author. ( )

Story told in two different time periods, the present and 1830, when actual events occurred.

Repetitive at times. The characters have a seemingly never ending internal dialog.

The book keeps your interest, although one can guess the ending. ( )

The Bone Garden, like Gravity, is a departure from Tess Gerritsen's other thrillers and, as such, some fans will not like it. However, what I like about Gerritsen's writing is that she does reinvent herself and move from genre to genre and keep challenging herself. This keeps her plots and her writing interesting and prevents her from entering the rut of formulaic writing that so many bestselling writers who publish once per year get into.

The story is split between the present and past. The story set in the present is a framework for the main story which takes place in the past, making it a historical thriller. It was an interesting story--not quite as compelling as her last one--but well worth reading and enjoying.

Visit me at my book blog: Booklorn. ( )

This could have been a very good historical murder mystery without the intrusive modern parts, which could also have been a good story in itself. Together they're a bit addled.

While this is technically a story in the Isles/Rizzoli series, Maura Isles really only has a cameo part. Confirming that the bones Julia Hamill finds are in fact quite old and confirming that the old lady who lived in Julia's house died of natural causes, after that the story centres around papers found in the house and a historical mystery, that unfolds quite well.

I enjoyed much of the story but sometimes the modern intruded too much into it and broke the story too much. ( )

A great read about practicing doctor's in the early 1800's, not for those with weak stomach's! ( )

Really graphic medical scenes--otherwise, very compelling story!