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The Dark Place (1983)

by Aaron Elkins

Series: Gideon Oliver (2)

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4551454,107 (3.64)13
Gideon Oliver earns his moniker "The Skeleton Detective" in this riveting entry to the Edgar Award-winning mystery series "that never disappoints" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)   Deep in the primeval rainforest of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, the skeletal remains of a murdered man are discovered. And a strange, unsettling tale begins to unfold, for forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver determines that the murder weapon was a primitive bone spear of a type not seen for the last ten thousand years. And whoever--or whatever--hurled it did so with seemingly superhuman force. Bigfoot "sightings" immediately crop up, but Gideon is not buying them. But something is continuing to kill people, and Gideon, helped by forest ranger Julie Tendler and FBI special agent John Lau, plunges into the dark heart of an unexplored wilderness to uncover the bizarre, astonishing explanation.   Fans of authors Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen and television shows like Bones will be fascinated by Aaron Elkins's award-winning landmark forensic detective series. The Dark Place is the 2nd book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.  … (more)
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Showing 1-5 of 14 (next | show all)
[book id="1719" rating="4"]

I've only read one other Gideon Oliver book, and it's a much later entry in the series (Skullduggery), which I enjoyed. I wanted to start at the beginning but after a lot of research, everyone who has ever read the first book says it's not worth reading it, so I'm jumping in at #2.

I wasn't sure what to expect, and I didn't really read it with any particular HB square in mind. This was a really good story, and not at all the kind of story I expected. What starts off with 3 disappearances in the rainforest of Washington State leads to dead bodies, an unknown Amerind burial ground, and, for the first 60 pages, Bigfoot is a contender! So much fun!

The reality, as the story progresses, is much, much more interesting than Bigfoot (no offence meant), and this mystery becomes the most anthropological anthropology-mystery I've ever read. It's short - 200 pages - but concise and fast paced. Little is wasted on descriptive filler, although I'd have liked for the sex scenes not to have made the final edits. I'm fine with sex scenes in general, but in a cozy, written by a man, well, for some reason it just sort of squicked me out. But they really were the only unnecessary scenes and were pretty PG, for all I'm complaining about them.

Without giving anything away, it was just a really solid, well-written, mystery, with great characters and an even better setting.

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022 and beyond the obvious Genre: Mystery square it also fits Amateur Sleuth, Cozy Mystery, Dem Bones, In the Dark, Dark Woods, Monsters, and The Barrens.

I'm going to use it for Monsters because, Bigfoot! :) ( )
  murderbydeath | Aug 31, 2022 |
Elkins has done it again, making science fascinating to the layman in the context of a good mystery. The resolution is warming, hopeful. Highly recommended. ( )
  chibitika | Sep 29, 2021 |
Elkins has done it again, making science fascinating to the layman in the context of a good mystery. The resolution is warming, hopeful. Highly recommended. ( )
  chibitika | Sep 29, 2021 |
mystery, myths-legends, anthropologist, romance****

I still like this one even after a number of years. I'd forgotten the romance novel stuff, but I was more than happy to reread all of the anthro. It was nice hearing about University of Wisconsin and Gideon's friends in anthropology and the FBI. The mystery was solid with good writing and problem solving.
Joel Richards did a nice job of narrating. ( )
  jetangen4571 | Mar 3, 2020 |
Nice little mystery about disappearing hikers in Washington's State's Olympic National Park. Gideon Oliver, the "skeleton detective," gets called in. While he's discovering more about the bones, he's also discovering Julie Tendler, the pretty head ranger. ( )
  melsbks | Jan 12, 2017 |
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With a curse that echoed weirdly in the dripping forest, Eckert sat heavily down on a spongy, moss-covered log.
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Gideon Oliver earns his moniker "The Skeleton Detective" in this riveting entry to the Edgar Award-winning mystery series "that never disappoints" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)   Deep in the primeval rainforest of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, the skeletal remains of a murdered man are discovered. And a strange, unsettling tale begins to unfold, for forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver determines that the murder weapon was a primitive bone spear of a type not seen for the last ten thousand years. And whoever--or whatever--hurled it did so with seemingly superhuman force. Bigfoot "sightings" immediately crop up, but Gideon is not buying them. But something is continuing to kill people, and Gideon, helped by forest ranger Julie Tendler and FBI special agent John Lau, plunges into the dark heart of an unexplored wilderness to uncover the bizarre, astonishing explanation.   Fans of authors Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen and television shows like Bones will be fascinated by Aaron Elkins's award-winning landmark forensic detective series. The Dark Place is the 2nd book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.  

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Hachette Book Group

2 editions of this book were published by Hachette Book Group.

Editions: 0445209550, 0446404039

 

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