Ein tolles Folgewerk...: Ich kenne keinen Autoren, der so spannend und kühl einen Tatort und die Umstände eines Mordes beschreiben kann wie Simon Beckett. Als grosser Fan seines ersten Buches "Chemie des Todes" konnte ich das Folgewerk nicht aus meinen Händen legen. Das Buch startet auch gleich mit so viel Grusel und Krimi-Atmosphäre, dass man nicht aufhören kann, nach dem Motiv und dem Mörder zu grübeln.

Leider, leider fand ich das Ende nicht so gelungen. Es erinnert an das erste Buch, zumal ich die Geschehnisse im Epilog völlig absurd und unnötig empfand. Schade, ansonsten hätte es volle Punktzahl gegeben.

Another great read by Simon Beckett!

This time the mystery is on an island in the Hebrides. It's one of those closed environment murder mysteries where the killer is among us, we can't get away, the killer can't get away, & people are dying all around us. Throw in a storm that cuts everyone off from communication & various horrible deaths & you've got a chilling read.

Once again Beckett proves that he can write well & that he has a really good (& somewhat twisted) imagination. The twists & turns in this are lovely & unexpected & the whodunit really does stay a whodunit which makes it a true page-turner. ( )

David Hunter is a forensic anthropologist whose expertise is requested in Scotland when a woman's body is found burned by what appears to be spontaneous human combustion. On closer examination, Hunter determines otherwise. But with a storm brewing on this remote island and no means of communication, the killer does everything he can to protect his secrets and wait until it is safe to leave the island. An interesting read although there were more supposed accidents and bodies than in Jessica Fletcher's Cabot Cove. ( )

Spannend, aber das etwas flacher als Chemie des Todes. Ende genauso überraschend. ( )

Written in Bone is the follow-on novel to The Chemistry of Death featuring forensic anthropologist David Hunter. It is some eighteen months after the harrowing events of The Chemistry of Death, and David Hunter, now working with a forensics department at a London University, has just completed a case in Scotland and is about to return to London when he’s asked instead to go to the Outer Hebrides island of Runa to determine if the discovery of an unusually burnt body within an otherwise undamaged cottage is accidental or could possibly be murder. He is aided by several locals: Fraser, a burned out and undiplomatic grouch, who’s passing time until his retirement, and the young and ambitious Duncan McKinney, and a retired DI Andrew Brody, who also discovered the body. As a fierce winter storm isolates the island from the mainland and Hunter works feverishly with scant clues, events take several turns to claim further victims until all secrets can be unearthed.

As he already did in The Chemistry of Death, Simon Beckett also places the peculiarities of small community life and its relationships at the center of Written in Bone and how these are stressed when crime and outsiders interfere with the seemingly well ordered life. By placing the action on an island, cut off from the mainland without communication, tension is further heightened.

This is another fast-paced, easy-to-read entry by Simon Beckett with a somewhat surprising resolution, if a little over the top (for my taste), and with quite a cliff-hanger (enticing the reader to look forward to the sequel, no doubt). The strength of Simon Beckett’s storytelling is in setting a gloomy mood by making the weather and the island characters in their own right; this was well done and quite effective. For this reason, I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the story most. The main character, David Hunter, was interesting although I was beginning to feel that the frequent accidents and misfortunes befalling him were becoming tedious and overdone (I was getting exhausted from them). Overall this was an entertaining and enjoyable read, sagging a bit with its rushed resolution. I will likely seek the next in the series... ( )