Bones

Burke does a pretty good job of maintaining the suspense of Bones, although I found the Ben Sheridan character more interesting than the protagonist Irene. This is a killer-showing-the-cops-where-the-bodies-are-buried thriller, with the standard turn-around of the villain stalking someone in that group.
The book is easy to read, and you can hurry through it. There are a couple of twists, some predictable. But the bad guy is creepy enough, and the main characters intriguing enough, that you want to finish the book.

Bones is the seventh book in author Jan Burke’s series about reporter Irene Kelly. This book was a real page turner as Irene falls under the scrutiny of a cunning serial killer. Psychopath Nicholas Parrish has been arrested and now is willing to reveal the burial place of one of his victims. This is the woman whom Irene has been writing about since her disappearance 4 years ago. Irene joins the investigative team as they search for the grave deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But Parrish has an ulterior motive behind his cooperation, he has engineered an elaborate escape plan that also includes future plans for Irene.

The first third of this book was excellent, as the team hiked through the mountains the suspense was continuously show more rising, it was obvious that they were being manipulated by this very creepy murderer and it wasn’t long before Irene found herself in full out survival mode. The inclusion of the cadaver search dog, Bingle, made the story even more interesting. I found the excitement faded somewhat in the middle of the book, but then by the last third of the book the author was back in stride with the suspense and excitement.

I have been reading this series for years, and unfortunately not only have I not read them in order, I have let a lot of time go by between books so they now have a slight dated feeling about them. I started the series by reading book numbers eight and nine and then backtracked to the beginning, now, with my completion of number seven, I am ready to continue on in the proper order. The series has eleven books in total and I fully intend on reading them all as I have enjoyed each and every one of the books that I have read so far. show less

This book won an Edgar but I was thoroughly unimpressed. I didn't care, first of all, for the way the book jumped between first person for Irene Kelley's perspective, and third person for others, such as the psychopathic serial killer of the tale. (Nor did I like the prologue entirely in italics--I don't like how authors use that font to throw a piece of gauze over their prose--pretentious and hard to read.) I thought how the plot unfolded and the way the killer's mind was portrayed was utterly predictable. The one thing I did love was the cadaver dog, Bingle. I found him a lot more memorable and fascinating than the killer, Nicholas Parrish, or Irene Kelly, the heroine of the tale. Unfortunately, there's not enough of him to redeem show more this 500 page novel. show less

Synopsis: 'journalist Irene Kelly is part of the investigative team on the hunt for serial killer Nicholas Parrish's many victims. Their graves are in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, and Parrish, having entered a plea bargain, is there too, leading the team to the women's corpses in exchange for a life sentence instead of the death penalty. But Parrish has planned a surprise or two. When a grave explodes, most of the team are killed, Irene flees, and the killer escapes. Back home, Irene continues to work at the behest of Gillian Sayre, the daughter of one victim. Her hunt for Parrish is made considerably easier by his growing obsession with her.'
Review: This is a scary book; the bad guy is really bad. However, the ending is a bit show more questionable and unbelievable. show less

Read this book in one day (24 hour period that is). I liked it so much, that I could hardly put it down.
Not a book for people with a weak stomach or who are easily offended. For all others who are into thrillers is this a must read!

Pretty good, but a little predictible. She uses shock factor to keep you involved in the beginning, which is probably necessary because Irene has had so many struggles to survive that they no longer pack the punch they did in earlier books. Not my favorite Irene, but fairly enjoyable.

The book had some interesting angles, such as the use of forensic tracking dogs, but I found the behavior of the characters unrealistic. I found myself frequently skimming large portions of the text and, although I did finish the book, it would not make my list of books I would recommend to others--there are far too many other books I would recommend before this one.