Bone Thief

This book started with promise but, the more I read, the worse it got. These are some of the problems I had with it:

The relationship between John Driscoll and his partner, Margaret, felt more like a business transaction than a romance. The conversations were stilted, forced and emotionless. Margaret risked her career to pursue John, who is her boss. This supposed tough female cop suddenly behaved like a lovesick teen around him, despite the fact that they'd been working together for years.

The part Moira, a fourteen-year-old girl, played in solving the case is beyond ridiculous. The professional police task force seemed more like a bunch of amateur sleuths. They needed a teenager to direct them through the Internet and were slow in show more responding to or investigating obvious leads.

The Internet plays a large role in the murders, yet the author treats this vast space as if it's a corner cafe.

The book has occasional high points but I had to sift through a lot of nonsense to find them. show less

This is definitely not a book without its flaws (some of them are quite glaring). However the author does know how to spin a chiller, and parts of this book are nearly impossible to stop reading. Given that this is the author's first outing - I'll be looking forward to reading more of his work a couple of years down the road when he has had a chance to mature as a writer and further hone his craft.

This book was voted on to be a group read on one of my online book club reading groups. There’s a lot wrong with the book such as typos, a couple of far-fetched characters and occurrences. When this happens, usually group members vote to stop reading the book. It didn’t happen here. In fact, some called it a “page-turner.” I agree with their assessment.

I think Thomas O'Callaghan is an author to look out for. He has an interesting way of telling a story. So interesting, in fact, readers overlooked his shortcomings.

The first in what I assume will be a series starring NYPD Lieutenant John W. Driscoll. Driscoll is after a serial killer who kills and de-bones his victims taking their heads, hands, and feet. Overall, I liked the mystery especially that while it’s mostly told from Driscoll’s POV you also get some of the killer’s POV. That said, there were some gaps in the book that were noticable.

great first novel