Bones
From AwardAnnals
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| Author(s) | Jan Burke |
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| Publisher | Signet Book |
| Honors | |
| For four long years, no one has known what became of Julia Sayre. On the morning after this mother of two disappeared, her family sought the help of reporter Irene Kelly. But despite Irene’s best efforts, until now only one person has known where to find Sayre: her killer. Nick Parrish, brilliant and sadistic, already faces the death penalty in a torture-murder case. Now he wants to cop a plea—life imprisonment in exchange for directing police to the isolated mountain grave where he buried Julia Sayre. The D.A. agrees to the controversial deal, and forms a… | |
For four long years, no one has known what became of Julia Sayre. On the morning after this mother of two disappeared, her family sought the help of reporter Irene Kelly. But despite Irene’s best efforts, until now only one person has known where to find Sayre: her killer.
Nick Parrish, brilliant and sadistic, already faces the death penalty in a torture-murder case. Now he wants to cop a plea—life imprisonment in exchange for directing police to the isolated mountain grave where he buried Julia Sayre. The D.A. agrees to the controversial deal, and forms a specialized team of law enforcement and forensic experts to accompany Parrish on his grisly journey. When the Sayres and the newspaper pressure the D.A. to include Irene on the expedition, their wishes are honored over the protests of the team.
From the start, Parrish makes Irene the object of his unnerving attention. His knowing smile and relentless stares make her wonder if heavy chains, armed guards, and a protective search dog will be enough to keep him at bay
But Nick Parrish’s deadly plan to regain his freedom is already in motion, and Irene will need all her courage and ingenuity to remain the reporter—not the victim—in tomorrow’s headlines.
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
Nobody writes better than Jan Burke about the real world of print journalism, and that aspect of her latest Irene Kelly mystery is as strong as ever. The tensions of being the wife of a cop and continuing to work as a crime reporter in the Southern California desert city of Las Piernas have increased with each big story Irene covers: it’s almost as though her associates are waiting for her to make some mistake, to fumble a story. When an edgy, rebellious teenage girl asks her to look for her missing mother, Irene crosses the path of a very dangerous serial killer—Nicholas Parrish. He is one of those totally anonymous but enormously gifted and resourceful villains found only in fiction. Parrish kills women who happen to look like Irene (and his abusive mother), and attracts devoted disciples to his grisly cause. Because of Irene’s involvement, several more lives are damaged or endangered, and the strain takes its toll on the reporter’s mental stability.
Burke is such a fine, realistic writer that she can tread her way carefully across territory already well covered by Patricia Cornwell, Jeffery Deaver, Thomas Harris, et al. and still find something new to say about ritual murder and forensic science. But her real talent is bringing to full, instant life a remarkable woman—and the city she lives and works in. —Dick Adler
Barnes and Noble
What Became of Julia Sayre?
Every once in a while you read a book that reminds you why you started reading in the first place. You wanted excitement, a setting different from your own world, and interesting new people. And you wanted them written large and you wanted each element to be intense.
Bones is the most exciting novel I’ve read all year. It’s got Sierra Nevada mountains for a setting. And it’s got a serial killer who is genuinely interesting in a subhuman manner. The setup is straightforward. Our friend the serial killer wants to make a deal with the fuzz—he’ll show them where a long-sought body is buried if they agree not to seek the death penalty when he turns himself in. But who would make a deal with a serial killer?
Heroine Irene Kelly, who has been following the body search from the beginning, gets entangled in her own story and—for the later chapters of the book—goes mano a mano with the killer in the deadly mountains.
The very gifted science fiction writer Poul Anderson once noted that the best writers always use all of their senses in describing a scene. Burke is especially good at this. Given her use of shifting viewpoints, she’s able to give you the sights, sounds, smells, and dread of a mountain battle—both with a dangerous human being and an equally dangerous mountain terrain.
Bones is nonstop from page one. Be kind and buy two copies, one for yourself, of course, and one for your best friend. It’s that good. —Ed Gorman
