Book/Novel Reviews: "The Bone Garden"

"The Bone Garden"

By: Tess Gerritsen

Rating: 8/10

Thesis:

   Boston, present day: Julia Hamill assumes the unyielding object in her stony garden is either a rock or a root. Until she finds herself staring into the empty eye sockets of a human skull. Medical examiner Maura Isles soon identifies the remains as those of a woman murdered almost two centuries ago. But was she? And who killed her?

  Harvard Medical School, 1830: Young med student Norris Marshall has reluctantly taken work as a resurrectionist-- raiding graveyards for fresh corpses. Meanwhile, a rash of cadavers surface as a serial killer launches a reign of terror over Boston-- leaving Norris a suspect. In hopes of cleaning his name, Norris enlists a classmate to help track the maniac. What ensues is deadly chess match between ingenious opponents through graveyards and hidden slaughterhouses. And now two centuries later, its up to Maura Iles to determine how this bloody game ended. 

My thoughts:

   I ran across this book at the make shift library at the facility I work for.  It looked kind of interesting so I decided to read it for myself. At first I was distracted by the "Large Print" version of this book. I understand that it is actually for those who have some vision problems (Needing bifocals). But it eventually over came that when I started reading this book. I noticed that it indeed switched back and forth from the past to present but the author noted with each chapter of the time swap. That was very helpful and made it less confusing but there still, there were moments where I had to go back to the previous chapter (For that time period) to refresh my memory. But be pre-wared, this book is not for the weak stomach. Only because back in the 1830's, universities used actual dead bodies in the class room to instruct. Meaning they sliced open the body and removed it's contents in a classroom filled with medical students and students had to get involved with this. Where now-a-days, we dissect frogs, pigs and cats in lab class. This book goes in depth with each body and describing the smell. As a medical student and worker myself, I found this detail with fascination and wanted to learn more. Towards the end, this book had me wanting to read faster and find out its end, and the true killer. I recommend this book especially to those who may be interested in the medical field and who love suspense along with the power of love.


"There is nothing more powerful than Love. Love helps bring the light in this dark world of ours. Without love, we all would cease to exist."   -- Ashley M. Ashley