Friday, December 14, 2012

Friday Book Report: Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass




Dr. Bill Bass and author Jon Jefferson team up under the moniker Jefferson Bass to create Carved in Bone, the first of the Body Farm Series.  Dr. Bill Bass is a well-known anthropologist responsible for “the body farm”, a three acre stretch of land at the University of Tennessee devoted to study how the human body decomposes in certain environments.  It’s an ultra-creepy environment that is perfect as the backdrop of a murder mystery novel.  The book combines the real life experiences of Dr. Bass and a little dose of fiction to create something completely original despite the fact that CSI shows/novels are popping up like dandelions these days.  The first of The Body Farm series was published in 2006 by Harper Collins Publishers.
Well known and respected anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton has been called upon numerous times by federal and state agencies for his expertise and knowledge regarding death, and when a mummified corpse is discovered in the backwoods of Tennessee, his expertise is needed once again to solve the mystery surrounding the young woman’s death.  Although she’s been dead for over 30 years, the unique environment of the cave she was found in has remarkably preserved her body and the discovery is about to turn the local town of Cooke County upside down.  Cooke County and its people aren’t known for allowing outsiders into their community, but when the sheriff of Cooke County calls for Brockton’s help, he knows that this is one mystery he needs to solve.  Brockton’s investigation is threatening to expose certain secrets that the townsfolk don’t want revealed, and attempts to thwart his progress and attempts on his life have him anxious to discover the truth in this baffling mystery.

I’m not usually a fan of the CSI and forensic genre, but I really really enjoyed this book.  For one thing, it’s a very real read, and I think that has to do with this book being co-written by an expert in the field of anthropology.  Dr. Bill Bass takes his own experiences and weaves them into this fictional book and it has such a fluid feel to it, the pages practically turn themselves.  This book is stuffed with information about dead bodies, which could be gruesome to read about, but it’s done in such a clinical way that it never really creeped me out.  I found I really enjoyed learning about the skeletal anatomy and the reasons why a person might have died, once you get past the creepiness of the body farm, it’s pretty interesting stuff.
I also liked that the authors gave Brockton a life outside of the body farm.  He wasn’t just an anthropologist helping the police department.  He’s also a man battling the grief and guilt of his wife’s death, and his faults as a father.  He’s human, and he makes mistakes just like all of us.  Writing about his personal life wasn’t necessary, but it helped to make the character of Dr. Brockton more believable.  He’s also really funny, and for someone that spends so much time surrounded by death, it was refreshing that he had a little bit of wit and humor in his personality.

There are a lot of secondary characters that are just as well written as Brockton.  The secondary characters never over shadowed Brockton, but they complimented him very well, and the wide range of personalities was compelling enough to keep you reading.
There aren’t a whole lot of twists and turns in this book, and those looking for more of a mystery will probably be a little disappointed.  It’s not your typical “whodunit” book, and once you dive into the heart of the book you’ll probably have an idea of who the culprit is, but this book does have the feel of how things would really shake out in an investigation.  I give this book a solid B+ grade.  It’s well written, with excellent characters and the body farm setting and backwoods of Tennessee provide an excellent location for a murder mystery.  As I said, I’m not a fan of the CSI shows on television these days, but I very much enjoyed how this book played out and I think that anyone that does enjoy that genre would enjoy this book, too.  It interested me enough that I’ve read it more than once and I am seriously considering reading the other Body Farm novels.  If I’m willing to read more from the same author, well then, that’s about as big as an endorsement that I can give.  I highly recommend this book, especially for those that like the murder mystery/forensic science type genre.