Close to the Bone

A review of Close to the Bone has been posted at www.crimebookbeat.com. Thanks for the opportunity to preview this novel.

There are a number of novels on the market at the moment about women who work in forensic science for the law enforcement agencies, many of which are excellent although some cause their main character to do a little bit more detective work than is realistic in their position. In this novel the author has created an excellent main character in Theresa Maclean. Theresa is a mature and sensible woman who works in the medical examiner’s office in Cleveland, Ohio. On returning to the morgue one evening she finds one of the staff dead which is just the beginning of a series of attacks which are linked to the death of a previous member of staff many years ago.

Teresa finds herself investigating the crime because she is so involved in it and also because she cares about a lot of the individuals. Her investigations make a lot of sense and follow sensible logic which is refreshing. Although she does find herself in personal danger by the end the circumstances in which this arises are far more believable than I have found in other books in the same genre.

This is a quick read which concentrates almost completely on the story and spends very little time talking about the personal life of the main character. It is also not a romance and nor does it contain gratuitous sex scenes. It is an intelligent and very readable novel which I found engaging because I could identify so well with the main character. I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley.

When I saw this title on offer, I knew the setting for this one was close to my heart. And, that piqued my curiosity even more. And thanks to the publisher I got the chance to read an uncorrected advanced reading copy, and what an incredible story this was from start to finish.

What is most definitely enjoyable about it was its twists and turns, which was almost unending. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, I was hopelessly proved wrong. Just about a portion of it figured out, I admit that I was hundred per cent wrong. And, my deductive reasoning did not help for the remainder of the book either. An excellent plot fuelled by some interesting characters makes this one a real page turner. And, the development of the characters is superb including both the main and secondary ones. The writing style is smooth and flows easily. One thing that I really enjoyed was the strong start and the satisfying ending.

The author interjected the book with light-heartedness which allows one an opportunity to catch their breaths. Most highly recommended and for multiple reasons.