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The Bone Garden

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Overview

Unknown bones, untold secrets, and unsolved crimes from the distant past cast ominous shadows on the present in the dazzling new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.

Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil-human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder. But whoever this nameless woman was, and whatever befell her, is knowledge lost to another time. . . .

Boston, 1830: In order to pay for his education, Norris Marshall, a talented but penniless student at Boston Medical College, has joined the ranks of local "resurrectionists"-those who plunder graveyards and harvest the dead for sale on the black market. Yet even this ghoulish commerce pales beside the shocking murder of a nurse found mutilated on the university hospital grounds. And when a distinguished doctor meets the same grisly fate, Norris finds that trafficking in the illicit cadaver trade has made him a prime suspect.

To prove his innocence, Norris must track down the only witness to have glimpsed the killer: Rose Connolly, a beautiful seamstress from the Boston slums who fears she may be the next victim. Joined by a sardonic, keenly intelligent young man named Oliver Wendell Holmes, Norris and Rose comb the city-from its grim cemeteries and autopsy suites to its glittering mansions and centers of Brahmin power-on the trail of a maniacal fiend who lurks where least expected . . . and who waits for his next lethal opportunity.

With unflagging suspense and pitch-perfect period detail, The Bone Garden deftly interweaves the thrilling narratives of its nineteenth- and twenty-first century protagonists, tracing the dark mystery at its heart across time and place to a finale as ingeniously conceived as it is shocking. Bold, bloody, and brilliant, this is Tess Gerritsen's finest achievement to date.

Editorial Reviews

At the start of this disappointing stand-alone thriller from bestseller Gerritsen (The Mephisto Club), 38-year-old divorc�e Julia Hamill discovers a skeleton buried in the garden of the Boston house she's just moved into; the ring found with the remains was in fashion in the 1830s, the fractured bones suggest murder. Flashback to 1830: medical student Norris Marshall, an outcast among his wealthier classmates, meets Rose Connolly in a Boston maternity ward, where Rose's sister recently died of childbirth fever. When several gutted bodies turn up in deserted alleyways, Rose and Norris are the only ones to catch a glimpse of the killer, dubbed the West End Reaper. Norris, Rose and Norris's fellow student, Oliver Wendell Holmes, race to uncover the truth behind the slayings, which will remind many of Jack the Ripper's crimes. In the present, Julia is able to trace their progress with the help of a relative of the house's former owner. Unfortunately, neither the present nor the historical story line maintains the suspense necessary for a whodunit spanning several generations. (Sept.)
Copyright (c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Tess Gerritsen

Tess Gerritsen is the author of several successful medical thrillers. Gerritsen began writing as a means of relaxation from the stressful life of a physician and ultimately abandoned her career as an internist. Her books, such as Life Support and Bloodstream, deal with highly ethical dilemmas in a complex and hypnotizing manner. Bloodstream, which is primarily about the selling of human organs on the black market, also explores the subjects of youth violence and parents who become afraid of children. Gerritsen was born on June 12, 1953 in San Diego and attended Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to her medical stories, she is the author of several romantic suspense novels published as part of the "Harlequin Intrigue" series.

Customer Reviews

  • 2 stars out of 5The Bone Garden

    Posted October 01, 2007 by Michele, Winter Springs, Florida

    I have loved all of Tess Gerritsen's books and read every one. However, this one I must say has been quite a disappointment. It was very hard for me to stay interested and actually never finished it. All of her other books I could hardly put down but this one I was glad to put down. Hopefully the next one will be better!

  • 4 stars out of 5Engrossing and enthralling, loved the interspersion of modern day and historical content

    Posted December 31, 2008 by Deanna, Mount Pleasant

    This is the second title I've read from this author (The Surgeon) and I felt this was a much more elaborate and interesting read than the first. I had no problem completing the story, and, while the ending may be something of a letdown (reason for 4 rather than 5 stars), I found the entire story compelling and had difficulty not continuing onto the next chapter when one was completed. I enjoyed the author's method of interspersing current day events with the historical storyline, as well as her use of real individuals from the past. All in all, a very satisfying read, albeit one with a disappointing conclusion.

Additional Info

Imprint

Random House

Filesize

964.69 KB

Number of Pages

384

eBook ISBN

9780345502223

Excerpt from: The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen

The present

So this is how a marriage ends, thought Julia Hamill as she rammed the shovel into the soil. Not with sweet whispers goodbye, not with the loving clasp of arthritic hands forty years from now, not with children and grandchildren grieving around her hospital bed. She lifted a scoop of earth and flung it aside, sending rocks clattering onto the growing mound. It was all clay and stones, good for growing nothing except blackberry canes. Barren soil, like her marriage, from which nothing long lasting, nothing worth holding on to, had sprouted.

She stamped down on the shovel and heard a clang, felt the concussion slam up her spine as the blade hit a rock--a big one. She repositioned the blade, but even when she attacked the rock at different angles, she could not pry it loose. Demoralized and sweating in the heat, she stared down at the hole. All morning she had been digging like a woman possessed, and beneath her leather gloves blisters were peeled open. Julia's digging had stirred up a cloud of mosquitoes that whined around her face and infiltrated her hair.

There was no way around it: If she wanted to plant a garden in this spot, if she wanted to transform this weed-choked yard, she had to keep at it. This rock was in her way.

Suddenly the task seemed hopeless, beyond her puny efforts. She dropped the shovel and slumped to the ground, rump landing on the stony pile of dirt. Why had she ever thought she could restore this garden, salvage this house? She looked across the tangle of weeds and stared at the sagging porch, the weathered clapboards. Julia's Folly-- that's what she should name the place. Bought when she hadn't been thinking straight, when her life was collapsing. Why not add more flotsam to the wreckage? This was to be a consolation prize for surviving her divorce. At thirty-eight years old, Julia would finally have a house in her own name, a house with a past, a soul. When she had first walked through the rooms with the real estate agent, and had gazed at the hand-hewn beams, spied the bit of antique wallpaper peeking through a tear in the many layers that had since covered it, she'd known this house was special. And it had called to her, asking for her help.

"The location's unbeatable," the agent had said. "It comes with nearly an acre of land, something you seldom find anymore this close to Boston."

"Then why is it still for sale?" Julia had asked.

"You can see what bad shape it's in. When we first got the listing, there were boxes and boxes of books and old papers, stacked to the ceiling. It took a month for the heirs to haul it all away. Obviously, it needs bottom-up renovations, right down to the foundation."

"Well, I like the fact that it has an interesting past. It wouldn't put me off buying it."

The agent hesitated. "There's another issue I should tell you about. Full disclosure."

"What issue?"

"The previous owner was a woman in her nineties, and--well, she died here. That makes some buyers a bit squeamish."

"In her nineties? Of natural causes, then?"

"That's the assumption."

Julia had frowned. "They don't know?"

"It was summertime. And it took almost three weeks before one of her relatives discovered . . ." The agent's voice trailed off. Suddenly she brightened. "But hey, the land alone is special. You could tear down this whole place. Get rid of it and start fresh!"

The way the world gets rid of old wives like me, Julia had thought. This splendid, dilapidated house and I both deserve better.

That same afternoon, Julia had signed the purchase agreement.