Finished Su 3/24/19
The March, 2019 selection for the Contemporary Book Club
"Laura Purcell is a former bookseller and lives in Colchester (65 miles Northeast of London) with her husband and pet guinea pigs.
Her first novel for Raven Books THE SILENT COMPANIONS won the WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award 2018 and featured in both the Zoe Ball and Radio 2 Book Clubs. THE CORSET was published in September 2018, and will be followed by BONE CHINA and THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS in later years.
Laura’s historical fiction novels about the Hanoverian monarchs, QUEEN OF BEDLAM (2014) and MISTRESS OF THE COURT (2015), were published by Myrmidon and are available from all book retailers."
Dummy Board- EARLY 17TH CENTURY. Usually associated with the fireplace.
Gothic Characteristics:
Gloomy or decaying setting
Supernatural beings, monsters, ghosts, vampires, zombies, giants
Curses or prophecies
Damsels in distress
Heroes
Romance
Intense emotions; madness
3 TIME PERIODS:
-St. Joseph's Hospital Elsie Bainbridge is in this asylum when the novel begins. She is suffering from muteness due to injuries suffered in a fire. her doctor, Dr. Shepherd, is sympathetic.
-THE BRIDGE 1865- This is the ancient, run-down home of Elsie's deceased husband, Rupert. She had only been married a month when he dies. The cause of death isn't addressed until later. He invested heavily in the match factory that Elsie and her brother, Jolyon owned. It is strange that Rupert would change his will and leave everything to Elsie only after knowing her for a few weeks. Elsie is not upper class and worked in the factory.
-THE BRIDGE 1635- This is during the reign of Charles I and his queen Henrietta. Anne and Josiah first lived in the house and they are happy that the king and queen will visit in August. They make many improvements to the estate and this is where the companions are purchased. Anne buys them because they will most definitely amuse the royals.
Mr. Samuels is the owner of the shop where she finds them. When she realizes that there is something strange about them she tries to return them, but the entire shop has vanished.
Sarah Bainbridge is Rupert's cousin. This young woman had worked for a wealthy woman as a 'companion'. The old woman died, Sarah had nowhere to go, so Rupert allowed her to live at The Bridge.
Elsie treats Sarah like a rube, but become close to her as the story progresses.
Sarah has had experiences with the occult because the old woman believed in mediums.
Hetta is Anne's daughter. She was born mute and has a real affinity with plants. She makes potions and Anne probably conceived her because she was taking some kind of herbs.
Merripen is the gypsy boy that wants to work at the stable. Anne doesn't want to allow this because gypsies are not to be trusted.
Mrs. Holt- the housekeeper; old and the mother of Helen by Rupert, Hates Elsie and knows more of the story of the house than anyone.
Mabel- crude helper; commits suicide because she was falsely accused of stealing Elsie's diamond necklace. Sarah really stole them, but they really belonged to A Bainbridge.
Helen- Dies when a stag mounted on the wall falls on her. She is impaled on the antlers.
Sarah visits Elsie in the end. Elsie is hoping to be exonerated, but Sarah fixes it so that she will be executed. Elsie is the reincarnation of Hetta.
Henrietta Maria is the name of the queen and 'Hetta'
Check Charles I and relation to The Restoration and Oliver Cromwell
SPLINTERS/ HISSING?????
Check the elements of Gothic Horror
https://www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Thursday, March 21, 2019
THE DOGS OF RIGA by Henning Mankell
Finished We 3/20/19
I ordered this trade paperback at Amazon and received it on Sa 1/26/19
This is the second novel in the Kurt Wallander series. When I bought this novel I also got the last of the series, and I want more by Mankell.
Kurt is only in his early forties in this book.
Riga, in the novel's title, refers to the city of Riga, Latvia, and 'The Dogs' symbolize the forces that are tearing the country apart. The Soviet Union is breaking down, but they still retain a dominant influence in the country via the Russian mafia and state supported corruption.
THE PLOT:
Two dead men are washed ashore near Ystad in a rubber lifeboat. It's later determined that the men were tortured, and dental work shows that they are probably from an eastern European country. They are well dressed and not sailors.
They are traced to Latvia and a Major Liepa of the Latvian police is sent to Sweden to help the local police find the murderers. Kurt and Liepa become somewhat friendly; a kind of mutual respect for each other's worldview. Both men are fairly jaded.
When the case is passed off to Latvian authorities, we learn that Major Liepa is murdered the evening of his return to Riga. Kurt goes to Latvia to try to help solve his murder.
Baiba Liepa is the Major's widow and Kurt is attracted to this woman and she knows much more than what the local authorities are willing to divulge.
The police force a confession from a local anarchist that he killed Liepa. Kurt doesn't believe this and meets with Baiba and her confederates, but he gets as far as he can and goes back to Ystad.
Baiba contacts him and he tells his police superior that he is taking a ski vacation to the Alps, but really he returns to Latvia (illegally) to find Major Liepa's real killer.
Lots of sneaking around and hiding from real and imagined spies and police agents.
Colonel Putnis and Colonel Murniers are the two police officials that are running the case in Riga. One of them is bad, but Kurt cannot decide which one it is. In the end of the novel we learn that Murniers is the 'good' colonel and Putnis was basically a part of the mafia.
At the beginning of the novel two smugglers off the coast of Ystad find the rubber raft that contains the two murdered men. They decide that they will tow the raft to a part of the ocean where it will wash up to shore and the police can take it from there. One of the men calls the police to alert them to the boat and the dead men. He doesn't tell the other sailor, and in the end of the book we learn that they both had placed calls, and then they had killed each other because they were afraid that the other man would go to the authorities.
This was a very good novel and I liked it a lot. However, the final novel was better because Wallander is twenty years older and beginning to show signs of dementia. Mankell died before he could write anymore of the Wallander series and that's a damn shame. What a concept? A police detective is solving a case but also is battling his memory failure.
I ordered this trade paperback at Amazon and received it on Sa 1/26/19
This is the second novel in the Kurt Wallander series. When I bought this novel I also got the last of the series, and I want more by Mankell.
Kurt is only in his early forties in this book.
Riga, in the novel's title, refers to the city of Riga, Latvia, and 'The Dogs' symbolize the forces that are tearing the country apart. The Soviet Union is breaking down, but they still retain a dominant influence in the country via the Russian mafia and state supported corruption.
THE PLOT:
Two dead men are washed ashore near Ystad in a rubber lifeboat. It's later determined that the men were tortured, and dental work shows that they are probably from an eastern European country. They are well dressed and not sailors.
They are traced to Latvia and a Major Liepa of the Latvian police is sent to Sweden to help the local police find the murderers. Kurt and Liepa become somewhat friendly; a kind of mutual respect for each other's worldview. Both men are fairly jaded.
When the case is passed off to Latvian authorities, we learn that Major Liepa is murdered the evening of his return to Riga. Kurt goes to Latvia to try to help solve his murder.
Baiba Liepa is the Major's widow and Kurt is attracted to this woman and she knows much more than what the local authorities are willing to divulge.
The police force a confession from a local anarchist that he killed Liepa. Kurt doesn't believe this and meets with Baiba and her confederates, but he gets as far as he can and goes back to Ystad.
Baiba contacts him and he tells his police superior that he is taking a ski vacation to the Alps, but really he returns to Latvia (illegally) to find Major Liepa's real killer.
Lots of sneaking around and hiding from real and imagined spies and police agents.
Colonel Putnis and Colonel Murniers are the two police officials that are running the case in Riga. One of them is bad, but Kurt cannot decide which one it is. In the end of the novel we learn that Murniers is the 'good' colonel and Putnis was basically a part of the mafia.
At the beginning of the novel two smugglers off the coast of Ystad find the rubber raft that contains the two murdered men. They decide that they will tow the raft to a part of the ocean where it will wash up to shore and the police can take it from there. One of the men calls the police to alert them to the boat and the dead men. He doesn't tell the other sailor, and in the end of the book we learn that they both had placed calls, and then they had killed each other because they were afraid that the other man would go to the authorities.
This was a very good novel and I liked it a lot. However, the final novel was better because Wallander is twenty years older and beginning to show signs of dementia. Mankell died before he could write anymore of the Wallander series and that's a damn shame. What a concept? A police detective is solving a case but also is battling his memory failure.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
A TAN AND SANDY SILENCE by John D. MacDonald
Finished Fr 3/15/19
This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I bought at the library book sale on Fr 6/13/97 and had never read.
According to the cover, it is the No. #13 of the Travis McGee Series
I enjoy all of the the McGees series and everything MacDonald writes.
Meyer Meyer- Travis's Economist friend. His boat is the John Maynard Keynes
Travis's boat is The Busted Flush
Travis drives a Rolls Royce pickup that he calls 'Miss Agnes'
Travis is approached by Hary Broll who is distressed about his missing wife, Mary, and he's sure that Travis is behind her disappearance. He pulls a small handgun, and nearly wounds Travis in the foot.
Broll says that he needs Mary's signature so that he can close a very lucrative real estate deal.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Paul Dissat is a criminal sociopath who works in the real estate company. He is a very fit and feminine looking man. He is scheming to get all of the money Harry Broll is to make.
Dissat has already killed Mary, but he has set up one of Harry's girlfriends to go to Grenada and stay at a beachfront cottage and pretend that she is Mary.
Harry learns that Mary is supposedly alive and well in Grenada, but something tells him that he must go and check it out.
SUBPLOT:
Travis has been involved with a beautiful rich woman, Jillian. She has offered to have Travis live with her as her 'boy toy'. Travis is agonizing about what he would have to give up in order to become a very rich man of leisure. And, also he is beginning to question his whole relation to women in general.
The girl playing Mary in Grenada is Harry's Canadian girlfriend, Lisa. When Harry locates her cottage she is with a thug and Harry beats him up. Lisa throws herself at Harry, but Harry will not take the bait. Again, more agonizing about his relationship to women.
Later, Paul Dissat shows up and blindsides Harry. Paul takes Harry to the beach and secures Harry with wire, so tight that his hands and feet are almost useless.
Paul has Lisa buried at the shoreline buried up to her neck. He wants Harry to witness her death as the tide comes in. Harry flops into the water and is carried out to sea by the riptide. He is rescued by a sailing ship full of naked women who are hired to 'take care' of rich customers. Harry knows the women and the female captain of this ship.
THE TITLE OF THE NOVEL:
It refers to Lisa's death..."I saw the spume of sand drifting out of her open mouth, like a strange cartoon balloon, a message without sound. A sandy, tan farewell".
Travis and Meyer return to the mainline and are lured to an abandoned gravel pit. They think that they are meeting the head of the company to give this man the information about Paul. But, it's all been arranged by Paul and he overpowers Travis and Meyer.
Paul has already killed Harry Broll and encapsulated his body in hot asphalt. This is the fate of Meyer and Travis, but Travis gets the drop on Paul, beats his legs until they are useless, and then Paul takes 'an asphalt swim'.
In the end of the novel, Jeannie Dolan comes to visit Travis. This woman helped Travis locate Mary Droll when she was missing. Jeannie is looking to change her life, and Harry is looking to get his life back. I guess he needs to get back into his blameless and guilt-free playboy lifestyle.
Essentially, Travis and Jeannie sail away together and Travis is still questioning his romantic self.
This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I bought at the library book sale on Fr 6/13/97 and had never read.
According to the cover, it is the No. #13 of the Travis McGee Series
I enjoy all of the the McGees series and everything MacDonald writes.
Meyer Meyer- Travis's Economist friend. His boat is the John Maynard Keynes
Travis's boat is The Busted Flush
Travis drives a Rolls Royce pickup that he calls 'Miss Agnes'
Travis is approached by Hary Broll who is distressed about his missing wife, Mary, and he's sure that Travis is behind her disappearance. He pulls a small handgun, and nearly wounds Travis in the foot.
Broll says that he needs Mary's signature so that he can close a very lucrative real estate deal.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Paul Dissat is a criminal sociopath who works in the real estate company. He is a very fit and feminine looking man. He is scheming to get all of the money Harry Broll is to make.
Dissat has already killed Mary, but he has set up one of Harry's girlfriends to go to Grenada and stay at a beachfront cottage and pretend that she is Mary.
Harry learns that Mary is supposedly alive and well in Grenada, but something tells him that he must go and check it out.
SUBPLOT:
Travis has been involved with a beautiful rich woman, Jillian. She has offered to have Travis live with her as her 'boy toy'. Travis is agonizing about what he would have to give up in order to become a very rich man of leisure. And, also he is beginning to question his whole relation to women in general.
The girl playing Mary in Grenada is Harry's Canadian girlfriend, Lisa. When Harry locates her cottage she is with a thug and Harry beats him up. Lisa throws herself at Harry, but Harry will not take the bait. Again, more agonizing about his relationship to women.
Later, Paul Dissat shows up and blindsides Harry. Paul takes Harry to the beach and secures Harry with wire, so tight that his hands and feet are almost useless.
Paul has Lisa buried at the shoreline buried up to her neck. He wants Harry to witness her death as the tide comes in. Harry flops into the water and is carried out to sea by the riptide. He is rescued by a sailing ship full of naked women who are hired to 'take care' of rich customers. Harry knows the women and the female captain of this ship.
THE TITLE OF THE NOVEL:
It refers to Lisa's death..."I saw the spume of sand drifting out of her open mouth, like a strange cartoon balloon, a message without sound. A sandy, tan farewell".
Travis and Meyer return to the mainline and are lured to an abandoned gravel pit. They think that they are meeting the head of the company to give this man the information about Paul. But, it's all been arranged by Paul and he overpowers Travis and Meyer.
Paul has already killed Harry Broll and encapsulated his body in hot asphalt. This is the fate of Meyer and Travis, but Travis gets the drop on Paul, beats his legs until they are useless, and then Paul takes 'an asphalt swim'.
In the end of the novel, Jeannie Dolan comes to visit Travis. This woman helped Travis locate Mary Droll when she was missing. Jeannie is looking to change her life, and Harry is looking to get his life back. I guess he needs to get back into his blameless and guilt-free playboy lifestyle.
Essentially, Travis and Jeannie sail away together and Travis is still questioning his romantic self.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
A BOY MADE OF BLOCKS by Keith Stuart
Finished Mo 3/11/19
The Rowe family, set in Bristol, England
Jody and Alex; they are in a trial separation.
Jody has given up her career to take care of their autistic son. She has a masters degree in The Arts. During the separation she begins managing an art gallery which is what she was suited to all along.
Alex also put aside his dreams of working in the music industry. He works in the banking department of a real estate firm. He's not happy, but picked this career path to pay for his family- especially his autistic son.
Sam is eight years old and has trouble in school due to his autism. He is being bullied at school, but due to his nature, he's not able to report the situation.
When Alex is asked to leave by Jody, he goes to live with his friend Dan.
Dan is a very successful graphic designer who seems to always land on his feet. Nobody is really sure what he does, but he's always at the best parties and best events.
Alex sleeps on an inflatable mattress that is always leaking air- A metaphor of his life.
Emma is Alex's sister and she has a history of 'running away'. She has lived all over the world over the past fourteen years. She's not really in the lives of her family. Dan has always loved her, but never had the guts to voice his feelings.
'MINECRAFT' is a computer game that allows Alex to bond with Sam.
He's good enough to enter a national competition and this is a major plot of the novel.
GEORGE IS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM-
George is Alex's dead older brother. George and Alex were playing in front of their school fourteen years earlier. George ran ahead and was hit by a car and died. Alex could never forgive himself. This is the most important plot.
'You must deal with your own issues before you can tackle the really big ones. In this case, the 'big issue' is Autism, but all of the characters lives are unfinished and unexamined.
At the competition they are asked to create a famous London building. Sam wins 'a runner up award' by recreating the cafe that Alex, George, and his mum were happy at the day before George was killed.
After the competition Emma leaves for South America, but Dan surprises everyone by buying a ticket and going with her. They are finally a couple.
From Amazon-
"A father who rediscovers love
Alex loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son Sam, but doesn't understand him. He needs a reason to grab his future with both hands.
A son who shows him how to live
Meet eight-year-old Sam: beautiful, surprising - and different. To him the world is a frightening mystery. But as his imagination comes to life, his family will be changed . . . for good".
KEITH STUART, author of A Boy Made of Blocks (his first novel), is games editor at the Guardian. He started out as writer and features editor on the highly influential magazine Edge, before going freelance in 2000 to cover games culture for publications such as The Official PlayStation Magazine, PC Gamer, and T3, as well as investigating digital and interactive art for Frieze. He also writes about music, film and media for the Guardian, and is a regular on the Tech Weekly podcast. He is married with two sons.
I truly enjoyed the book. It's a real 'crowd pleaser' and I was really moved when it is revealed that Sam created the cafe during the competition. And his speech about 'why' he created it was authentically inspiring.
The Rowe family, set in Bristol, England
Jody and Alex; they are in a trial separation.
Jody has given up her career to take care of their autistic son. She has a masters degree in The Arts. During the separation she begins managing an art gallery which is what she was suited to all along.
Alex also put aside his dreams of working in the music industry. He works in the banking department of a real estate firm. He's not happy, but picked this career path to pay for his family- especially his autistic son.
Sam is eight years old and has trouble in school due to his autism. He is being bullied at school, but due to his nature, he's not able to report the situation.
When Alex is asked to leave by Jody, he goes to live with his friend Dan.
Dan is a very successful graphic designer who seems to always land on his feet. Nobody is really sure what he does, but he's always at the best parties and best events.
Alex sleeps on an inflatable mattress that is always leaking air- A metaphor of his life.
Emma is Alex's sister and she has a history of 'running away'. She has lived all over the world over the past fourteen years. She's not really in the lives of her family. Dan has always loved her, but never had the guts to voice his feelings.
'MINECRAFT' is a computer game that allows Alex to bond with Sam.
He's good enough to enter a national competition and this is a major plot of the novel.
GEORGE IS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM-
George is Alex's dead older brother. George and Alex were playing in front of their school fourteen years earlier. George ran ahead and was hit by a car and died. Alex could never forgive himself. This is the most important plot.
'You must deal with your own issues before you can tackle the really big ones. In this case, the 'big issue' is Autism, but all of the characters lives are unfinished and unexamined.
At the competition they are asked to create a famous London building. Sam wins 'a runner up award' by recreating the cafe that Alex, George, and his mum were happy at the day before George was killed.
After the competition Emma leaves for South America, but Dan surprises everyone by buying a ticket and going with her. They are finally a couple.
From Amazon-
"A father who rediscovers love
Alex loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son Sam, but doesn't understand him. He needs a reason to grab his future with both hands.
A son who shows him how to live
Meet eight-year-old Sam: beautiful, surprising - and different. To him the world is a frightening mystery. But as his imagination comes to life, his family will be changed . . . for good".
KEITH STUART, author of A Boy Made of Blocks (his first novel), is games editor at the Guardian. He started out as writer and features editor on the highly influential magazine Edge, before going freelance in 2000 to cover games culture for publications such as The Official PlayStation Magazine, PC Gamer, and T3, as well as investigating digital and interactive art for Frieze. He also writes about music, film and media for the Guardian, and is a regular on the Tech Weekly podcast. He is married with two sons.
I truly enjoyed the book. It's a real 'crowd pleaser' and I was really moved when it is revealed that Sam created the cafe during the competition. And his speech about 'why' he created it was authentically inspiring.
Saturday, March 9, 2019
THE BONE TREE by Greg Iles
Finished Fr 3/9/19
Very long, but I really couldn't recommend that anything should be cut. An authentic 'page turner', but there's so much of it!
From the Internet at 'SuperSummary'
"The Bone Tree (2015) by American author Greg Iles is the second of three detective novels known as the Natchez Burning trilogy (each set in Natchez, Mississippi). The novel follows a classic hard boiler plot (though at more than eight hundred pages, it differs from classic detective novels that are far shorter). Iles was praised for blending historical fact and personal history in a tale set in his own hometown.
This family saga explores the themes of loyalty, sacrifice, true evil, community divisiveness, and cohesion. The Bone Tree is based on the true story of journalist Stanley Nelson who investigated race-based murders that were covered up by regional authorities until his articles threw light on the cases.
The previous book in the trilogy, Natchez Burning (2014), ended with the protagonist’s father, Dr. Thomas (Tom) Cage, being accused of murdering a police officer, Frank Sr., and Viola Turner, Cage’s former nurse and lover.
In the prologue, old-time FBI detective John Kaiser, helped by his wife, Jordan Glass, begins investigating a murder most likely perpetrated by white supremacists. Kaiser hesitates to tell the mayor that Brody Royal, for all his evil, is not the top leader of the neo-KKK group.
The narrative switches to first-person in chapter one, as told by the hero of each book, the former lawyer turned novelist and civil servant, Penn Cage. His finance and trusty sidekick, journalist Caitlin Masters, has been researching unsolved hate murders around the south. They are at the police department giving their testimony to Sheriff Walker “Walt” Dennis about the murders that happened in the previous book, Natchez Burning. Their presence at the police station is especially shocking as Penn is the current mayor of Natchez. He and his pregnant fiancé nearly died after a powerful businessman, Brody Royal, burned their house down. Penn, who killed Brody in self-defense, thinks that he no longer has to worry about the neo-KKK group.
Little do they know that John Kaiser has hacked Caitlin’s computer to review her research about the KKK. They also don’t know that someone else has been remotely erasing all of her notes.
Everyone must deal with the Double Eagles, a subset of the KKK (based on a real-life group, The Silver Dollar Group). They’re lead by Forrest Knox, a sociopath callous toward others. He supports the murder of black people and “race traitors”—white people who support civil rights. Worse, he’s in a position of power: the chief of Mississippi’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, which means he can easily command people to turn a blind eye whenever an African-American is murdered.
Meanwhile, John and Jordan dig up evidence that suggests that the Double Eagles were connected to the JFK assassination in 1969. They’re double motivated to find Dr. Tom Cage because they believe he has information on who really shot JFK.
Forrest sent his henchmen to find and kill Dr. Cage, but he outsmarted them, leaving them in the ditch: he told the one who survived to tell Forrest that he will keep silent about the past murders, and he’ll instruct Penn and Caitlin to do the same if Forrest stops hunting them.
Caitlin finds Dr. Cage and demands that he tells her what’s going on. He admits that he helped cover up the murder of the police officer Frank Sr. after his nurse/lover Viola killed Frank Sr. in self-defense; Frank, Sr., additionally, may have been the sniper who shot JFK. He also says that Knox raped Viola when they were teens.
Jordan and Caitlin learn about “The Bone Tree,” a notorious site where the Double Eagles lynched people. Realizing that Penn is on their case, the Double Eagles step up their game to keep him from discovering the truth. Forrest locates Dr. Cage and coerces him into accepting a plea deal of silence.
Jordan has business in New Orleans, so Caitlin ventures to The Bone Tree by herself. Tricked by Forrest’s associates, she is shot in the heart in front of The Bone Tree. Before dying, she sees Dr. Cage lying in the tree in handcuffs, either dead or unconscious. She quickly gives Dr. Cage a peppermint to wake him up. He gives her some sage medical advice that will keep her alive for a little bit, but then he falls back into a comma. Penn eventually arrives at The Bone Tree, but Caitlin is already dead.
Penn’s friends caution him against rash retaliatory measures. To save his father, it soon becomes clear that Penn Cage can either kill Forrest Knox or agree to never talk about Knox’s crimes. After the murder of Caitlin, his second wife to be violently murdered, Penn is increasingly set on murdering Knox. Days pass, then Penn hunts Forrest Knox down. When Forrest taunts Penn with the fact that Caitlin was pregnant when she died, Penn kills Forrest Knox.
The novel concludes with Penn exonerated thanks to the right political connections. FBI representatives return to DC with mounds of evidence against the Double Eagles, but one of the thugs purposefully crashes the plane. Thus, the question of whether the Double Eagles will ever be brought to justice is left open for the sequel, Mississippi Blood (2017)."
I loved the book, but due to the extreme length of the story and the wealth of characters, it would be almost impossible to read all three parts of the trilogy in one fell swoop- not even Greg's wife or mom.
Very long, but I really couldn't recommend that anything should be cut. An authentic 'page turner', but there's so much of it!
From the Internet at 'SuperSummary'
"The Bone Tree (2015) by American author Greg Iles is the second of three detective novels known as the Natchez Burning trilogy (each set in Natchez, Mississippi). The novel follows a classic hard boiler plot (though at more than eight hundred pages, it differs from classic detective novels that are far shorter). Iles was praised for blending historical fact and personal history in a tale set in his own hometown.
This family saga explores the themes of loyalty, sacrifice, true evil, community divisiveness, and cohesion. The Bone Tree is based on the true story of journalist Stanley Nelson who investigated race-based murders that were covered up by regional authorities until his articles threw light on the cases.
The previous book in the trilogy, Natchez Burning (2014), ended with the protagonist’s father, Dr. Thomas (Tom) Cage, being accused of murdering a police officer, Frank Sr., and Viola Turner, Cage’s former nurse and lover.
In the prologue, old-time FBI detective John Kaiser, helped by his wife, Jordan Glass, begins investigating a murder most likely perpetrated by white supremacists. Kaiser hesitates to tell the mayor that Brody Royal, for all his evil, is not the top leader of the neo-KKK group.
The narrative switches to first-person in chapter one, as told by the hero of each book, the former lawyer turned novelist and civil servant, Penn Cage. His finance and trusty sidekick, journalist Caitlin Masters, has been researching unsolved hate murders around the south. They are at the police department giving their testimony to Sheriff Walker “Walt” Dennis about the murders that happened in the previous book, Natchez Burning. Their presence at the police station is especially shocking as Penn is the current mayor of Natchez. He and his pregnant fiancé nearly died after a powerful businessman, Brody Royal, burned their house down. Penn, who killed Brody in self-defense, thinks that he no longer has to worry about the neo-KKK group.
Little do they know that John Kaiser has hacked Caitlin’s computer to review her research about the KKK. They also don’t know that someone else has been remotely erasing all of her notes.
Everyone must deal with the Double Eagles, a subset of the KKK (based on a real-life group, The Silver Dollar Group). They’re lead by Forrest Knox, a sociopath callous toward others. He supports the murder of black people and “race traitors”—white people who support civil rights. Worse, he’s in a position of power: the chief of Mississippi’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, which means he can easily command people to turn a blind eye whenever an African-American is murdered.
Meanwhile, John and Jordan dig up evidence that suggests that the Double Eagles were connected to the JFK assassination in 1969. They’re double motivated to find Dr. Tom Cage because they believe he has information on who really shot JFK.
Forrest sent his henchmen to find and kill Dr. Cage, but he outsmarted them, leaving them in the ditch: he told the one who survived to tell Forrest that he will keep silent about the past murders, and he’ll instruct Penn and Caitlin to do the same if Forrest stops hunting them.
Caitlin finds Dr. Cage and demands that he tells her what’s going on. He admits that he helped cover up the murder of the police officer Frank Sr. after his nurse/lover Viola killed Frank Sr. in self-defense; Frank, Sr., additionally, may have been the sniper who shot JFK. He also says that Knox raped Viola when they were teens.
Jordan and Caitlin learn about “The Bone Tree,” a notorious site where the Double Eagles lynched people. Realizing that Penn is on their case, the Double Eagles step up their game to keep him from discovering the truth. Forrest locates Dr. Cage and coerces him into accepting a plea deal of silence.
Jordan has business in New Orleans, so Caitlin ventures to The Bone Tree by herself. Tricked by Forrest’s associates, she is shot in the heart in front of The Bone Tree. Before dying, she sees Dr. Cage lying in the tree in handcuffs, either dead or unconscious. She quickly gives Dr. Cage a peppermint to wake him up. He gives her some sage medical advice that will keep her alive for a little bit, but then he falls back into a comma. Penn eventually arrives at The Bone Tree, but Caitlin is already dead.
Penn’s friends caution him against rash retaliatory measures. To save his father, it soon becomes clear that Penn Cage can either kill Forrest Knox or agree to never talk about Knox’s crimes. After the murder of Caitlin, his second wife to be violently murdered, Penn is increasingly set on murdering Knox. Days pass, then Penn hunts Forrest Knox down. When Forrest taunts Penn with the fact that Caitlin was pregnant when she died, Penn kills Forrest Knox.
The novel concludes with Penn exonerated thanks to the right political connections. FBI representatives return to DC with mounds of evidence against the Double Eagles, but one of the thugs purposefully crashes the plane. Thus, the question of whether the Double Eagles will ever be brought to justice is left open for the sequel, Mississippi Blood (2017)."
I loved the book, but due to the extreme length of the story and the wealth of characters, it would be almost impossible to read all three parts of the trilogy in one fell swoop- not even Greg's wife or mom.
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