Beastly Bones (Jackaby, #2)

by William Ritter

"I've found very little about private detective R. F. Jackaby to be standard in the time I've known him. Working as his assistant tends to call for a somewhat flexible relationship with reality." In 1892, New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, are called upon to investigate the supernatural. First, a vicious species of shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens, and a day later, their owner is found murdered with a single mysterious puncture wound. Then in nearby Gad's Valley, now home to the exiled New Fiddleham police detective Charlie Cane, dinosaur bones from a recent dig mysteriously go missing, and an unidentifiable beast starts attacking animals and people, leaving their mangled bodies behind. Charlie calls on Abigail for help, and soon Abigail and Jackaby are on the hunt for a thief, a monster, and a murderer.

• ISBN10: 1616203544
• ISBN13: 9781616203542
• Publish Date: 22 September 2015 (first published 22 July 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 23 November 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Algonquin Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Berls]

I am really glad this was selected for book club again this year. I had enjoyed the first book enough (when we read it for book club last year) that I was happy to keep reading the series, but not so much that I was likely to pick it up and finish the series on my own. In my first review I even said "Although I enjoyed this well enough, it's not something I probably would have picked up on my own and I doubt I'll continue the series." And I was surprised to find that I enjoyed this more than the first book!

My chief criticism of the first book was that "I think it's just a bit silly/ridiculous for me." Okay, well Beastly Bones toned that down a bit. it's still on the silly/ridiculous side. But not excessively so. I found that it no longer clouded the positives I saw in Jackaby and I liked him so much more in this book. And I always liked Abigail Rook - that perhaps increased as we get to see her in her element - both as a detective and an unofficial paleontologist. And the secondary characters were enjoyable too.

My second criticism of the first book was that I solved the mystery pretty much instantly. Which made Jackaby's inability to solve it frustrating. That was not the case this time. While the clues were there, I missed them completely. So the mystery was a lot more satisfying this time. And there was a lot of excitement at the end (as was true in the first book, but for me this was more so).

My final criticism was that the first book felt like it was trying to being steampunk-ish, which I don't tend to love. But that was not the case this time and I really had forgotten that was even a problem the first time around.

All in all, an improvement on the first book for sure! Will I commit to finishing the series now? Probably not - just because I have so many series that I'm already committed to that I enjoy a bit more. But I also wouldn't hesitate to continue for book club.

I do agree with my initial assessment that Nicola Barber is an excellent narrator and delivers the voices very well. I would definitely choose to continue this series in audio!

[celinenyx]

Though the setting and plot are imaginative, the stock characters never grow beyond the mundane. I wish the human elements matched the sense of humor and creativity the story displays.

[Beth C.]

Abigail Rook and Jackaby are back! And mysterious bones are popping up and then disappearing, people are dying with mysterious puncture wounds...basically, there are mysteries everywhere, and Rook and Jackaby are on the case.

I actually enjoyed this book better than the first one. It felt like the characters were getting more developed in book one, and now there was more time to let them shine. I found myself sitting in Starbucks reading, and actually laughing out loud a few times at the droll commentary. I am already planning on getting book 3 immediately :)

[jeannamichel]

Unpredictable and endless fun! Review to come.

[limabean74]

My short and sweet review

I am keeping this review short because I don't want to spoil anything and if you haven't read the first one, I think you will be ok reading this review because I have no plans to spoil anything.

I can't express how awesome I think this series is. Once again you have the quirky Jackaby and the amazing Abigail. I adore both of them and this story was filled with so much action and mystery. I loved how we got to know Abigail a little more and you get a bit of Jackaby's background. Not a lot. It's another mystery for Jackaby and Abigail to solve and I thought I loved the first book but Gah! I loved this one just as much. I can't get enough of Jackaby's attitude. He is hilarious and so sarcastic. I just love him. (can you tell I love this book?)

Overall the second book in this series is just plain amazing like the first. I could love on it all day. With lots of action, magic, adventure, hilarious laugh out loud moments and two of my favorite characters, I can't recommend this book and series enough. Honestly one of my all time favorites. A must read...like go now...read it. Trust me, you will love it too!!!!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my review.

Have a great day and Happy Reading!

This review was originally posted on Because reading is better than real life

[Mary-Allyn]

4.5

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