Make No Bones by Aaron J. Elkins

Make No Bones

by Aaron J. Elkins

Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery Novel, Elkin's Old Bones was called a hearty dish by the Chicago Sun-Times. Now anthropology professor Gideon Oliver is faced with his most difficult challenge to date: unmasking a clever, dangerous killer who knows every bit as much about forensic science as he does.

Reviewed by Mystereity Reviews on

5 of 5 stars

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I finished around 3/4 of this book this afternoon, once it got going I couldn't put it down.

I've been steadily reading my way through this series and although a bit formulaic, each plot is always a fresh idea and so full of twists that I've long since given up trying to solve before Gideon does. And although I had a few ideas who was behind the crimes, so I did love the long windup to the payoff. But what I liked best was that Gideon was matching wits with a killer just as knowledgeable about bones as he was.

And as I already said, I seem to forget that these books were written back in the late 80s/early 90s (well, the early books of the series I'm reading now, anyway) when cell phones, DNA testing and the internet was in its infancy, used by very few if used at all. Being a Gen X'er, I remember that period of time when "going online" wasn't even close to what it was today (Anyone remember Compuserve? We had that and a 300 baud modem, go look that up, you'll see what I mean) and that makes me really respect the challenges that anthropologists, pathologists, law enforcement and forensic technicians had back then and yet still solve murders and although this is a work of fiction, the author has obviously done his research thoroughly on all aspects of the subject.

I enjoyed this one thoroughly and although some of the books in the series have been hit or miss, this one was definitely a hit.

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  • Started reading
  • 24 July, 2021: Finished reading
  • 24 July, 2021: Reviewed