Friday, May 22, 2009

74 - The Bone Garden;Tess Gerritsen


I have enjoyed many Tess Gerritsen books in the past and I looked forward to reading The Bone Garden: A Novelfor my book group. Sadly, this one has been on my shelf now for a couple of years.

The story begins when newly divorced Julia Hamill purchases a 130 year old house just outside of Boston and discovers a skeleton buried in the garden. Curious to find out more about the newly discovered bones, it seems a relative of the previous owner of the house has knowledge about how the bones got there, and as a result, the story is slowly revealed through a series of old letters.

The real story takes place in Boston around the 1830s and revolves around the students of Boston Medical College and the patients of the affiliated hospital. One student in particular is brilliant but poor and in order to continue his studies at the school, is forced to become a Resurrectionist, (body snatcher) to pay for the cost of his education.

This historical medical thriller depicts, disgusting unsanitary medical conditions of the 1800’s and a graphic amputation scene, which was a bit too much gore for me personally. The who-dun-it aspect of the book kept me reading, but by the end of the book, I found myself somewhat disappointed in the overall story.

RATING – 3.5/5 - COMPLETED – 5/21/09
WHERE FROM – My Stacks


3 comments:

  1. This is actually my favorite Gerritsen book! I'm sorry you were disappointed in it. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sadly, this one has been sitting on my shelf forever too! I usually love her books, but have heard mixed things about this one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This book sounds intriguing to me. I am really interested in that period of history, but I am also wondering if the gore would be too much for me. Usually those things don't bother me, but it sounds like some scenes were very intense.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to visit and double thanks for any comments. If you ask a question in your comments, I will try to reply to it here, or by email if your settings allow me to do so. Thanks again for visiting.