Bone by Bone

By: Carol O'Connell

Narrated by: Benjamin Harris

Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

In the northern California town of Coventry, two teenage brothers go into the woods one day, but only one comes back. No one knows what happened to the younger brother, Josh, until 20 years later, when the older brother, Oren, now an ex-investigator for the Army CID, returns to Coventry for the first time in many years. His first morning back, he hears a thump on the front porch. Lying in front of the door is a human jawbone, the teeth still intact. And it is not the first such object, his father tells him. Other remains have been left these as well. Josh is coming home...bone by bone.

Using all of his investigative skills, Oren sets out to solve the mystery of his brother's murder, but Coventry is a town full of secrets and secret-keepers; the housekeeper with the fugitive past, the deputy with an old grudge, the reclusive ex-cop from LA, the woman with the title of town monster and, not least of all, Oren himself.

But the greatest secret of all belonged to his brother, and it is only by unraveling it that Oren can begin to discover the truth that has haunted them all for 20 years.

©2009 Carol O'Connell (P)2009 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

Slow start, worth completing

Now that the background of Oren Hobbs has been told in this story, I hope possible sequels approach the quality of the Mallory novels.

Stellar

I'm glad I didn't listen to the bad reviews. Yes this is a mystery, but its also a story about different people and relationships, and it is very interesting.

Returning Home

Would you consider the audio edition of Bone by Bone to be better than the print version?

Do not know.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Bone by Bone?

balcony scene

What does Benjamin Harris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Changing of voices as each character speaks

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

All Return Home

Any additional comments?

This story changes quickly and all are suspects in the mystery. Returning home can certainly change your life as different characters find out. Good mystery

Kept me in the car over and over

I didn't think I would be on the edge of my seat throughout but it was a captivating listen. Every day when I arrived at work I thought "I'll just listen a minute longer".

Average Mystery

Oren returns to his hometown of Coventry after a long hiatus. He returns at the request of Hannah Rice, the woman who raised him and his brother Joshua. The reader learns that Oren left at the insistance of his father 20 years before after the murder of his brother. The set up occurs within the first few chapters, which is a nice feature of the plot. We learn about most of the characters early on, but beware. There are a lot of them. The author uses some detective work to solve the mystery, but relies more upon Hannah's intuition and use of an occult device called a "witch board" which we discover has become a popular tourist activity since the murder of Josh. Threaded throughout the book is a long-standing love/hate affair between Oren and a "summer girl" named Isabel, whose parents live in Coventry. This relationship is odd and is unrealistic. Several times Isabel tries to kill Oren and no one in the town seems to think this is any big deal. The relationship is used as a vehicle to connect groups of characters who may or may not be involved in the murder. The spying on one another and the gossip stereotypic of small towns is threaded throughout the story, as is Oren's unlikely relationships with the women in the town. The ending is as unlikely as other elements of the story, although the mystery itself was good enough. What makes elements of the story unrealistic is the absolute disregard anyone in the town has for breaking the law. Even Oren, an affable young man, acts strangely in the end and no one seems to find this odd. The book is read well and the writing is good. But in the end, the story doesn't stick with you and I found myself wondering if I liked the book or not. Such a lack of opinion one way or another is a curious reaction so read it and see what you think.

Great Story

The first time I tried listening to this I had a hard time getting into it. But when I picked it back up a couple of months later, I stayed up all night listening. The mystery itself turned out not to be quite as interesting as I hoped, but the characters, intrigue, and scandal in the remote town more than made up for that!

Good listen

Really enjoyed this one. I recommend it and will look for more from this author.

Worth The Listen

15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

A good, solid listen

I'm a fan of Carol O'Connell - she has a way with language that causes you to linger over certain lines and descriptions (obviously easier to do when reading than when listening). I've enjoyed most of her books and would put this one somewhere in the middle.

As one reviewer mentioned, there are a number of characters to keep up with, but over the course of the story, you get to know each one and it's not quite as difficult to remember who's who. She does a masterful job of leaving you in suspense - teasing you with the mystery of Josh's disappearance and Oren's possible connection to it. She answers each question in dribbles here and there so you want to keep listening. Some aspects of the story were hard to swallow - Oren's strange relationship with Isabel, for one, though I was willing to overlook that since the novel, as a whole, was solid. One reviewer mentioned how the townspeople were completely fine with breaking the law - I actually found that somewhat believable since this attitude seemed in keeping with the crazy people of Coventry.

I wasn't a fan of the narrator - there were a number of times when the point of view switched and a new scene was obviously in play (though not necessarily a new chapter), but the narrator didn't pause to let you know that. It made for some confusing moments.

Overall, this is a good listen, though you do have to suspend your belief at times. You also have to pay close attention - it's easy to miss some of the details.

Bone by Bone(Unabridged)

I found this to be an unexpected enjoyment. I found the writer both refreshing and captivating with description of characters and events.