The Bones Will Speak - Carrie Stuart Parks

The Bones Will Speak

Carrie Stuart Parks

Thomas Nelson, Aug 11 2015, $15.99

ISBN: 9781401690458

In Montana, single mom Gwen Marcey mentally struggles with her recovery from breast cancer; her recent divorce that left their daughter Aynslee with her; and her termination by Ravalli County due to budget cuts and lack of contract work.  Those alone place her stress level in the troposphere, but her Great Pyrenees Winston while digging up the lawn uncovers a female skull.  She notifies Ravalli County Sheriff Dave Moore while, accompanied by Winston, follows a bloody trail to a rundown farmhouse where the unemployed forensics artist and her dog find severely tortured Missoula kidnap victim Mattie Banks.  Though injured by the killer running him over, Winston keeps the girl safe until Dave arrives.

Missoula PD claims jurisdiction encouraged by in-house forensic artist Wes Bailor.  Told to stay out of their investigation, Dave complies to focus more on a local supremacist plan to honor Hitler; Gwen refuses because when she first saw the victim she thought she saw her child lying in the farmhouse; Aynslee and Mattie could be sisters.  Soon the Missoula Police inquiry, the Ravalli County Sheriff’s white supremacist furor, and the plight of the two girls converge with Gwen and the killer as the foci.

The second Gwen Marcey forensic investigation (see A Cry From The Dust) is a tense Big Sky thriller that hooks the audience from the very early encounter in which Gwen and Winston meet Mattie.  Loaded with action throughout, but especially a harrowing climatic confrontation, and a frightening motive by a diabolical brilliant lunatic, fans will appreciate this electrifying drama.

Harriet Klausner