Cut to the Bone audiobook

Dr. Bill Brockton is a forensic anthropologist teaching at a Tennessee university. He also consults on criminal cases using his expertise in forensics to help local authorities. In this book the bodies are piling up and strangely there is something familiar about the crime scenes. When another body is found in a recreation of a crime scene Dr. Brockton investigated years before he realizes that not only is there a serial killer at work, but also this is a serial killer who possibly has a personal agenda with Dr. Brockton himself. Will the “body farm” he and his assistant have started help in the apprehension of the killer? Only time will tell and it seems time is running out quickly.Jefferson Bass is the pseudonym for the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Dr. Bass is the originator of the real body farm, a laboratory dedicated to studying decomposition. Interestingly enough bringing the body farm into this novel supplied the reader with much unexpected humour. I knew this book was a prequel to his Body Farm series so I figured it would be a good place to start without any commitment to reading the rest of the series. (Because as I have stated numerous times, I simply do not have time to get involved in yet ANOTHER series) Well, as it turns out I enjoyed this book very much and now have two more “body farm” books in my TBR pile. Yes well … best intentions and all that.

CUT TO THE BONE is a suspenseful, entertaining prequel to the successful BODY FARM MYSTERY SERIES written by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Bass is the real-life forensic anthropologist, Anthropology Department chairman, and Body Farm director upon whom the book's protagonist, Dr. Bill Brockton, is based. CUT TO THE BONE tells a fictional story of the vision and development of the real Body Farm at the University of Tennessee (UT) and parallels a suspenseful serial murder mystery. Though the story is told in several points of views, chapter and segment headings make the story easy to follow and assists in building suspense. The mystery involves a serial murderer to whom the reader is introduced early in the story. Reading in the killer's point of view gives the reader insight into why he kills, how he picks his murder weapons, and who he chooses as his victims, and the FBI profiler characters help Brockton understand what kind of killer he's facing.If learning a little about forensic anthropology is a draw, loads of body identification techniques and scene forensics are explained in the story. Brockton describes to local authorities how studying a body's bones can uncover the skeleton's gender, age and possible trauma suffered before death and what to look for in time-of-death and post-death trauma. The story also describes the specific and sometimes boring research needed to build a strong, fact-based database which can be accessed by medical and law officials to help solve crimes.Humor, a common emotional release for forensic anthropologists and anyone else mired in the business of death, is scattered throughout the book. The bantering and conversations between Brockton and his grad assistant are totally believable, and several of their interactions with local rural county officials are funny and pretty authentic. I particularly enjoy Brockton's phone calls with his new, already beleaguered secretary and with the chatty dispatcher at the Morgan County sheriff's office.I also like that the settings' details pull the reader right into the scenes and that the authors made sure to include other senses (touch, sound, smell and taste) to enhance the visual descriptions. I have a slight advantage in imagining where the story takes place, as I grew up in Knoxville. I also spent a lot of time in the Anthropology Department as an undergrad and for a short time as a grad student during Bass's tenure as department chair. I remember the room layout in Neyland Stadium and the unpleasant odors that bombarded me when opening the door to the department's hallway. But CUT TO THE BONE's detailed descriptions also bring up memories of good times in the labs and classrooms there.All in all, I would recommend CUT TO THE BONE to anyone who enjoys suspenseful murder mysteries, forensic science, anthropology and archaeology, or just good, entertaining storytelling. The book is fine as a stand-alone, but if this is your first time reading a Body Farm Mystery, then CUT TO THE BONE is definitely a good place to start if you want to continue this interesting series. Just make sure to take a big chunk of time to read. If you're like me, you'll want to read this story at one sitting.* Read my other reviews on the Blue Moon Mystery Saloon blog.** An ARC was provided by Harper Collins/William Morrow and Edelweiss for an honest review.

Getting close to the end of the series and this one goes back to a time where Dr Brockton’s assistant is Tyler, not Miranda. The body farm has just gotten it’s three acre spot next to the medical center and it’s Tyler’s task to study bugs and their life cycles on bodies. The mystery starts with examining some old bones and introducing Jenny, Dr Brockton’s future daughter-in-law. Jenny is an art student who put a face to the bones. Meanwhile, women are being killed and staged in a way to get Dr. Brockton’s attention.

I won this book from Goodreads First Reads. Cut to the Bone is a prequal to the Body Farm series from Jefferson Bass. Since it's part of a series I don't want to get into too much detail in case it may spoil other books but the story takes place back in 1992 and features Dr. Bill Brockton who wants to begin his body farm to study the forensic science of decomposing bodies to help the police solve murders. Dr. Brockton works cases with the local authorities quite often getting called to crime scenes with his assistant but can't often determine a exact time of death thus the idea of the body farm. I haven't read the other books in the Body Farm series but after reading this book they are certainly going to be added to my to read list. Loved the science aspects of helping solve the crimes and all of the characters and storyline in the book. Although you know in the book who the killer is, it is still filled with suspense waiting for the good doctor and the law enforcement to figure out the killer and what will be his next move. I couldn't put this book down until finding out how it turned out and look forward to reading others from the series in the future. For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....

Strange that I should choose this book to read as the first book by this author. It is considered a prequel to the series even though it was written eight books after the first book. After reading the synopsis for the book, I though it would be a fairly good read. I was not disappointed. Once I started reading I found myself totally engrossed in the book. Finding out it was somewhat about the origins of "the body farm" only served to further engage my interest. Being a fan also of the writings of Patricia Cornwell, I was familiar with "the body farm". Taken though on its own merit this was a very good read. Both thrilling and suspenseful. I totally developed an affinity for the main character Dr. Bill Brockton. In this prequel we find murders being committed that mimic crime scenes Dr. Brockton has worked in the past. Just who is committing these copy cat murders and why? Who is bent on getting Dr. Brockton's attention and will their angst spill over to Dr. Brockton's family and friends. A very good read and now I can't wait to begin with book number one and work my way to this point. I think I'm in for a glorious ride.

I loved the ending. Moved this book from a 4* to a 5 *. I will certainly be reading more from this author. I have been meaning to read him for a year or more.

** spoiler alert ** At first it was odd to be reading about things that happened back when everything started...I prefer to read books in order. But this didn’t disappoint. It was nice to get a feel for his wife and marriage and his son. I wish they would have identified the skeleton that started the book but otherwise loved this one.

What a great book kept me excited to read it I’m getting the others now... awesome read

Another excellent thriller from Jefferson Bass, although I must admit, I wouldn't like to be connected to this Dr B in any way. He sure does bring bad luck to his loved ones lol!

Sometimes, I just hate books like this! I have read Jefferson Bass books for years, and I really enjoy them for the most part. But though this book was a prequel it was written recently, and it is a much rougher to read than the earlier books were. There is a a lot more violence, sex, and just plain uncomfortable situations in the book. Even though I enjoy reading mysteries and police procedurals...I don't usually want all the detail with the book. This was a bit more than I could handle. That's not to say this wasn't a good book. It definitely had a wonderful plot, and really kept up the tension to the end. Jefferson Bass book's are so well-written compared to other books from this genre out there, which is one of the reasons I pick them up. I'm also a professor of pathophysiology and I'm fascinated by forensics, which is the other reason I pick up books by this author (s). Hope the next one I pick up isn't so detailed!

One of the things I enjoy about novels is getting new information. As a result, when the information is wrong, I start to distrust any of the book's facts and I get annoyed. Early in this novel, I ran across a scientific name that had a Greek origin, not Latin as stated. Then, there was a claim that rattlesnake's head travels at 175 mph when striking, but the internet shows studies that increase that speed to 174,000 mph. All that, however, is picky. The story concerns a rather grisly serial murder case in which vulnerable women are killed and then some. As it gathered momentum I had trouble putting off reading to the end, and that is the ultimate test of whether I like a book. The ending is not really surprising, but nonetheless gripping. Worth a read if you don't mind some creepiness.

The prequel to the series, this introduces Dr. Bill Brockton and tells the story of the beginning of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee. Actually, as he tells us at the end, there are several alterations which were necessary, but basically it's the beginning of the story. I thought it got off to a slow start, but once the action started, it really kept rolling! About halfway through, I couldn't put the book down. A serial killer with a vendetta against Dr. Bill carries out his nefarious plan culminating in his attempted murder of Dr. Bill and his family, with one of the most exciting endings of any of the books. Definitely looking forward to more good reads in this series!

I won an ARC of this book through Goodreads giveaways.I loved this book it was amazing! The story had me hooked from the beginning and I didn't want to put this book down. You get to see multiple POV's including the POV of the serial killer and even his victims. Because of the different perspectives you feel like you're there. It was pretty crazy and intense. This was the first Body Farm novel that I've read but it surely won't be the last!