The Bone Thief audiobook

I've enjoyed this series in the past and this one was no different in that aspect. However, it had the potential to be a great five star read for me but the ending just killed my enthusiasm. The plot was great throughout the book and definitely kept my attention but near the end, it felt like the author realized that it was time to wrap things up and just threw the ending together. And what about the little side plot that get sprinkled throughout the book, only to be swept aside and put out of mind towards the end? Frustrating! Still, if you're a fan of the series or into forensics, pick it up and give it a shot. Just don't expect much from the being of the book.

When Burton DeVreiss, Attorney, contacted Dr. Bill Brockton it was to inform Brockton that he had obtained an order to exhume the body of Trey Willoughby to obtain a DNA sample to be used as proof of paternity. Dr. Brockton and his assistant Miranda were shocked when the body was exhumed and the silk suit worn by the deceased was cut open. Trey Willoughby’s arms had been removed and the sleeves filled with white PVC pipe.This is just one of the many puzzles presented by this fifth book in the series. Burton DeVreiss had been involved with Dr. Brockton in an earlier book in the series where a funeral home was negligent in handling the bodies that were entrusted to the home for proper burial or cremation. Now it looks as though another funeral home is going to be under investigation.Dr. Brockton, founder of the Body Farm, is contacted by the FBI and requested to go undercover to investigate a black market operation that is selling body parts. The FBI feels that since Brockton has access to so many bodies that are donated to the Body Farm he is the perfect person to infiltrate the operation. This is particularly true since Brockton is facing many budget cuts in his department and the department is in need of funds. Although hesitant at first Brockton finally agrees to go undercover. Not only does the sting operation put Brockton’s reputation on the line Brockton’s life is placed in danger.Dr. Garcia, whose hands were very badly damaged in the previous novel, Bones of Betrayal, is seeking options to replace his hands that were damaged so badly by a radioactive pellet in a body when he was performing an autopsy. Brockton and Miranda are both working to find a solution or possible hand transplant for Dr. Garcia.More information has come to light about Isabella, who disappeared at the end of the previous novel. Isabella had a brief personal relationship with Brockton and this relationship has come back to haunt Brockton.Several story lines are going on in this novel but they all come together with a satisfactory conclusion but not before Dr Brockton thinks life as he knew it is at an end.

So once again I've delved in the world of Dr Bill Brockton. Its a series of book that i'm always happy to pick up. This time we find our hero mixed up in the world of organ transplantation. A subject I hold dear as i'm signed up as an organ donor myself. Going into this book I was already a wear of the dark side of this medical practise. People have been known to sell organs the world over and everyone has heard the story of people waking up in baths of ice or though I feel this maybe more fiction than reality. So how would our hero deal tackle the subject. As for Brokton its business as usual trying to keep the body farm afloat and deal with a second life helping out crime agencies. For me he resembles the farther figure of crime fiction. He is always looking out for those around him ether giving sage advice or trying to help people out of a bind. This time he has voluntarily dumped him self in harms way. Going undercover for the F.B.I sounds like a great idea until the harsh reality of what he is doing come crashing down around him. This is a man who is more accustomed to dealing with the after effects or a crime than being at its for front. He deals with this in a slightly bumbling way as you could imagine. And while I was never truly worried he would make it out alive there are some time I would if the wouldn't be a few scars by the end. Also for the first time he has to deal with weather or not he can break his principles to come out on top. It was interesting to see someone fighting with there own moral code. Have far would I go to see justice served. To be honest i'm not sure and I like how this is reflected in our hero. His struggle seemed to show a genuine conflict within the charter. Some characters make a return visit from previous books to aid our doctor on his way. And for those new to the series it wouldn't take long to pickup there connections to our good doctor. Foremost is his good friend medical examiner Eddie Garcia Dealing with devastating wounds him suffered in the previous book. It works as an interesting cases study on how people come to terms with being left disabled and how there world view can be changed. Once again this is a book that comes from a very real world problem. The black market for body parts is a thriving international business. There simple are not enough parts to go around and people will pay big money to get what they want. I like the fact that for the most part these books are very grounded in the real world. The story the author chose to tell never seem that far fetched. And are told in a style that is easy to get on with. The dodgy world we are introduced to is one of people out for money. While they may try and shine you off with there altruism for these people its all about the bottom line. This is a world of sharks and our Dr is most defiantly there prey. At the heart of this thriller is a cat and mouse game although in this case its more of a cat dog mouse game. Between the criminals the F.B.I and the doctor. While some of the medical terms are unknown to me a quick Google search is always at hand to fill in any blankets. And at no point did I feel this detracted from my enjoyment of the book. For me this is a point that raises them up. The story is full of intrigue and suspense. Bass does this in a slower way than some other authors but I still found my self trying to fit the pieces together at the same pace. The other elements that always come though in these books is that of family but not necessarily in the traditional sense It more the friends an colleges that make up this small band. They all care about each other even if at times they may not show it. Much like in real life this can lead to conflict between them. Non more so than when Brokton has to keep secrets from those he cares about. Leading to some interesting results. And as before i was able to spend a happy evening with one of the books in this series. There is just as much for new comers as those who have been with it since the beginning. As you would expect the story comes with its share of twist and turns. I hold these books up there with my favourite's and will be happy to jump into the next one when the time come around.

Author’s Note: Fact and Fiction, “’This book is a work of fiction,’ Reads the disclaimer in the front of this novel. ‘Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.’ ‘That very disclaimer itself is part fiction: Although many characters and most plot threads in the The Bone Thief are woven entirely out of thin air, this book has many bases in scientific and biomedical fact. Within this subject area, truth rivals or surpasses fiction in ways that are mostly inspiring but occasionally horrifying. The thriving trade in bodies and body parts, including illegal black-market sales of corpses and tissues, was recently the subject of a riveting nonfiction book, Body Brokers, by Annie Cheney. Published in 2006, Cheney’s book documents, among other things, shocking postmortem ‘chop shops’, our term, not hers, operated by a California funeral-home owner and a Texas medical-school staff member. Body Brokers also describes multiple instances of bodies and body parts being sent to laboratories and even luxury hotels... including, Cheney reports, ‘forty-two heads and necks to the Marriott Marquis’ in New York City’s Time Square for medical trainings. Cheney’s book also documents the tragic case of a young man who died suddenly from toxic shock after receiving an improperly sterilized bone graft, one contaminated with Clostridium sordellii bacteria. Crime fiction focuses, by definition, on the seamier side of life. The happier truth is that organ transplants and tissue grafts allow remarkable feats of medical repair and restoration. And as stem-cell technology advances, offering the potential to grow rejection-proof tissues and organs with the patient’s own DNA and tissue type, the possibilities become almost miraculous. Indeed, near miracles are already being wrought: The surgery in Spain that was described by our character Glen Faust, in which a cadaver trachea was used as a scaffold to create a new windpipe from the recipient’s own stem cells, is unvarnished fact. The one significant bit of artistic license we’ve taken with biomedical fact is the notion that by combining CT scans with advanced composite materials it’s possible to synthesize bones that are virtually exact copies of their originals. That’s not possible, not yet anyway. But never say never. A few footnotes about hands: Artificial hands are now very sophisticated and lifelike in their workings, as a glance at the i-LIMB Hand, with its individually controlled fingers, makes clear... www.touchbionics.com/i-LIMB. Soon bionic prostheses will become even more advanced, thanks to millions of dollars’ worth of R&D sponsored by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program, motivated by the military’s commitment to restoring function to soldiers whose arms or hands have been lost to trauma, is led by two premiere R&D laboratories: DEKA Research and Development, the birthplace of the portable insulin pump and the Segway scooter, and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, whose numerous other projects include interplanetary satellites and bomb-disposal robots. Within the new few years, Revolutionizing Prosthetics aims to create bionic arms that are virtually identical to natural limbs in performance and durability. Hand surgery, too, has undergone remarkable advances. Toe-to-thumb transplantation, briefly discussed as a way to restore function to Dr. Garcia’s right hand, is a well-established and highly successful way to replace a missing thumb, as Asheville, North Carolina, hand surgeon Bruce Minkin, a former student of Dr. Bill Bass, explained. After a teenage patient lost his thumb and two fingers to an explosion, Dr. Minkin grafted one of the boy’s toes onto his mangled hand, creating a thumb that looks and functions almost like the original. Total hand transplantation is, for now, an inspiring but experimental and very rare procedure. Worldwide, only about forty hand transplants have ever been performed. Those numbers will rise, and the procedure will become more common, if Dr. Linda Cendales has her way. Dr. Cendales, is the only surgeon in the United States who has been formally trained in both hand surgery and transplant surgery. Dr. Cendales is not just a gifted surgeon, she’s also a pioneering researcher. As the first edition of this book goes to press, Dr. Cendales is evaluating transplant candidates, and preparing to test a powerful new anti-rejection drug that she hopes will revolutionize transplant medicine and bring hope and hands to more real-life patients like our fictional Eddie Garcia.” Well Jefferson and Bass did it again, they made me love, beyond reason, another book in their series. I felt like I gained so much knowledge while in the background fictional character Dr. Bill Brockton worked a sting with the F.B.I. among his daily duties. This title is a carry over from the last one with character Dr. Eddie Garcia, who lost his hands when the deceased individual he was working on had a radioactive ball inside it’s stomach lining. Dr. Eddie Garcia came into direct contact by touching and breathing in the radioactive material as the corpse was thawing out, causing him to lose most of his right hand and all of his left hand. Amidst the story of Dr. Brockton helping the F.B.I is also the research and funding of his Body Farm, Dr. Garcia’s hands and future, the body of a television personality who asked that her process of decomposition be documented as she, herself, was a news anchor for the local area t.v. in Eastern Tennessee, and then there is the favor for Burton DeVriess LLC. A body needs to be pulled from the cemetery to do a paternity test in a court case. One problem with that, the body has fake arms and legs in the casket. In case you were wondering where the DNA would be attained from: the teeth or the long bones of the arm or thigh. “The sleeves of his silk jacket, like the legs of his silk trousers, were filled with white PVC pipe: plastic plumbing in place of human flesh and bone.” A series of questions, cops and lawyers press on as other bodies are exhumed from the now closed, defunct mortuary, which leads to a casket only containing sand bags and another one with a deceased individual and a murdered victim, nestled beside them, the murder weapon. “Curiouser and curiouser.” These two authors have a knack to create a fictional story heaped with facts and tidbits of information I would never have thought of, for instance another reader asked me if hand transplants become that successful, what do we do with the fingerprints? Is the patient fingerprinted after surgery and who gets to keep this information? I told her, I’m going to ask them... because now I’m curious. “How many cadavers came through the door?’ ‘Twenty-seven last year.’ He cocked his head. ‘How many’d you get last year, Doc?’ ‘A hundred thirty-five,’ I said. He whistled. ‘That’s a lot of bodies.’ ‘Lots of people want to donate their body to science,’ I pointed out. ‘Partly that’s because funerals have gotten so damn expensive, but mostly it’s because people like the idea of doing some good after they die, helping train doctors or advancing medical research or forensic science.” Dr. Bill Brockton’s sting is a secret and he must keep his assistant in the dark, but Miranda is completely aware that things aren’t normal. Bill is ethically under stress trying to hide what he is doing and yet that age old blackmail deal rears its ugly head, sending each corner of his life into a tailspin after an innocent trip to the Library. Poor Dr. Bill Brockton thought his meeting be at the quiet, calm library of Las Vegas not filled with the lights and noise of the public. Little did he know it was a place of ill repute until the cab driver dropped him off. “‘Sinclair wasn’t talking about the place where you borrow books. He was talking about a strip club called The Library.’ ‘A strip club called The Library. Only in Vegas, huh, Doc? You gotta love it.’ ‘No I don’t,’ I snapped. ‘I hate it. ‘Crap, I wasn’t expecting a strip club. What do I do?’” Dr. Bill Brockton has never stepped foot into a place such as this and agent Rankin is quite humored. “‘This is the description of the place that’s posted on the Web. ‘This gentlemen’s club isn’t just for bookworms. The club actually does have volumes lining the entrance, but the clientele comes here for a different type of learning experience. And they visit often enough to keep The Library busy even on school nights.’ ‘That’s hilarious.’ ‘Not to me,’ I said. ‘I really don’t like this.” Bill’s conscience wrestles with his need to sell the idea he has bodies to give Sinclair. To add a twist to the thought process, Bill even decides to ask for more money due to the nature of losing his job and career over this venture. Greed raises it’s ugly head in this book, but at what price? “‘Fascinating,’ said Dr. Hoover. ‘Life and death, crime and punishment, justice and injustice, your work really does wrestle with the Big Questions, doesn’t it?’” Indeed this was how I felt as I navigated through the pages wondering how much fact authors Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson had woven in with the fictional characters. I decided to share the facts with my readers. I highly recommend these forensic thrillers filled with history, science miracles and a touch of mystery to keep the reader entertained until the wee hours of the morning. The knowledge and the quirky humor make all the characters lovable in their own settings. I have four books and a novella left in the series and I’m hoping there are more to follow.

The Bone Thief is book five in the Body Farm series by Jefferson Bass. Bill Brockton became involved in finding the people involved in the illegal market of human body parts after finding bones missing from checking an exhumed body for a paternity case. Bill Brockton became involved with the FBI to bring down the organization. Also, during the investigation, Bill Brockton became involved with a medical issue concerning his friend Eddie Garcia the Medical Examiner. The readers of The Bone Thief will continue to follow Bill Brockton to find out what happens. The Bone Thief is another fantastic book in this excellent series by Jefferson Bass. I engaged with this book from the first page, and it continued until the last page. I love Jefferson Bass's portrayal of his characters and how they interact with each other throughout this book. The Bone Thief was well written and researched by Jefferson Bass. I like Jefferson Bass description of the settings of The Bone Thief that allowed me to imagine being part of the book's plot.The readers of The Bone Thief will learn about the black market for body parts. Also, the readers of The Bone Thief will learn about the consequences of radiation poisoning. I recommend this book.

A disturbing tale of grave-robbing and black market traffic in body parts!Author Jefferson Bass (well ... joint co-authors Bill Bass and John Jefferson, actually) have got a great thing going here! THE BONE THIEF is the sixth entry in the exciting and remarkably successful series depicting fictional forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's adventures, research, investigations and checkered life as the director of the Body Farm. The Body Farm, as it is quaintly known, is a very real and very renowned research institution located on the campus of the University of Tennessee that investigates the mechanics and the subtleties of bodily decomposition after death under a bewildering array of variable conditions. Like Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, Preston and Child's Aloysius Pendergast or Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme, Bill Brockton is a formidable sleuth but he's also a credible character who evolves with every passing story. As one would expect from a modern protagonist, like Bosch, Pendergast or Rhyme, Brockton is a little edgier, a little darker and a little more angsty than the literary heroes of yore. He's got communication problems with his adult son. His love life is definitely shattered in the sewer and the rats are gathering to feed on the remains. Although the story never comes out of the closet and spells it out, his feelings for his young assistant, Miranda Lovelady are honourable but clearly conflicted.It ought to be sufficient to spark your interest if I disclose that THE BONE THIEF is a compelling and provocative story taken from today's headlines that digs into grave-robbing (get it? ... digs into grave-robbing) and peeks behind the dark curtains of the global black market in human organs and body parts used in transplantation as well as dubious research and surgical training methods.One more highly recommended successful notch on your belt, fellows. I'm looking forward to continuing the series.Paul Weiss

Okay, I'll start off with complete honesty... I ALMOST gave this book only three stars. The reconciliation between Brockton and his son felt so forced and contrived, with the conflict never really adequately explained, I was left shaking my head in dismay. And the plot twist at the end about the relationship between the two main villains... was that really necessary? Honestly... it was just plain weird. I don't even know why that was included.That being said, I still loved this book. I learn so much from reading these books, that's part of the reason I love them so much. All that stuff about sepsis, I was devouring it. And the thefts of organs and body parts... for surgery practice! It was something I'd never thought of before and I was stunned. It was made all the more fascinating because one of my cousins just passed away from sepsis, not from a transplant, but it was just really fascinating to read things that were never adequately explained to my family.Sometimes it bothers me just how much the authors go out of their way to torment Dr. Brockton, but I can't really talk I guess... sometimes it's just the best way to move a story along. Agents Price and Rankin seriously get on my nerves though...Not enough of Art in this book, but then again, there was so much going on that I'm amazed that the different threads were all wrapped up as neatly as they were. And I continue to adore the dark humor in these books.So even though it has some issues, I still enjoyed the book tremendously and I'll be reading the next one as soon as possible.

É mais 4.5 estrelas. Depois do primeiro volume, acho que este é o meu segundo preferido. Tanta coisa boa que aconteceu, tantas histórias a seguir e todas interessantes.(view spoiler)[Isabella grávida do Dr. Bill! OMG!!! Não quis acreditar numa coisa destas. Que vai ser destes 2? Que vai ser é dela e do bebé? Acho que isto não vai acabar bem, acho que aquele bebé não vai nascer... :( Que reação do Jeff, o filho do Bill, ao saber que o pai ia ter outro filho; ainda bem que, no fim, fizeram as pazes.Não imaginaria que Faust estava envolvido com Sinclair e naqueles negócios obscuros de tráfico de tecidos humanos... Que desilusão. Pelo menos morreram os dois e as mãos de Faust ainda puderam ser transplantadas em Eddie Garcia.Eddie Garcia - adorei que os autores seguissem o enredo dele, depois de ficar sem mãos no livro anterior. Que sorte danada o homem teve, mas admiro imenso a sua coragem para continuar e, na medida do possível, ainda vai dando uma ajuda no trabalho, como foi orientar uma autópsia. Tomara que o corpo não rejeite as mãos transplantadas e, no próximo livro, esteja a recomeçar a sua vida a sério e já no trabalho.O que me ri com a cena do Bill num clube de strip durante o seu trabalho temporário de infiltrado do FBI. Aquela mulher a fazer striptease à frente dele e ele embasbacado a pedir-lhe que parasse LOL Hilariante! LOL (hide spoiler)]Adoro que estes autores peguem em linhas de enredos anteriores e lhes deem seguimento, é uma coisa realmente espetacular!

The writing team of Jefferson Bass has yet to disappoint me with any of their books, and this one was really good as well. The plot centered around black market body parts and human tissue research, which was a fascinating subject to explore. Bill Brockton is roped into assisting with a sting operation with the FBI, and risks alienating Miranda, his young assistant and good friend. For some reason, even though I've read a lot of the books Bass has set at "The Body Farm", this one really made me start thinking about what would happen to my body after I died. It made me start making decisions and putting plans in place. Although no one ever likes to think about such a thing, I was surprised at the peace of mind this gave me. What really disturbed me however (as this book highlighted) is that despite your wishes and plans, your next of kin can do whatever they like after you die, including disregarding your wishes. I think new laws should be put into place that gives the person the right to decide what happens to their remains and have an Executor enforce it similar to a Last Will.

I enjoyed this book more than the previous one in the series. There was more "action" involving several interesting subplots that all came together in the end. At first it looks like a relatively routine case, exhuming a body for DNA in a paternity suit, but when the body is found to be missing its arms and legs, this leads to deeper involvement in the black market of cadaver parts/tissue, causing Dr. Bill Brockton to go undercover for the FBI. A very enjoyable read and as always I'm fascinated by all the medical and forensic info that fills these books!

Review of the audiobookThis is the first of the series that I've read, but it's the 5th in the series. A lot of mention is made of previous events. The reader is given enough information to follow along, but I would have benefited from reading in order rather than starting here.That said, I enjoyed this book. The characters are interesting, the mystery intriguing and the technical details utterly fascinating.