The Bone House

The Bone House

Brian Freeman

For me, this book read more like a travelogue then a suspenseful murder mystery. The way Brian Freeman describes the nuance of Door County, Wisconsin, I found myself Googling the area instead of paying close attention to the story at hand. I do not know if this was his intention, but I think I can describe the area better than I can the plot and outcome of this book. Which might be a better thing since the atmosphere is much better than the storyline.

There are many characters introduced in this story and you might have to go back and reread parts to keep everyone straight. As a quick outline, you will have to know that Glory Fisher witnessed a crime several years before, her sister Tressa inadvertently caused Mark Bradley to lose his teaching job, Mark’s wife Hilary believes her husband can do no evil and Glory is found dead on a beach, which of course makes Mark the number one suspect.

I know, Cliff Notes would be helpful about now.

Cab Bolton of the Criminal Investigative Division of the Naples Police Bureau is called into investigate the whole confused mess – not sure if this character is completely convincing, but there is enough side story thrown in to make him an interestingly flawed character.

Well, back to the story. Apparently, a horrendous crime that Glory witnessed years before is coming back to haunt her and Mr. Freeman has managed to throw the whole mess at the wall in hopes that something will stick and the reader will follow him down yet another rabbit hole.

Overall, the story is a muddled confusion and the reader is left with a bit of whiplash as to which storyline to follow; how it will all tie together - and is it really that important that Cab’s mother is a famous actress and once, a while back, Cab was involved with a woman that messed with his head so badly that there was only one way to end their relationship.

Maybe Brian Freeman is trying to get a new series started by trying to throw multiple angles at the reader, but for an experienced writer, he should know better. Do not put it all out there in the first book; let the reader work for it over a couple of volumes.

Of course, I will continue with the Brian Freeman books, I love Jonathan Stride and Serena; I just will have to be convinced to revisit Cab Bolton.