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Blood and Bone

by William Lashner

Blood and Bone by William Lashner

Review: At age 12, Kyle Byrne attends the funeral of his father with his mother and his Uncle, Max. Given that Liam Byrne has a wife, not Kyle's mother, they receive a less-than-friendly reception. After they get tossed out of the church, Kyle retaliates by running back in, grabbing the urn of his father's ashes and tearing off into the graveyard. He still has some of the ashes in the glove box of his car.

Fourteen years later, Laszlo Toth, Liam's former law partner, dies from a gunshot wound in his office. Police detectives Ramirez and Henderson don't quite agree on what happened that night. Ramirez, a young Hispanic female success story, thinks a robbery went wrong. Henderson, a black cop considering retirement, believes the office remained a bit too neat to be the work of a drugged-up gang member on a tear.

Kyle coasts through life, playing Xbox by day and drinking and carousing with the wrong kind of women by night. He keeps thinking he's seen the top of his father's gray head from time to time, most recently while running between first and second at a pub baseball game. He wonders a lot how his life would have turned out if his father hadn't died. The murder of Toth and an odd discussion about a missing file of Liam's with one of his former clients at the funeral causes Kyle to wonder if his father really died of a heart attack. This peaks Kyle's curiosity like nothing has since he lost his father. He begins to investigate and realizes he might be over his head, but he's determined to find out the truth about his father. The problem is he might find out things he didn't want to know.

Lashner, well-known for his Victor Carl series, has opted for a stand-alone novel this time out with Blood and Bone. At its heart, this novel delves into the relationships: between fathers and sons, detective partners, men and women and between friends. One of the things I liked most about this novel is the depth of reality to these characters, and thus their imperfections. Kyle has a lot of issues, but he has a lot of charm as well. Many might feel frustrated as his life seems aimless until he hits on the goal of finding the truth about his father. But he also has a vulnerability that to me brought compassion and a sense of wanting to help him. I've also known a few people in similar situations, and while I certainly have wanted to knock some sense in them from time to time, it didn't stop me from caring about them. Lashner hooked me on the first page with a lost twelve-year-old Kyle on the way to his father's funeral. It doesn't matter that his father wasn't around much. He still has lots of answers. And Kyle might ask others the questions if he only knew what they were.

Lashner has terrific secondary characters as well, from the squabbling Ramirez and Henderson to Kyle's best friend, Kat (or Shin, Katie Shin—in tough girl mode) to Max, Kyle's uncle who spends way too much time drinking at the Old Pig Snout. Lashner also lets us into the head of the killer who is a puppet of someone else. The killer's introspection and relationship with the manipulator fascinate as well.

Lashner has crafted a fast-moving plot that alternates between the two viewpoints to maintain suspense, but the reader wouldn't lose interest anyway. In addition to writing a terrific suspense story, Lashner succeeds on an emotional level as well. He brings to life locations as well as he does characters and emotions. For anyone who enjoys a mystery that has much more than just a superficial plot, Blood and Bone is a must read.

Special thanks to Katherine Petersen for contributing her review of Blood and Bone.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Katherine Petersen — All Rights Reserved
Reprinted with Permission

Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …

Mystery Book Review: A Killer's Kiss by William LashnerA Killer's Kiss
William Morrow (Hardcover), August 2007
ISBN-13: 9780061143465; ISBN-10: 0061143464

Mystery Book Review: The Accounting by William LashnerThe Accounting
Thomas & Mercer (Trade Paperback), May 2013
ISBN-13: 9781611099355; ISBN-10: 1611099358

Location(s) referenced in Blood and Bone: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Blood and Bone by William Lashner

Blood and Bone by

Publisher: William Morrow
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-114348-9
Publication Date:
List Price: $24.99

Buy the Book (purchase options)

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Page Author: Lance Wright
Site Publisher: Mysterious Reviews

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