Island of Bones

Rating:
Summary: Interesting plotline
Review: As a avid reader and writer of thriller novels, I am quite impressed with P.J. Parrish. Louis Kincaid is an unusually compelling, complex character for the genre. The novel reads like a typical murder mystery until the Away So Far Island and its strange occupants are introduced. At this point, the novel becomes, for me, much more engaging and unique. I have yet to read Parrish's other novels, but I'm looking forward to getting copies to savor at the beach or on a rainy day.

Rating:
Summary: Great book; great series!
Review: I first heard about P.J. Parrish on a mystery listserv and she got such high praise that I decided to try her (two sisters, actually) out. I found the second one in the series first (Dead of Winter), so I began the series out of order. No matter. I was hooked on the protagonist, Louis Kincaid, from the beginning. I admit it - I love a good mystery, but character development is more important to me than anything else. And I love Kincaid! I'm so tired of reading about brooding detectives who are too deep for their own good. Kincaid definitely has his brooding moments, but he's a man who's at least relatively happy with himself and the world. One of the things I like so much about him is that while he stands up for himself, he also knows when to do this and when to show respect to others. He's dogged, strong-willed and occasionally tough, but he has an underlying sense of care which I find very satisfying in a detective. And not only does Parrish do a wonderful job with the main character, she gives even the smaller characters great depth and understanding as well.

The fifth and latest in the series, Island of Bones, is another first-rate thriller full of interesting characters. Kincaid now lives in a beachfront cottage on Captiva Island in Florida, and Parrish paints the sweltering, mangrove-filled scenery quite well.

In a nutshell, the story involves the skull of a baby washed up on the beach, a beautiful young girl found murdered in a swamp, and an apparently boring older man whom Kincaid is hired to follow. As Kincaid tries to figure out the connections, he's faced with various things: a new detective on the Ft. Myers police force who is not what he appears, his own difficulties in finding and keeping track of the man he's supposed to be responsible for, and more personally, bubbling emotions about his treatment of a young woman in his past whom he let down.

The mystery itself is quite captivating, but again, it was Kincaid and his relationships with those he comes into contact with which really drove the book for me. And the final scene, by the way, is so beautiful drawn; I just love it when authors wrap things up in a satisfying way. All in all, another great outing for Kincaid and the Parrish sisters.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book of the Year!
Review: I have had the pleasure of reading this book before it was available and I was blown away. From page one this book grabs you and will not let you go until the final page. The opening scene of a young woman fleeing an unknown but utterly terrifying pursuer gave me chills. I actually felt her fear and when she was shot, heard the bullet, saw her stumble and felt the rain as it dripped off her lifeless body. It just gets better from there. I actually hated the new boy on the block, Mel Landata, when he was introduced to Louis. What a pompous, self-involved idiot! Definitely hoped he would meet a very messy end. Boy was I wrong! After finding out what makes Mel tick, he became one of my favorites. Perfectly suited to be a close friend of Louis.

The perilous journey to discover who the victim was brings to light numerous similiar incidents of young women who disappear -- where they are found and their ultimate condition is both a shock and a surprise. The plotting and character development is superb. The red herrings and subterfuge so convincingly laid out you don't see the trap until it's sprang. Nobody is who you think they are -- the real evil is hidden from sight until the final and explosive end.

If I could give this book more then 5 stars I would. I can not recommend this book more highly nor state with more passion my belief it is a MUST for any fan of mystery/suspense novels. Keep them coming PJ! Journeys with Kincaid are always an exciting ride.

Rating:
Summary: COMPELLING !
Review: I was totally spellbound and frequently found myself racing to turn the page. The style, the mood, the setting and the extremely well-drawn characters are top rate. I swear I could smell the Gulf Coast of Florida's swamps and wanted to wipe my brow from the humidity coming right off the page. The dialogue snaps, the family secrets were fascinating and unfolded in a way that made me want to know even more. But most of all, the writing is excellent and the characters stay with you for days after. The ending is superb. Don't miss this!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but implausible
Review: interesting, entertaining, probably worth reading if you read quickly, but the story line is so implausible as to be a bit annoying.

Rating:
Summary: Island of Bones-They just keep getting better!
Review: It seems that the book has been summarized several times, so I will just say that this book is PJ Parrish's best book yet, and I have read them all! The first book, Dark of the Moon, was good, Dead of Winter, the second book, really grabs you and doesn't let go until the end and you get a real feel for the character, Louis Kincaid, Paint it Black, was even better with a unique serial killer and Louis Kincaid going from cop to P.I. and moving to Florida, then the 4th book, Thicker Than Water, was excellent, hard to put down, and gave you even more background on Louis, and now Island of Bones is so fantastic that you can't put it down! Louis works closely with the cops on this one and doesn't let go even when the cops think the case is closed. He uncovers a mystery that is so good that you end up going on the internet to check out if it could possibly be true, and best of all....it is!!! WOW, read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but unrealistic
Review: Louis Kincaid, former Detective now a PI, living on the southwest coast of Florida comes upon a skull of a child washed up on a beach after a storm. A few days later a corpse of a woman washes onto the beach. Kincaid feels there might be a connection. He is visited later by a woman who asks him to investigate her father. It seems she found hidden in her father's house two articles cut out concerning the recent death, as well as, the disappearance of a young woman many years ago. There may be a serial killer around and that killer just might be the woman's father.
Most impressive in this entertaining work is the very rapid pacing at least in the initial third of the book. As the investigation became more complex, the pacing slowed considerably but the characters became more vivid. The last third concerned the secret of the Island of Bones. This is where the problems began for me. Initially I thought we were into a serial killer novel but a really good one. It is as though the authors were deciding as they went along where the plot would take them in that there was such a drastic change in the tempo and the tone of the book. I really did not appreciate the secret of the island and found it more Nancy Drew than realistic. Well written though and an enjoyable enough way to spend a few hours.

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff, problematic stuff, and eventually a fizzler.
Review: On the positive side, this book had me stopping and re-reading--because I wanted to learn. The writing was crisp. It made me wish I could write so straightforwardly, so simply. It cast clear images that repeatedly triggered a certain question in my mind: "How did Parrish make me visualize that?"

When I double-checked, it turned out to be an effortless line of dialogue or direct prose that did the job. Why do other writers, myself included, struggle so hard with multitudinous words to say much less? Dunno, but P.J. Parrish wouldn't use the word "multitudinous" without good reason. Good for her.

I didn't have to sit through static, "Anne Ricey" descriptions of settings. The environment loomed piecemeal, as it should, through the eyes of our in-motion character, Louis.

So why do I give this book a mere three stars (maybe 7 out of 10)? We'll start trivial and work our way up.

At first, I didn't realize ISLAND OF BONES was a book in a series. There were some "useless" characters, such as Pierre and the cat, Issy. They must have appeared before, and therefore their presence was warranted, I guess, in the sequels; so even before finishing this sentence I've already forgiven their inclusion. But I felt nothing for either.

For some reason--aesthetics--the brief personality clash between Louis and Pierre got in the way, even before I knew that Pierre would indeed play a forgettable role in the overall story. I felt the same about what's-her-name, Roberta. Both characters injected conflicts to trip over before the story truly began.

Then I stumbled over this sentence:

"Picking up a stick, he wedged it carefully in the eye socket."

Found this one on page 18, and it didn't give me high hopes for the author's writing skills (although I changed my mind as the pages turned). You can't simultaneously pick up a stick and wedge it carefully in anything. Maybe you could manage it with clumsiness, first positioning the eye socket near the ground and, while wedging, also lifting. It doesn't seem natural.

I let that go, too. Literary blunders happen. If I were a novelist, pumping out 100,000 words, I'd probably produce more than a few of those little gems myself.

So anyway, the book crept on, Louis having discovered a skull in the sand, which the chief of police let him keep (seemed unlikely to me). The plot semi-thickened, forty-one pages into the book, with our private investigator, Louis, taking on a case that MIGHT have been related to the bullet-ridden body that washed up on a nearby beach.

The woman who hired Louis was grasping at straws, believing her father to be the murderer. Louis himself thought her suspicions far-fetched, but the plot had to continue. That's how I saw it. Louis took the case only because he had to engage the plot sometime, somewhere, for some reason.

Louis spent many pages wondering why he'd gotten involved. He was even ready to give the woman her money back, on account of this was a pointless investigation. Parrish dismissed the lack of believability by continuously pointing out that Louis wanted to drop the case.

"Yeah," I kept thinking, "give it up, Louis. Other than the woman paying you, your involvement seems forced."

Fortunately, by this point, the writing was good enough to keep me reading, for the sheer joy of digesting concise prose, if not good plotting.

Sidebar:

I'd fallen for the hype. All book covers exaggerate in order to increase sales. Regardless, why did I believe so readily and buy this novel? Reviews such as

"Full of intrigue and edge-of-the-seat suspense." --Michael Connelly.

"Will leave readers hungering for more." --Publisher's Weekly

"A wild ride with a really fine writer." --John Sanford.

"A taut page-turner." --San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle.

This was not a "wild ride." It neither brought me to the edge of my seat (bed-side) nor did it seem like a "page-turner." Ultimately, I did keep reading, but for reasons completely other than fast-pacing. And Louis Kincaid was ultimately likeable.

Sadly, though, I felt the author packed swear words into his mouth, and into the mouths of others. I began mentally expunging "f**k" and "s**t" during the course of the narrative when I found they slowed things down. Such words, though realistic, managed to weaken what was being thought and said.

Moderation, Parrish! Moderation.

Just when I'd stepped thoroughly into the viewpoint of Louis, he betrayed me. Twice in this novel he let the major suspect escape. Once, okay. The second time? No! For the second time, Frank Woods was in his custody. And for the second time, Louis let Woods slip away. Louis had even threatened putting handcuffs on the guy:

"I have cuffs, Frank. Want me to use them?"

As a reader I willed, "Hell yes, you idiot! Cuff `im."

Nope, Woods escaped.

I don't mind plot complications when I can say to myself, "I would have done just what the main character did and still failed."

More jolting than that, I'd gotten used to traveling through the story as Louis Kincaid, only to run into two chapters, separated by a hundred pages or so, that switched points of view. Supposedly, these shifts into the eyes of Frank Woods and, next, his mother were meant to give the reader important information. Trust me, the information could have been gathered in other ways. . .by Louis himself. By you, the reader.

This five-star novel dropped to three stars, officially, when the climax came seven chapters before the end of the book. I kept reading, anticipating--hoping for--another climacteric, but no. I trudged through some fifty-five pages of denouement, all information that should have manifested in the main narrative.

The book fizzled.

I have little desire to read another Louis Kincaid adventure. This one provided me with mild entertainment. It did not leave me "hungering for more."

Publisher's Weekly, I hope you got paid.

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff, problematic stuff, and eventually a fizzler.
Review: On the positive side, this book had me stopping and re-reading--because I wanted to learn. The writing was crisp. It made me wish I could write so straightforwardly, so simply. It cast clear images that repeatedly triggered a certain question in my mind: "How did Parrish make me visualize that?"

When I double-checked, it turned out to be an effortless line of dialogue or direct prose that did the job. Why do other writers, myself included, struggle so hard with multitudinous words to say much less? Dunno, but P.J. Parrish wouldn't use the word "multitudinous" without good reason. Good for her.

I didn't have to sit through static, "Anne Ricey" descriptions of settings. The environment loomed piecemeal, as it should, through the eyes of our in-motion character, Louis.

So why do I give this book a mere three stars (maybe 7 out of 10)? We'll start trivial and work our way up.

At first, I didn't realize ISLAND OF BONES was a book in a series. There were some "useless" characters, such as Pierre and the cat, Issy. They must have appeared before, and therefore their presence was warranted, I guess, in the sequels; so even before finishing this sentence I've already forgiven their inclusion. But I felt nothing for either.

For some reason--aesthetics--the brief personality clash between Louis and Pierre got in the way, even before I knew that Pierre would indeed play a forgettable role in the overall story. I felt the same about what's-her-name, Roberta. Both characters injected conflicts to trip over before the story truly began.

Then I stumbled over this sentence:

"Picking up a stick, he wedged it carefully in the eye socket."

Found this one on page 18, and it didn't give me high hopes for the author's writing skills (although I changed my mind as the pages turned). You can't simultaneously pick up a stick and wedge it carefully in anything. Maybe you could manage it with clumsiness, first positioning the eye socket near the ground and, while wedging, also lifting. It doesn't seem natural.

I let that go, too. Literary blunders happen. If I were a novelist, pumping out 100,000 words, I'd probably produce more than a few of those little gems myself.

So anyway, the book crept on, Louis having discovered a skull in the sand, which the chief of police let him keep (seemed unlikely to me). The plot semi-thickened, forty-one pages into the book, with our private investigator, Louis, taking on a case that MIGHT have been related to the bullet-ridden body that washed up on a nearby beach.

The woman who hired Louis was grasping at straws, believing her father to be the murderer. Louis himself thought her suspicions far-fetched, but the plot had to continue. That's how I saw it. Louis took the case only because he had to engage the plot sometime, somewhere, for some reason.

Louis spent many pages wondering why he'd gotten involved. He was even ready to give the woman her money back, on account of this was a pointless investigation. Parrish dismissed the lack of believability by continuously pointing out that Louis wanted to drop the case.

"Yeah," I kept thinking, "give it up, Louis. Other than the woman paying you, your involvement seems forced."

Fortunately, by this point, the writing was good enough to keep me reading, for the sheer joy of digesting concise prose, if not good plotting.

Sidebar:

I'd fallen for the hype. All book covers exaggerate in order to increase sales. Regardless, why did I believe so readily and buy this novel? Reviews such as

"Full of intrigue and edge-of-the-seat suspense." --Michael Connelly.

"Will leave readers hungering for more." --Publisher's Weekly

"A wild ride with a really fine writer." --John Sanford.

"A taut page-turner." --San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle.

This was not a "wild ride." It neither brought me to the edge of my seat (bed-side) nor did it seem like a "page-turner." Ultimately, I did keep reading, but for reasons completely other than fast-pacing. And Louis Kincaid was ultimately likeable.

Sadly, though, I felt the author packed swear words into his mouth, and into the mouths of others. I began mentally expunging "f**k" and "s**t" during the course of the narrative when I found they slowed things down. Such words, though realistic, managed to weaken what was being thought and said.

Moderation, Parrish! Moderation.

Just when I'd stepped thoroughly into the viewpoint of Louis, he betrayed me. Twice in this novel he let the major suspect escape. Once, okay. The second time? No! For the second time, Frank Woods was in his custody. And for the second time, Louis let Woods slip away. Louis had even threatened putting handcuffs on the guy:

"I have cuffs, Frank. Want me to use them?"

As a reader I willed, "Hell yes, you idiot! Cuff 'im."

Nope, Woods escaped.

I don't mind plot complications when I can say to myself, "I would have done just what the main character did and still failed."

More jolting than that, I'd gotten used to traveling through the story as Louis Kincaid, only to run into two chapters, separated by a hundred pages or so, that switched points of view. Supposedly, these shifts into the eyes of Frank Woods and, next, his mother were meant to give the reader important information. Trust me, the information could have been gathered in other ways. . .by Louis himself. By you, the reader.

This five-star novel dropped to three stars, officially, when the climax came seven chapters before the end of the book. I kept reading, anticipating--hoping for--another climacteric, but no. I trudged through some fifty-five pages of denouement, all information that should have manifested in the main narrative.

The book fizzled.

I have little desire to read another Louis Kincaid adventure. This one provided me with mild entertainment. It did not leave me "hungering for more."

Publisher's Weekly, I hope you got paid.

Rating:
Summary: Deadly secrets.
Review: Once again Florida is recovering from the devastation of a hurricane and Private Investigator Louis Kincaid is in the midst of it. While canvassing the damage that the hurricane has left behind, Kincaid stumbles upon a baby's skull amongst the debris. The skull appears to be old. The police are too involved with regaining order after the devastation of the hurricane to care much about where the old skull came from or to whom it belonged. Yet, Kincaid seems drawn to the remains and is determined to find their origins and give the child a proper resting place.

The skull of a child isn't the only gruesome thing that washes ashore on the Florida coast; during the hurricane aftermath clean up, the police discover the body of a woman. Undermanned, the local authorities call upon Kincaid for help with the murder investigation. Just when it seems that things could not get any stranger, a woman seeks to hire Kincaid to investigate her father, whom she believes may be involved with the murder of the discovered woman. However, Kincaid soon discovers some hidden secrets of the man he is investigating that go beyond his wildest dreams. At first Kincaid believes that he has three separate cases on his hands until he slowly uncovers the shocking truth that links them all.

THE ISLAND OF BONES by P.J. Parrish is a compelling thriller that takes many delicious twists and turns. The character of Private Investigator Louis Kincaid is a refreshing change from the brooding stereotypical investigator so often found in novels. Kincaid is a complex, three - dimensional character with realistic flaws. The novel itself is also one that is outside the box of the "typical" mystery. The characters are vivid and the story line unique. Although ISLAND OF BONES is the fifth installment in the Louis Kincaid mysteries, it surely is a standalone novel that will please both long standing Kincaid fans as well as those new to the character.

Reviewed by L. Raven James
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers