Twenty-Seven Bones: A Thriller

I've listened to a lot of audio books, but this book, "Twenty-seven Bone" really stand out as an excellent piece of work by Jonathan Nasaw. Mr. Nasaw chose a wonderful reader, Dion Graham. Mr. Graham can change dialect and accents w/ out a stammer, he mesmerized the audience and really pulls one into the story. If you are a fan of Cornwell, the Kellerman's or Harris, this is the book/audio for you.

Phil and Emily Epp are anthropologists, they are serial killers too. Weird serial killers. It started for them when they were spending time with a native culture that believed they could absorb a person's soul by inhailing their last breath. Emily, because of a strange accident, wound up sucking in the tribal leader's dying breath and it changed her. It changed hubby Phil as well. Now they want more, so along with the tribal leader's son, they set out to get their fill, because they've all come to believe that that dying breath will make them live forever. Only trouble is, somebody has to die to give up his last breath. The gruesome threesome wind up on the island of St. Luke, where they inhale a lot of last breaths by cutting off the right hands of the locals, sucking in as they expire. This they do for years, but all good things must come to an end and the beginning of theirs happens when a few of the bodies wash ashore and the local cops learn that they have a serial killer on their island who they call the Machate Man. Ex-FBI agent E.L. Pender is back from Mr. Nasaw's excellent works, "The Girl he Adored" and "Fear itself" and he's come to St. Luke to match wits with the killers. He's not there long before he becomes friends with Holly Gold, who has come to the island to raise her deceased sister's children and now it's important that he find the bad guys before anything happens to them. This book has it all, scary bad guys, a girl and kids we care about and an anti-hero, hero who is just outstanding. Tension, suspense, thrills and chills galore.

I'm beginning to notice a trend in some mysteries lately. The protagonists --- the good guys, in most cases --- are aging gracefully, not going gently into any good nights or any bad ones, either, but staying active and keeping their hands in. I've reached the age and station in life where I like reading about old guys kicking butt, chasing skirts, and basically showing the younger generation how the job gets done. Jonathan Nasaw includes this element in his latest novel, TWENTY-SEVEN BONES, so he met the burden right out of the block. Even without the seasoned citizen element, however, this bad boy would be a winner.Nasaw's protagonist, E.L. Pender, is an old guy, closer to 60 than to 50, and if he has six-pack abs they're buried at the bottom of the shopping cart. The great part about Pender is that he is a believable old guy. He is a retired FBI Special Agent, but he's past the stage where he is involved in car chases or initiating explosions. I can't remember him firing his gun or even hitting anyone (he does hit on someone, but that's another story). He can still get the job done, however, as is amply demonstrated in TWENTY-SEVEN BONES.TWENTY-SEVEN BONES finds Pender chafing under the collar of his retirement, engaging in too much eating and drinking and too little thinking and doing. A voice from the past, however, provides him with a respite from his boredom. Julian Coffee, an old friend and former colleague of Pender's, is the police chief of the Caribbean island of St. Luke. St. Luke, a fictitious combination of the U.S. Virgin Islands, is an otherwise idyllic vacation spot that is being despoiled by the presence of a serial killer who mutilates each victim by cutting off their right hand.Pender agrees to a working vacation of sorts, going back into FBI mode while investigating the murders. He is initially as confused as the police, no small wonder when one considers what he is up against. For what the reader learns almost immediately is that "The Machete Man," as the killer comes to be called, is in fact Phil and Emily Epp, a husband and wife anthropology team who are in equal measure intelligent, clever and deranged. They are carrying out their ritualistic murders in the belief that, by stealing each of their victims' last breaths, they will increase their own vitality and lifespans. The Epps (and a partner or two who they pick up along the way) succeed, at least initially, in casting the blame for the murders on one of their own unfortunate victims, and the inhabitants of St. Luke breathe a sigh of relief.But Pender is not so sure, and if his plodding investigative techniques are not as sure-footed as others within the genre, that just makes him all the more real and endearing. Pender's inclination to continue to pursue the investigation after it is officially closed, however, puts him in mortal danger and leads to a breathtaking --- and heart-stopping --- conclusion.Nasaw does a terrific job of character development here. Even his se

Jonathan Nasaw's "Twenty-Seven Bones" has some of the author's trademark touches. There is never any doubt that the killers are two extremely demented anthropologists, Phil and Emily Epp. They are delusional megalomaniacs who lure their victims with promises of buried treasure. There is no treasure."Twenty-Seven Bones" takes place on the fictional island of St. Luke in the Caribbean. The police chief, Julian Coffee, asks his old pal, former FBI agent E. L. Pender, to look into the possibility that a serial killer is loose on St. Luke. Pender, who has always been obese, has gotten even fatter in retirement, and he is bored with golf. He figures that a change of scenery might be just the ticket to get him out of his funk, so he takes Coffee up on his offer.Nasaw is a clever and skilled writer. The best part of the book is the setting, which Nasaw plays up to the hilt. He describes the island of St. Luke so thoroughly that I began to believe it really exists. He gives it a history, complete with hurricanes, riots, and Danish colonial rulers. The natives speak in a charming dialect, which is derived from a local idiom actually used in the U. S. Virgin Islands. The characters are humdingers, as well. In addition to the aforementioned sick puppies, the Epps, there are a number of offbeat people in this book. One of them is Holly Gold, a gay Jewish expatriate and massage therapist who is on St. Luke to care for her orphaned niece and nephew. The nephew, Marley, was born without arms, and he he manages to do a whole host of things using just his feet. The main problem that I have with this book is the over-the-top depiction of the Epps. This couple is so perverted in every way that they seem cartoonish rather than real. A more realistic villain is a wealthy and spoiled Danish man, Lewis Apgard, who is descended from the former governors of the island. He is a drunk and an opportunist who is willing to break the law to get what he wants. Nasaw fleshes him out nicely, and he seems more human than the monstrous Phil and Emily.I love the unconventional character of E. L. Pender, who is the anti-hunk. He is a bald and lumbering man who dresses in loud and tasteless clothing. However, Pender's unprepossessing appearance is deceptive. He has inner strength and self-confidence, as well as a very sharp mind. Pender is an intuitive and persistent investigator whose experience in the FBI makes him the perfect person to catch the "Machete Man," the serial killer who is preying on the citizens of St. Luke. Nasaw wisely allows Pender to look weak and vulnerable at times, instead of depicting him as an infallible hero. The author also gives Pender a love life, which is kind of nice since Pender could never be mistaken for Brad Pitt."Twenty-Seven Bones" is not for the faint of heart. This book is for readers who like complex mysteries, and who can tolerate scenes of graphic violence and depraved behavior. It is an exciting and involving thriller t

He was an FBI agent for twenty-seven years, looking forward to retirement so that he can play golf and catch up on his reading but now that the time has come E.L. Pender is bored silly. He occasionally teaches a course at Quantico where he meets his old friend Julian Coffee, the chief of Police of St. Luke, an island in the Caribbean. Julian offers him a free vacation in his tropical paradise if Pender will help track down the serial killer known as the Machete Man. Peter has captured high profile serial killers and is considered an expert on the subject.Pender gladly agrees to travel to St. Luke and sink his teeth in another serial killer case but he has never gone up against killers as the ones who are committing the crimes. Anthropologists Phil and Emily Epp along with their servant and accomplice Bennie believe they will remain young and live for eternity if they catch the last breath of a dying person. They are cold, calculating, and totally ruthless; willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want. They will turn out to be Pender's most formable enemies.Jonathan Nasaw, the author of THE GIRLS HE ADORED and FEAR ITSELF, has written another exciting chilling crime thriller told from the point of view of the protagonist and the antagonists. The juxtaposition of the serpent in paradise works brilliantly throughout the storyline and readers will feel shocked that people could carry out such carnage. Emily is the female Hannibal Lechter who weaves an evil spell over all who comes in contract with her.Harriet Klausner