Author: J.A. Jance
Publisher:William Morrow
Date of publication: September 2015
J. P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker, two of New York
Times bestselling author J. A. Jance’s most acclaimed series
characters, join forces for the first time in one of the most suspenseful works
of her career
Prospector Amos Warren and Big Bad John Lassiter, his young
protégé, were as close as father and son until a violent argument tore them apart.
The next day, Amos disappeared, never to be seen again. Years later, his bones
were found in the desert. All signs pointed to John Lassiter, and Detective
Brandon Walker made the arrest in the case.
Now, more than four decades later, the retired Walker is
called in when TLC—The Last Chance, a group of retired cops, criminalists,
medical examiners, and district attorneys who devote their time and experience
to solving stone-cold homicide cases—looks into the killing. Lassiter can get
out of jail now for time served if he’ll plead guilty to a lesser charge, but
he refuses to cop to a crime he didn’t commit. Lassiter’s daughter, Amanda
Wasser, wants Brandon and TLC to find Amos’s “real” killer and clear her
father’s name.
Brandon Walker’s search to find the truth about Amos’s
killer eventually leads sixteen hundred miles north to Seattle, to an unsolved
murder that could be connected to the case. Thanks to a mutual friend, Brandon
gets in touch with crack investigator J. P. Beaumont. With the Special Homicide
Investigation Team disbanded and his wife away at a conference, the retired
Beau has plenty of free time to help, even though he’s skeptical about
Lassiter’s claims of innocence.
J. P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker’s meeting proves all too
crucial, for soon these seasoned detectives must pool their personal and
professional expertise when someone close to Brandon falls into the hands of a
cold-blooded killer involved in a recent multiple homicide—who may also hold
the key to the cold case.
One of the problems with going into a book like Dance of the Bones without ever having read a book by the author in either series it is associated with is that you always feel late to the party. At least that is how I felt. I haven't read either series that the two detective characters are featured in, but I was hoping this would work as a stand alone. Unfortunately for me, it didn't hold up well. The author did put in a lot of background, but I kept feeling like I was playing catch up. Too much to enjoy the story. There were also too many characters to keep track of in the beginning. Again, that probably comes from the merging of two series into one book.
The premise of the story is that these two detectives end up helping each other solve a "cold case". The problem is that the reader already know what happened. You find out in the prologue. So, for me that kind of killed the thrilling part of it. I probably would have preferred solving the cold case with them. So, in the end it was just an OK read for me.
The one good thing that I can say about the book is that I liked both Beaumont and Walker. Enough to want to go back to the beginning and read both series from the start. Maybe once I do that, this book will be more exciting.
About the author:
J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling
author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds
series, and five interrelated thrillers about the Walker family, as well as a
volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance
lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.
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