The Bone Garden 1st (first) edition Text Only

I expected a pleasant little mystery, and got so much more. This wonderful story includes murder, the death of innocents, a timeless love story, and a little bit of history. Ms. Gerritsen is proving herself to be a compelling stoyteller. Read this book.

I really enjoy Tess Gerritsen's novels, but this was one of my favorite! SHe does a great job switching back and forth between the present and past as to how it relates to a body which is found under unusual circumstances.

"The Bone Garden
Tess Gerritsen has woven parallel love stories with lines six generations apart;
She used flashbacks, but this (doc and) old farm boy was able to follow. After a startling discovery among the flowerbeds of her OLD farmstead, the recently divorced novice who has moved from the city to express herself in "home and garden" and the reader are given a double "scan:"
We find ourselves following the divorcee around New England, to learn about the former residents of this "extreme" fixer-upper. We delving into the strange, bleeding (a favorite practice, and epithet?), medical world of the early 19th century, before ether and antibiotics, or even knowledge of germs; managing to intersect with the center of culture that grew in new England after 1776.
As a History buff, I can tell Gerritsen has done her research well. We romanticized this period, the middle of which would be called the Victorian era. We see some pretty disgusting conditions and ideas under the gilt adornments of the era, which History and persons would rather remember.
Many small details in Life and Death are changed in180 years. At a larger level, "the more things change, the more they".... still need to motivate doctors to wash their hands!
BTW! Our American society is very much the same after nearly 200 years: The world still full of "lovers" and "Haters," only with new groups to be "unwelcomed." At least we can finish the book with a happy sigh, after several unpredictable turns on each plot line.
History and trivia buff that I am, I loved it, and read until the wee hours, once I started it.
Alan Hunt, MD (gratis)"

Ps I had to cut out several long phrases--this was written when there was only one other review. I had password problems.

This book kept me engaged from beginning to the end. The characters were finely drawn especially the heroine Rose. It transported me back to an era of great loss and tragedy, and yet,great discovery as well. Please Tess give us more historical narrative similar to The Bone Garden.

Because they will love the finely balanced presentation of mystery and the roots of their selfless, altruistic profession. It is also priceless to be able to tap into what US medicine had to go through in Boston, where the temples of modern medicine are now located. Thank you, Tess Gerritsen.

This book kept me interested in a page turning kind of way. I liked the way way the stories, both present and past unfolded and were linked. I cried when Norris died. I felt Rose had been through enough. It would have been an interesting plot twist if Rose did have a child by Norris and who was a descendant of Julia's. If you enjoy murder mystery, give this a read.

Another suspenseful page turner by Tess Gerritsen. After reading four of her novels, you'd think I'd know her formula by now, but I don't. A surgeon in "real life," the author is knowledgeable about human anatomy and medical history, both of which combine to educate the reader. On top of the powerful suspense, Gerritsen throws in a well-known character, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and some medical terminology and history (think Semmelweis and the germ theory). I still shudder when I recall her descriptions of lice leaving a dead body; this lady knows her stuff.

Then there's the fact that she knows how to masterfully put together a thrilling story that has the reader eager to find out what's next and yet feeling almost afraid to find out. Who "done it?" Was it one of the esteemed doctors? Was it Norris Marshall? Should dimwitted Billy be a suspect? And about that tiny baby, why is she at the center of these grisly events? And what does Julia Hamill have to do with the story? This is a must-read for Gerritsen fans and a great introduction to her work for those who are looking for a thriller.

Tess Gerritsen writes excellent books and none more so than The Bone Garden. This historical fiction takes you from present day to the beginning of the practice of medicine when grave diggers brought bodies to budding physicians so that they could understand anatomy.

I was really disappointed in this novel. I usually like this author's books and look forward to them. If I had known that almost the entire book was set in 1830 I never would have bought it. If it's going to be an historical book, advertise it as such so those of us who don't like them can save our money. I only read probably 30 pages since I skipped all the historical junk.

Fans of the author expecting a contemporary medical thriller may be disappointed to realize that this is really a period piece set in 1830's Boston. The novel's cover may suggest that the historical element is a back-story to a present day tale, but the reality is that at least 80% of the novel is set in the past.

In fairness to the novel and the author, I found it capably written and (as far as I can tell) well researched. The insight into early medical training was interesting. I listened to The Bone Garden as an audio book and enjoyed the narration. (There's just something captivating about an Irish accent).

The bottom line for me though - had this not been an audio book I probably would have abandoned it half way through. It got a little too `romance novel' for me. The present day story involving a young divorcee who finds old human bones in her garden was an insipid waste of time. I suspect that the author incorporated this present day story so the novel could be packaged as a contemporary thriller with a historical back-story. The novel would have been a little stronger had it simply been set in the 1800's.

The Bone Garden (perhaps because of historical context, more likely because of the author's choices) fails to generate much suspense. There are numerous murders (quite gruesome in fact) but there is no sense of urgency. The author sacrifices momentum, diverting the plot in all sorts of directions (some to showcase the period research that was done, but mostly to provide romance to both the present and past story lines).

All in all, a marginally entertaining novel (thanks in large part to the strong narration of the audio version). This is the first novel I've read (or listened to) by the author. I may or may not give Gerritsen another try. A wanted to give The Bone Garden a 2 ½ star rating but had to settle on three.

This book was a real disappointment to me. It was billed as a story over two time periods, today and the past, and while it technically was that, the present storyline was just a few pages and the ending of that part made very little sense to me (can't say more without giving it away, but I reread the last chapter and I'm still mystified - I hate that in a book!).

I don't want to give story away, but it seemed to me that in both the ending of the book and some key exciting parts near the end of the 'past' story, the author was far too brief when most of the other bits of the story were verbose. I mean, really, Gerritsen, almost 500 pages and the key elements, key passages, get a page or two and you go on and on and on about the filth and cold and poverty of 1830...

The 'bad guy' was a bit unbelievable for the time frame and just a bit over the top on motive, I sure didn't believe THAT PERSON would do what was done... Pretty far fetched.

Also, if you're thinking it has anything to do with Maura Isles, the medical examiner from the Rizzoli books, forget it, she's got a page in there, if that.

That all said, I read the entire book, it was captivating. It absolutely gave you some real sense of medicine in the early 19th century in America.
Very gritty. You really felt for how the poor lived in that time period, as well, and it made me appreciate our modern conveniences and modern medical standards, that's for sure.

I would highly recommend The Keepsake by Gerritsen or Sinner, or Vanish or Body Double, all Rizzoli books. I really loved those.

I loved the bits of history interwoven with present day. The love story of the 1800s and the connection with the people of the past to the ones in the present. Grave robbers ugh what a distasteful occupation but if not for them how would medicine have learned what they did? I cringed when I read of the doctor using the same nasty towel to wipe his hands from patient to patient spreading germs all the while. The people of the 1800s had much to deal with in their everyday life. If you were poor that was a very hard life. Imagine the cold and not being able to keep warm and sleeping among the sick and vermin and nasty straw. The author really made me feel as if I was there. From time to time we get glimpses of life in present day where Julia had found a body in her garden. She had bought a house with quite a history and was very interested in finding out more about it. Great story!

I loved this story. The author makes the characters feel so real. The best parts were the chapters describing the setting, the medical details, and the circumstances of life when Rose lived... class differences, hardships endured. I could visualize it as if I were right there with Rose. The storyline was wonderful! I read this book in one day... couldn't put it down until I finished it at 3:45am!

This novel commits the ultimate sin for a suspense novel...no suspense whatsoever.

The Present/Past device has been done to death, the West End Reaper is about as scary as Mr McFeeley from Mr. Rogers neighborhood (speaking of which, the 1830s Boston geography is all screwed up- the Irish may live in Southie today but in 1830, try the North End), every other page has a description of poor Irish denizens longingly looking in the windows of cheery, firelit pubs (Tess G should at least invest in a thesaurus if she's going to plow the same ground over and over and over)and the plot "twist" at the end, apart from putting the reader and several characters out of their misery, is an abject disappointment. I mean we had to read almost 300 pages to get to this?
Tess should take a few years off and regroup. She's losing her chops and they are impressive as her earlier work testifies. The Bone Garden is unbecoming to someone of her talent

While Julia is digging in the garden of her newly purchased, old house in Boston, she uncovers a human skull. An elderly relative of the former owner of the house invites her to visit him in Maine, to go through the thousands of papers which had been sent to him after the previous owner's death. At first reluctant, the thought of discovering the identity and story of the skull's persona drives her to accept his invitation. This is the book's story in the present tense! With the help of the old man, she arrives at the story, set in the 1830's, in Boston. A brilliant but impoverished young man is studying at the Boston medical training centre, but is forced to become a Ressurectionist, in other words, a body snatcher, in order to pay his school fees. The medical schools of those days had no legal access to bodies, and so are forced to pay fees to unscrupulous thieves to obtain newly buried cadavers to teach the students anatomy at first hand. These thieves needed the muscle of young men to do the digging and lifting and so this is how our hero pays for his tuition. When two nurses and a doctor are found horribly murdered and mutilated, it is thought that this must be the work of a "Jack the Ripper" type fiend, especially as our hero and a young Irish girl see the apparition of a ghost like figure with a death mask face and black wings. The whole atmosphere of the book was that similar to Dickensian London, with the poor living in squalor and was a most interestin,fast read.

I've read The Apprentice, Body Double and The Mephisto Club and enjoyed them greatly. I thought I had found a new author I could count on. I was sadly mistaken. The Bone Garden features Maura Isles in an infinitesimal role, hardly worth mentioning at all. The mysteries of the garden bones and the Reaper are not revealed until the end of the book, but the story lines, both past and present, and the dialogue reminded me of the Gothic Romances that were popular back in the 70s. The characters lacked depth. The heroine was too perfect and one villain was totally without redeeming qualities. The other villain's motivation for murder was explained, but from the standpoint of accomplishing multiple murders without getting caught red-handed (pun intended), the identity of the Reaper was simply not believable. The harsh brutalities of childbed fever and mid 19th century surgery were portrayed quite well, but the repeated mention of the scarcity of cadavers for medical training and the bigotry of snobbish Bostonians against Irish immigrants slowed the narrative. I was anxious to finish this book not because I wanted to find out whodunnit, but so that I could get on to my next book.

After her divorce, Julia Hamill buys a fixer-upper in Weston, Massachusetts. While working in the garden, she digs up a skeleton. She is curious to learn who was buried here in apparently the early nineteenth century. A relative of the previous owner informs Julia that he possesses letters and other memorabilia from the lady who resided there for many years. They might obtain answers if they go through the zillion boxes he owns.

In 1830 Rose Connolly watches her sister die of child birth fever and is told to protect and hide her niece Maggie. Rose works hard to provide the best for the child at a time when Boston is besieged by the West End Reaper killer. Rose sees the killer and is aided by Harvard medical School student Norris Marshall who is awed by her courage. Norris witnesses the killer take another victim. He is found by the Watch near the corpse. Everyone assumes Norris is the West End horror except for loyal Rose who vows to prove the love of her life is innocent.

This historical thriller is different in style, tone, and setting than any previous work of Tess Gerritsen. Readers will quickly realize how much historical research has occurred as THE BONE GARDEN brings to life 1830 Boston through police corruption considered acceptable as the norm, horrific working conditions out of a Dickens novel, and the Harvard Medical School whose ethics is quite different than that of today. The characters, especially Rose and Norris seem believable partially because of the gothic-like atmosphere that enable the audience to care about them as it seems the police and the killer are coming for them.

Harriet Klausner

I have never reviewed a book online before, but felt compelled to do so for this book after reading some of the reviews stating the book's ending was terrible.

I read the book a little over a year ago, while on bedrest with my son. I have always followed the Rizzoli and Isles books, and with being on bedrest I had been doing a LOT more reading, so I ventured out of my norm and decided to give this book a try. I have to say that I absolutely loved the entire book, especially the going back and forth between history and present. It was very intriguing, and I am hoping to find more books like it that involve a crime from the past being investigated by someone from the present. I honestly could not put the book down, and connected with the characters easily. As far as the ending goes, I have to completely disagree with others who said the ending wasn't much of an ending. For me, the ending left me a bit heartbroken, and it left me thinking about the book for days. That for me, signifies a great book: one which I couldn't stop thinking about long after I had read it. If you love thriller books give this one a try for sure!!

New home owner Julia Hamill loves her new house. That is, until one day she discovers bones in her garden. And not just any kind of bone-human bones, to be exact. And so the quest of the history of the house and the garden, as well as the previous home owners begin.

Although I did enjoy this book very much, I can not help but mention that this is probably my least favorite Tess Gerritsen book.

The plot itself was very interesting; the idea riveting, the characters likable. But all in all, it ended up stumbling into a story and conclusion not so satisfying. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Gerritsen wrote better thrillers before that I felt as if this particular book did not live up to her usual standards.

There are positive things about it though because it still was good. The writing, as usual, is fast-paced. The story itself is fast-paced, not dragging or boring at all.

If somebody picked this book up without having read any other of Gerritsen's previous books, they might like it and appreciate it more for what it is. If you are already a Gerritsen fan, then this might be your least favorite. Again, not saying it was bad. Just the least "favorite."
Posted by Jillian at 4:29 PM

To me, as the child surrounded by Doctors, the medical history part of this book was more compelling than the crime story. Even though the crime story was very interestingly presented in a current day 'investigation' of past historical letters and flashback to the core crime story. I recently became the family storage of our history (my Mom passed away and I was willing to take her 'hoarder' boxes). The historical stories in this book reminded me of a picture of my Grandfather's medical school class - circa 1909 - with an articulated skeleton in the middle of the picture. The book made me realize how very important the little pieces of medical history I have are to current and future family members. I am slowly reading my way through Ms Gerritsen's books, her background as a physician makes these stories very interesting to me and extremely believable - even though they are fiction.

The Bone Garden starts off in the present day. Julia Hammill is clearing the garden of her new house in the outskirts of Boston, when she uncovers some old bones. When the experts are called in, it is discovered that they date back to the 1830s. Through contact with a relative of the previous owner of the house, the story of how the bones got there is slowly revealed.

Set mainly in the year 1830, this novel gives a depressing and graphic look at the harshness of life back in that era, particularly in the area of childbirth, were the lack of decent hygiene, led to many, many unnecessary deaths. If that wasn't bad enough, in this novel, a serial killer, is murdering nurses who have worked on the maternity ward, of the Boston hospital, where the story is set.

I have to admit I have an interest in history, so it was the parts of the novel, that were set in 1830, that held my attention the most. The story has some very good and interesting characters, in particular, poor immigrant Rose Connolly, and struggling medical student Norris Marshall, whose lives are greatly affected by the actions of the serial killer.

What I particularly enjoyed about this novel was that as it progressed, the story became more and more interesting, and the characters grew, so by the end, I did not want it to finish. Graphic, and very depressing in places, but certainly worth a read.