“The Bone Yard” by Jefferson Bass

With the success of CSI, NCIS, and Bones- forensic anthropology (aka- “Bone People”) has become a writing meme.  An anthropologist just like Kathy Reichs, Jefferson Bass also writes about the gruesome tales told from a lost, forgotten, and horrifically maimed skeleton. Maybe I’m just jaded from too much of the same thing, but Bass’ book didn’t seem to offer anything different from any of the other hundreds of forensic anthropology stories out there right now.

His main character, Dr. Bill Brockton, isn’t a strong leading man. There’s really nothing about him that sticks with you other than he gets really bored by being behind a desk. So bored, in fact, that he’ll work for free. But there’s not really much of a personality to go with him. He’s just Dr. Brockton, a really good forensic anthropologist from the University of Tennessee who hates when Floridians start talking crap about his football team.