You rarely stumble across a novel as magnetic as 'Cut To The Bone.' And if my words seem like the cliche on the blurb of each and every damn serial killer novel then trust-you-me, I swear that this novel is not your conventional serial murder story.

The protagonist is Dr. Bill Brockton, a renowned pathologist whose career is blackmarked by one mistake of epic proportions which has academia literally trying to suffocate his credentials. Nonetheless, Bill and a dedicated student initiate enough funding to open their very own Body Farm-a farm where human and animal cadavers are routinely studied to understand the fascinating but fetid world of corpse decay.

And it is while doing this that Brockton is finally approached by the police. The skeletal remains of a young girl have been located in the proximity of a mine and the police want to decode who she is from her remains. All fine and well until Brockton unearths a chilling pattern over similar other cases leading to the conclusion that a very meticulous and organized killer is still operating under the law's nose. But what Brockton doesn't realize is that the killer is aware of him. More incredibly, the killer is ex-military and on the hunt to silence any meddlers who might out him.

Only when you read this novel will you realize why it's a cut above from other similar novels and a credit to its genre. ( )

Although published well into the series, this is actually set as a prequel to the Body Farm series, in 1992.

Dr. Bill Brockton, head of the University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Department, is being called to help with time and cause of death in a series of seemingly unrelated murders, which then seem to be tied together.

Definitely a page-turner, and tempts me into re-reading the whole dang series again...

Next in the series is Carved in Bone.

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I didn't care for this book in the series. There wasn't much interesting information imparted. the other books were packed with researched history or medical information. At the end of the book, there was still one case that wasn't resolved nor was there any tie-in to why.... ( )

This was a fast paced book that I enjoyed reading. ( )

Unlike the other novels in the Body Farm series—this novel is a sort of a prequel to the career of forensic anthropologist, Bill Brockton. It is summer of 1992, in the sweltering hills of Knoxville at the University of Tennessee, and Dr. Bill Brockton is the new head of the Anthropology Department. Brockton wants to revolutionize the study of forensics to help law enforcement better solve crime, and in that quest we see the beginnings of the Body Farm as we know it in the later novels. But soon his plans are derailed by a chilling murders whose bodies that bear eerie resemblances to cases from Brockton's past. The story is told in several points of views, including that of the killer and his victims. I enjoyed learning more about Brockton’s background, including more information about his wife and son—though I did miss some of the characters from the earlier books—particularly his assistant Miranda. I found this novel suspenseful, fast paced and enjoyable. 4 out of 5 stars. ( )