Reason for Reading: The publisher's description of this serial killer thriller was right up my alley.

Summary: The BoneMan kidnapped and brutally murdered six girl's by breaking every single bone in their body. He was arrested and sent to prison but there was always a feeling by some that the wrong man had been convicted. Two years later on a technicality the prisoner is released and at the same time Ryan Evans, Intelligence Officer, returns home from a gruelling POW capture in the desert. The murder's start again and when Ryan's own estranged daughter is kidnapped the FBI start seeing all evidence pointing towards Ryan himself but Ryan has received a message from the real BoneMan and Ryan must do what he says to save his daughter's life.

Comments: All I can say is wow, wow, WOW! An amazing serial killer thriller. I loved it! A page-turner with gruesome details that never quite goes over into goriness used by some other authors. The back of the book tells me this is Ted Dekker's 23rd book and I ask myself "Why am I only reading him now?" In fact, I'd never heard of him before this book came out. I feel like I've just discovered a treasure chest, if Dekker's other work is anywhere near as engrossing as this one is I've got a lot of reading ahead of me!

The story is fast-paced and never lets up, some of the scenes are a little beyond believability but I chalked it up to an Intelligence Officer being overly intelligent and perhaps overly lucky. There's no sense picking apart a thriller like this when you are on a wild ride of tension. Ryan's character is fully fleshed out and we come to understand and feel for him. The secondary characters are less realized though they do not play emotionally integral parts to the plot. The bad guy is bad, pure evil, and this is one thing I particularly like in thrillers. There are no grey areas as to who is evil. The fight of good vs evil is very clear, as in a Dean Koontz novel.

And mentioning Dean Koontz, I'd like to comment on the Christian Fiction aspect of this novel. Never having read anything else by Dekker I can't comment on him yet, as an author, but on this book alone, if that tag bothers you, don't let it. Likening this book to Christian Fiction would be the same as likening Dean Koontz to Catholic Fiction. (Koontz is Catholic and his books contain many Catholic themes, if you know to look for them) There is a Biblical theme behind the killer's motive (very common in thrillers) and the main character believes in God, thus there are some Christian elements/quotes in the story. Of course, I am a Christian and none of this stood out to me but I had no idea I was reading Christian Fiction until I looked up the amazon link and saw all the CF tags and checked out his other books and found that he was a popular CF author!

A fabulous book, thriller readers should not miss out on this one, and you can be sure you will be seeing more Ted Dekker reviews from me in the future. ( )

When I first heard of this book, I was excited to read it. It looked as if it was going to be a suspense/horror novel. It is, as it turns out, more of a crime/detective novel… something like Coben, but not nearly as good. There is nothing like wetting your whistle for a tall glass of icy sweet tea, only to guzzle down lukewarm pickle juice instead. So the fact I was geared up for some Clive and got Coben-knock-off didn’t help. But… that wasn’t all.

As I read along, there were ways that Dekker wrote than just annoyed me. Choices in words and phrases, as well as the way he stretched credulity beyond its snapping point. By the end of the novel, I honestly didn’t know if the bad guy was going to win, not because his snazzy and clever writing, but because “Hell, at this point, anything’s possible.” Honestly. The Iraqi boneman takes Ryan, then the Texas BoneMan takes his daughter… and then that final connection between the serial killer and Ryan’s daughter was too much. It made my “willing suspension of disbelief” impossible to maintain.

Add to that the complete lack of character development, or believable motives, or any reason I’d feel any sympathy for any of them. By the end of the book I was hoping BoneMan would kill Ryan, the detectives, the publisher, me… Dekker, even. Just get it over with! End my misery! Kill me now so I don’t have to finish!

A positive thing to say about it… Dean Koontz can sleep well knowing he’s not my least favorite author anymore. Also, Dekker does present a fascinating moral dilemma. How far would you go to protect your child? Would you be willing to let another die in your child’s place? Would you be willing to kill innocent people to save them? I’ve found myself returning to this concept long after putting the book down.

click for full review: http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com/20... ( )

I had heard a lot about this book and so was thrilled when my library contacted me to let me know it had come in. What a waste! The author repeats himself over and over again using parts of and even entire sentences through out the book. His main character, Ryan is shallow and wallows in self-pity. The female characters are despicable. I don't recommend this book. If you are curious, read the last chapter and be done with it. You won't be missing anything by skipping to the end!

Now this is probably the most intense audiobook I have listened to yet. The main reason that I listened to this one, was to fullfill one of the slots in the What's in a Name Challenge. I've read a few reviews of this book, but considering that I don't usually read suspense thrillers I guess I just wrote it off in my mind. I'm thankful that my mind went back to this title when I was trying to think of a book with a 'body part' in the title.

Ryan Evans is a career naval intelligence officer who found himself pursuing his career and at the same time abandoning his family in the process. He's given his best years to his country, leaving his wife and daughter on their own trying to build a somewhat normal life without him. During a mission in Iraq he has a life changing experience that has him re-evaluating the decisions that he has made about his family, and finds that he regrets every one of them. He wants his family back and decides that he will return home to fight for their love.

When Ryan returns home he finds that his wife and daughter are not quite so eager to welcome him back into their lives with open arms. During his long absence his wife actually found comfort in the arms of another man, and his daughter Bethany just learned to live her life on her own, which she found very lonely at times.

BoneMan is the psycho murderer in this novel that enjoys preying on young girls. One might think that he had a sexual interest in these girls, but that was the furthest thing from his mind. His quest was to find a girl that was perfect enough to be his daughter. After abducting a girl and finding that she didn't measure up to his standards, that is when he would proceed to break their bones, which would result in their death.

Boneman was very meticulous when it came to his looks and even his victims. He would be sure to break each bone with just the right amount of pressure that would ensure the bone would not break through the skin. He wanted his victims to look unscathed. As far as his own upkeep went, he religiously used his Noxzema skin cream every day.

The novel really sped up when BoneMan abducted Bethany thinking that she would be his perfect daughter. With the family conflict surrounding Ryan Evans, the authorities started to suspect him as the BoneMan. When there wasn't any evidence to prove that Ryan wasn't BoneMan, he knew that he was going to be Bethany's only chance at being rescued from that psychopath. Ryan vowed that he would do whatever he needed in order to save his daughter so he could be with her again.

This novel really will get your blood pumping. When I listened to this in my car I remember there being times I was gripping my steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned white! Then there were a few times that really were just, shall I say 'icky', when I would just wave my hands in the air and yell. Oh, what people must think of me when they see me driving sometimes! The gentleman that narrated this book also did a great job, as he made the creepy parts of this novel creepier yet! I definitely recommend this one if you are a fan of the thriller/suspense genre. And if you don't usually read this genre, but are looking for something different, you may enjoy this as much as I did. ( )

A sharp intelligence officer leaves his family yet again for redeployment to Iraq. Though Ryan Evans continues to support them financially, he's a husband and father in name only. After a bomb destroys Ryan's convoy, a radical Muslim captures him. Ryan escapes, but the distressing things he sees during his torture leave him resolved to reclaim his daughter and become the father he hasn't been.

Ryan's daughter Bethany is an up-and-coming model. But the producers of a popular teen catalog aren't the only ones with their eyes on Bethany. A brutal serial killer abducts her. BoneMan breaks the bones of his victims without breaking their skin. Then he leaves them to die. BoneMan's chilling preciseness offers Ryan little hope of rescuing Bethany, yet Ryan's convinced he is the only one with a shred of hope to save her. Read more or get the quick scoop. ( )