Review of "Breaking Point: A Body Farm Novel" by Jefferson Bass

 

In this 9th book in 'The Body Farm' series, Dr. Brockton is asked to identify the victim of a small plane crash. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Dr. Bill Brockton, a forensic anthropologist, founded and runs 'The Body Farm' - a University of Tennessee research facility that studies decaying corpses.



The Body Farm researches rates of decomposition in different conditions; insect activity; weather effects; and so on. The facility's work is valuable to the FBI; law enforcement agencies; medical examiners, forensic pathologists, etc.

Note: The Forensic Anthropology Center (aka The Body Farm) is a real thing.




Pictures from The Body Farm

Brockton is an expert in the identification of human remains, and the FBI calls him when a small, twin-engine jet slams into Otay Mountain south of San Diego, a few hundred feet from the Mexican border. The plane was ostensibly piloted by Richard Janus, a billionaire humanitarian who founded AirLift Relief International, a charity that flies supplies to disaster areas.



The force of the crash left the plane in bits and pieces, and crushed the pilot almost into oblivion.



Brockton is summoned to San Diego, where he works with the FBI and NTSB to collect plane parts and (hopefully) retrieve human remains. Brockton aspires to find enough bodily remains to identify the pilot, either as Richard Janus or someone else. The recovery mission is arduous and exhausting, with Brockton and the other workers crawling up and down the mountain in the searing California heat.



After a couple of days Brockton finds a spinal cord insertion that matches Richard Janus's medical records, and teeth that match Janus's dental X-rays. So Brocton makes a formal identification: the dead pilot is Richard Janus.



Well.....not so fast. A pushy reporter announces he has a 'source' that claims Richard Janus had all his teeth pulled. The idea is that Janus - whom the FBI was investigating for drug running - put his teeth in the twin engine jet and somehow made it crash.



The suspected misidentification garners Brockton anger from the FBI and bad publicity, which is exacerbated by yet another issue. A television journalist is making a stink about the bodies of military veterans being 'disrespected' at The Body Farm, and some Tennessee politicians are vowing to close the facility.



The story has Brockton dealing with these issues, as well as a personal crisis. Brockton's wife Kathleen has been diagnosed with a serious illness, and Bill is very concerned. On top of that, an imprisoned serial killer, who tried to kill the Brocktons ten years ago, is making threats once again.



Brockton has to dig deep to determine the truth about the Otay Mountain crash, but he has resources in the FBI.....



.....and (oddly enough) a reference librarian at the University of Tennessee library to help him out.



Reading about the crash recovery work and the methods used to identify bodies was interesting, and I enjoyed the novel. However, the business about the teeth, and why they were in the plane, was confusing and didn't make a lot of sense.

That said, 'The Body Farm' series is engaging and well-written and I'd recommend the books to fans of suspense stories.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "The Waiting: A Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch Thriller" by Michael Connelly

LAPD Detective Renée Ballard was on the fast track in the Robbery-Homicide Division until she fell out with her boss. Renee's career suffered after that, but she's now comfortably ensconced as head of the Open-Unsolved Unit, a division that looks into cold cases.





Other than Renée, who's a full-time sworn officer, the members of the Open-Unsolved Unit are all volunteers. The members include a retired FBI agent; a former police officer; a former prosecutor; and a man who'd volunteered with the Swedish police in his native Stockholm.



The unit also contains a woman named Colleen Hatteras, who's an expert in genetic genealogy. Colleen uses DNA analysis to hunt down family histories and genetic connections.



Renée paddleboards and surfs for relaxation, often in the early morning before work. One day Renée returns to her car after surfing and finds that her badge, gun, credit card, and phone have been stolen. Renée is reluctant to report the loss to the LAPD, for fear of the consequences, so she decides to track down the burglar herself.



Renée uses her resources to locate the thief, who's sold her things on. Renée discovers that the man who bought her badge belongs to a terrorist group with a deadly agenda. Knowing she needs help to apprehend the insurrectionists and retrieve her badge, Renée calls on her retired colleague (and friend) Harry Bosch.



Meanwhile, the Open-Unsolved Unit gets involved in two big cases. The first is the Pillowcase Rapist, who had terrorized the city for five years beginning in 2000. Dozens of women were assaulted in their homes.



Each victim had been sleeping and woke up as a pillowcase was pulled over her head. After the assault, the rapist choked each victim into unconsciousness, hog-tied her snap ties, and escaped. The attacks concluded with the murder of Abby Sinclair in 2005, after which the Pillowcase Rapist went dark.


Now, a young man called Nicholas Purcell has been arrested, and DNA analysis proves the Pillowcase Rapist is his father. Genealogy expert Colleen helps Renée and the Open-Unsolved Unit track down Nicholas' father, which turns out to be a tricky and treacherous business.



The second big case for the Open-Unsolved Unit is brought in by Harry's Bosch's daughter Maddie Bosch, who's a uniformed police officer.



Maddie wants to volunteer for the cold case division between shifts, and she brings a notorious case with her: the unsolved murder of 'The Black Dahlia' (Elizabeth Short) in 1947.



Maddie 'lucked into' the Black Dahlia case when she rented a storage unit, and the manager of the facility mentioned cleaning out an abandoned locker that contained photos of Elizabeth Short's dead body.



Before long, the Open-Unsolved Unit is off and running.....hoping to solve the Black Dahlia case.





There's plenty of excitement and danger in this novel, and it's interesting to follow the investigators as they track down persons of interest and work to close the cases.

The 'Harry Bosch Universe' is a long-running series that began in 1992. The characters evolved over the course of time, and youthful maverick Harry is now a retiree with health problems. Harry's daughter Maddie, whom we first meet as a child, is now a cop following in her dad's footsteps. Renée Ballard is a fine successor to Harry, but it's great that Harry still uses his smarts to help out police investigations.



This is a fine addition to the series, highly recommended to fans of thrillers.

 Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Dog Tags: An Andy Carpenter Mystery" by David Rosenfelt

In this 8th book in the 'Andy Carpenter' series, the criminal defense lawyer springs a German shepherd from confinement, then agrees to defend the pooch's owner from a murder charge. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Ever since defense attorney Andy Carpenter inherited a huge fortune from his father, he's been very picky about the cases he accepts.



Rather than work, Andy prefers to hang out with his girlfriend Laurie and take his golden retriever Tara for long walks.



Andy also likes to watch sports; help run a canine rescue operation called 'The Tara Foundation'; and schmooze with his friends - newspaper editor Vince Sanders and Homicide Captain Pete Stanton. Somehow, though, Andy ALWAYS gets pulled into defending some unfortunate soul.



As the book opens, Billy Zimmerman, a military veteran and former cop, is outside a New Jersey bar with his German shepherd Milo, a former K-9 dog trained to seize weapons from perps.



Now, Billy has taught Milo to snatch other things....



......and Billy is planning to steal something from his former army chief, Major Jack Erskine, who's hovering outside the bar, waiting for someone.



When Billy was serving under Major Erskine in Iraq, a suicide bomber killed many people and blew off Billy's leg. Billy believes Erskine colluded with the bombing for financial gain, and he wants revenge. As Billy and Milo surreptitiously watch Erskine, a car pulls up and Erskine takes out an envelope to hand to the passenger. At that moment, Milo leaps, grabs the envelope, and runs away. Meanwhile, there's a hubbub, and Erskine is shot and killed.



As things play out, Billy is arrested for murdering Erskine and Milo is taken into custody and put under 24-hour watch. It seems both the military and a bevy of criminals want the envelope Milo hid, but no one knows where it is.



Andy's friend, homicide detective Pete Stanton, knows Billy from his cop days, and asks Andy to help his old friend. So Andy agrees to bail out Milo, and eventually (and reluctantly) consents to defend Billy.

Much of the series' charm revolves around Andy's quips and jokes. For instance, Andy describes visiting Milo in detention as follows: "I take out my cell phone and point it in the general direction of the dog and the officers surrounding him. I’m videotaping this, I say. Anything happens to that dog, it’s going viral. Of course, I barely know how to use the cell phone, and I can’t imagine it has video capabilities, but it’s dark out, and the officers would have no way of knowing that."



Then as Andy leaves to get a court order to free Milo, he says, “Milo, don’t talk to anybody about anything. Anybody asks you something, refer them to your lawyer. If you need anything, cigarettes, reading material, whatever, just tell the guard."

Once Milo is in Andy's custody, the German shepherd is in constant danger of being kidnapped by the aforementioned crooks. So Andy makes security arrangements for Milo AND does 'trust exercises' with the dog, to persuade him to reveal the location of the envelope.



The book alternates between Andy's preparations for Billy's trial, and the activities of the criminal cabal seeking the envelope. The felonious syndicate includes former soldiers; businessmen; an assassin; a powerful muckety-muck; and more. The bad guys have a complicated money-making scheme, and are willing to commit murder and mayhem to achieve their goals.

Meanwhile, Andy is planning a SODDI (some other dude did it) defense for Billy Zimmerman, as is his usual habit. Andy's defense team and helpers include:

Laurie Collins - Andy's girlfriend, a former cop who's now a private detective. Laurie has a gun and she knows how to use it. This is a good thing, because Andy is an admitted coward.



Marcus Clark - the toughest guy on the planet, who provides security when needed. In this case, Marcus is guarding Milo, and eating Andy out of house and home along the way.



Sam Willis - Andy's accountant, a computer genius who can hack into anything, and is especially good at obtaining phone records.



Edna - Andy's office manager, who goofs off and does crossword puzzles much more than she works.



Hike - Andy's new law partner, a pessimist and the most boring man on earth, but a whiz at writing legal briefs and motions.



Willie Miller - Andy's partner in the 'Tara Foundation', who was once on Death Row for a crime he didn't commit. Willie helped a mobster in prison, which gives him a useful 'in' with crime lords.



In an amusing scene, Hike and Willie are flying to Nassau, first class, for the case. While Willie is enjoying the luxurious trip.....



......Hike is keeping up a CONSTANT litany of complaints: the cabin is too cold; the chicken is stringy; the bloody marys are watered down; and they're going to die anyway. If not now, then on the small plane hop to Nassau. By the time they land in Nassau, Willie would rather swim back to New York than fly with Hike.



When preparing for the return trip, Willie wonders if he has time to buy a gun to shoot Hike during the flight back; or if he throws Hike out of the plane between Nassau and the U.S., which country he'll be charged in. 😊

Not surprisingly, Andy eventually exposes the criminal syndicate and their nefarious scheme. I've said before that the Andy Carpenter books are formulaic but fun, and fans of the series would enjoy this book.

 Rating: 3.5 stars