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The Bone Yard

Jefferson Bass
William Morrow (2011)
ISBN 9780061806780
Reviewed by Ray Palen for RebeccasReads (04/11)

Dr. Bill Brockton, the protagonist of the terrific Body Farm series by author(s) Jefferson Bass is called out of his research facility in Tennessee to travel to Florida in an effort to help out a friend.  Angie St. Claire, a Forensic Analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has asked Brockton to help prove that the death of her sister by shotgun blast to the head was an act of murder and not a suicide. Brockton gets much more than he bargained for when he arrives in the Florida panhandle. There are issues with exhuming the body of Angie’s sister and this delays their ability to examine it and make any judgment from a forensic analysis of the remains.  While battling with the bureaucracy around Angie’s late sister, Brockton is tapped on the shoulder and asked to help out with a case whereby two adolescent skulls were found in the area.

Special Agent Stu Vickery, working in Florida, is leading this investigation and badly needs Brockton and Angie’s expertise as the initial discovery of a few skulls --- both of which bear the marks of abuse prior to death --- are just the tip of the iceberg.  Their investigation leads them to the burnt out remains of an old reform school for boys that was known as The North Florida Boys’ Reformatory.  When the trio turn up an old diary kept by one of the boys at the school they are swept into a world of abuse and possibly murderous intent by a particularly sadistic guard there known simply as ‘Cockroach’.
There are references throughout the diary of a Bone Yard --- and this is a place Brockton and company simply must locate.  When a local backwoods man reports that his trusty canine companion had dragged home what appear to be human bones, the team thinks they may have their lead into the location of the Bone Yard.  They attach a GPS device to the dog in an effort to track his path back to the area where he dug up the previous bones.  Unfortunately, there are still some powerful and evil figures in this strange area of Florida that do not want the past dug up.  The man and his dog are both found dead in his cabin, the GPS taken.

Through perseverance, Brockton and his colleagues discover the infamous Bone Yard.  This area is a shallow gravesite for perhaps dozens of bodies.  They also trace remains of 9 bodies to the burnt out remains of the school and evidence points to the fact that they may all have been trapped and killed by a deliberately set fire.  In the meantime, as a team of forensic specialists converge on the Bone Yard they turn up a number of remains --- all of which show signs of abuse and beatings which occurred prior to death.

Distracted by the original case of Angie’s sister and her now missing husband, Brockton is being torn in many directions at once and finds it extremely difficult to find answers to the dual mysteries he is involved in. To make matters worse, the same evil forces that wish to keep the legend of the Bone Yard forever buried have not targeted Brockton as a serious threat and his life is quickly in peril.

Inspired by true events and stories from North Florida about a century old reform school known as the Florida Reform School, Jefferson Bass has grounded a terrific forensic mystery in regional history and produced a novel that outdoes the popular “Bones” series by forensic anthropologist/author, Kathy Reichs. Dr. Bill Bass and Dr. Jon Jefferson are the dual talents who write under the name, ‘Jefferson Bass’, and "The Bone Yard" is the most intense and engaging novel in what remains one of the best forensic series out there today!

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