The Hungry Bones by Sara E. Johnson: a Book Review

The phrase “lying through your teeth” takes on a whole new meaning in the fifth installment of the Alexa Glock Forensics Mysteries, The Hungry Bones. From romantic entanglements and tough career choices, to mysteries that span time and continents, the odontologist returns with all the sarcasm and suspense that fans have come to know and love. Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy to review.

As mentioned above, this is not the first book of this series, so if you’re reading any of the previous ones and don’t want any spoilers, STOP HERE.

The plot immediately thickens as we find Alexa at a crossroads, both personally and professionally. As a matter of trust stalls her love life, she begins to explore new avenues for her professional development by way of New Abertay University in Scotland and one Dr. Ben Odden―quite the change of pace from her current residence in New Zealand. As intriguing as all of this is, this reader will admit that it made for a more sluggish start to the narrative than I’d initially anticipated. That’s quickly remedied, however, by the discovery of a human skeleton in a town that once saw a gold rush and that features one too many holes in the skull, then another nearby that Alexa believes to have suffered a rather violent death once upon a time. Between the implications of historical, systemic racism, the cold case she reopens, and the school’s missing principal, Alexa may just have bitten off more than she can chew with this one.

Amidst all of this drama, The Hungry Bones does a wonderful job of making readers feel like they can immerse themselves in the culture and scenery of New Zealand, which helps to both offset and accentuate some of the darker themes present in a good murder mystery in which the protagonist has a propensity for paying a lot of attention to teeth and bones. The history of the place also takes center stage more than once, and not just in relation to one of the many puzzles Alexa has to solve; it colors the backdrop everywhere she goes and contributes to a veritable kaleidoscope of sensory details that will only draw the audience further and further into the story itself.

Of course, as she digs into these complex cases, more players enter the game and the juicy bits of gossip she uncovers make Alexa less than popular with those who stand to lose something with each new discovery. Even without reading the other books of this series in order to get a more complete analysis of her character overall, I found Alexa’s demeanor to be one that sets her up to take all of this in stride, at least for the most part. Johnson has written a heroine who leans less on physical confrontations and more on her smarts, which do indeed come in handy when the plot picks up the pace and each of the mysteries present their own twists and obstacles.

For crime fiction and suspense lovers, as well as those who enjoy seeing the past meet the present in unexpected ways, The Hungry Bones will fit in nicely on your bookshelves alongside Lois Duncan’s rapid-fire narratives, Sherlock Holmes classics, and other more recent thrillers like When She Was Me by Marlee Bush.