#Review - Old Bones by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child #Thrillers / #Suspense

Series: Nora Kelly #1
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: August 20, 2019
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thrillers / Suspense

#1 bestselling authors Preston & Child bring the true story of the ill-fated Donner Party to new life in a thrilling blend of archaeology, history, murder, and suspense.

Nora Kelly, a young curator at the Santa Fe Institute of Archaeology, is approached by historian Clive Benton with a once-in-a-lifetime proposal: to lead a team in search of the so-called "Lost Camp" of the tragic Donner Party. This was a group of pioneers who earned a terrible place in American history when they became snow-bound in the California mountains in 1847, their fate unknown until the first skeletonized survivors stumbled out of the wilderness, raving about starvation, murder-and cannibalism.

Benton tells Kelly he has stumbled upon an amazing find: the long-sought diary of one of the victims, which has an enigmatic description of the Lost Camp. Nora agrees to lead an expedition to locate and excavate it-to reveal its long-buried secrets.

Once in the mountains, however, they learn that discovering the camp is only the first step in a mounting journey of fear. For as they uncover old bones, they expose the real truth of what happened, one that is far more shocking and bizarre than mere cannibalism. And when those ancient horrors lead to present-day violence on a grand scale, rookie FBI agent Corrie Swanson is assigned the case...only to find that her first investigation might very well be her last

 

Old Bones marks the launch of a brand-new series from Preston & Child that will draw on the author's backgrounds in archaeology, American history, and Museum Studies like never before. While Old Bones will be the first official book of the Nora Kelly series, the first novel to actually feature Kelly as the main protagonist was 1999's Thunderhead. Dr. Nora Kelly is an archaeologist associate of Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. Her last appearance came in the novel called Cemetery Dance. Cemetery Dance was the ninth book in the Agent Pendergast series. 

Most recently a curator in the Anthropology Department of the New York Museum of Natural History, Nora now works for the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute. Nora is approached by Dr. Clive Benton, a California historian from Stanford University who has a proposition for Nora and her employer.  Clive wishes for the institute to become involved in the search for The Lost Camp. The Lost Camp is part of Clive's determination to find one of the Donner Party's last known locations. 

To make things even more interesting for Nora's boss Dr. Jill Fugit, Clive claims that according to Tamsen Donner's journal, one of the men on the Donner expedition, Jacob Wolfinger, had been carrying quite the fortune in Liberty Head gold eagle coins which has never been found. The deal is done and the die is cast. For Nora, the lost money is a nice reward, but being the first to find the Lost Camp, can make her already impressive career a huge boost. 

Corrine "Corrie" Swanson is also an an associate of Special Agent Pendergast. She's a graduate of  John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is now a new agent of the FBI. Corrie first appeared in Still Life with Crows and was the featured protagonist in the Pendergast novel White Fire. While working for her new boss, Corrine uncovers a curious mystery in that those with the same name have either had their graves robbed, or have been kidnapped. But, what do they have in common? What are the perps searching for? Can Corrie put the pieces together before she has to hand off her case to someone more experienced? 

While Nora and her team are uncovering history, as well as dealing with murder, Corrie is trying to prove herself to small minded sheriff's who believe she is too young to be leading any investigation. She also has to deal with a supervisor who allows her just enough room to hang herself before believing that she is better off dealing with other less important cases. Corrie and Nora aren't much of friends in this book. Not until they are both sort of pushed into realizing this Lost Camp search was much more than either of them could have imagined. 

Overall, the story was just fine, but the ending was really off the rails. Obviously, the co-authors had to have a Pendergast sighting since this series is a spin-off from his own. As always with the Preston & Child’s books, there is a lot of history to be gleaned and history to be researched more fully. The Donner Party horror has been in the minds of historians and history lovers since 1847. There is an unresolved issue that I am hoping gets more explanation in the sequel. It would explain who the real villains are that are off screen causing so much pain and suffering.

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