Once I heard the words "cold case" when reading the pitch for Forgotten Bones by Vivian Barz I was in. I can't tell you how glad I am that I read this book. It took no time at all to fall into this one.

The first chapter opens with a sighting of a little boy in denim overalls and a car crash. From there I was hooked and needed to know who this little boy was! Susan Marlan responded to the scene of the car accident and while putting everything back to rights they find the body of a little boy. And that's just the start of it.

I really enjoyed Susan's character. She is determined to do right by her small town and as a police officer wants to see this investigation through. I think she supported Eric well. I can't tell you how happy I was to see one of the two main characters representing debilitating mental illness but leading a life that was full with his mental illness managed. I think it really shows that even if someone has a mental illness that it doesn't mean game over.

I think Barz did an amazing job with weaving the mental illness into the story. Not once did she come across as condescending or insensitive. I really enjoyed Eric's character and thought that he was doing remarkably well in his current life situation.

The mystery didn't really catch me in an "Ah ha!" moment in this story. I certainly wasn't shocked when everything came to light but the mystery was handled well and I think the reveal was well done.

I enjoyed Forgotten Bones by Vivian Barz a lot. When I finished it, I hoped that there would be more to the series. I see on GoodReads that it is marked as first in a series but no other books listed in the series. Fingers crossed that changes soon!

I love a good crime fiction mixed with the paranormal and was super curious to see how Vivian Barz’s Forgotten Bones would play out. As it’s the first in a series, I was eager for a new series that would have me hooked.

I’ll be honest and say I was unsure at first. I wasn’t sucked in and I did consider putting this one aside. It did not grip me in the way I’d expected, giving us more about the lives of the characters than about the crime. Although I wasn’t sucked in as deep as I would have liked, I was curious about things.

The more I read, the more sucked in I was. The characters really grew on me, and I enjoyed watching the way the story developed. With the way the paranormal developed, I found my attention was completely hooked later in the story. Things were rather obvious from early on – the mystery wasn’t what I’d expected it to be – but I did enjoy seeing things play out.

Forgotten Bones may not have been all I’d expected it to be, but it did grow on me. I came to enjoy it more than I’d anticipated, and I am curious what will come next in the series.

Forgotten Bones is definitely not a book to be read with the lights off. Or alone in the middle of the night. Or anyplace where it can feel like the creepy-crawlies might be closing in.

This one sits at the intersection between mystery/thriller, horror and paranormal – and that’s not a comfortable place to be in the dark. It’s a fascinating place, in the thrills and chills kind of way, but not exactly comfy or cozy.

A place to get really, really to get sucked into – but absolutely not cozy. Unless you like to cozy up to claustrophobia.

There are two protagonists in this story. One seems fairly typical for the genre, but the other is definitely not. And that’s part of what makes the story so fascinating.

Perrick, California is a small town, and Susan Marlan is a member of its equally small police force. She’s relatively young, still pretty gung-ho about policing and crime solving, and kind of stuck.

Not that she can’t leave, but that the police chief is also her mentor – and he’s just weeks shy of retirement. There might be promotions in the inevitable shuffling in the wake of his departure. And Perrick is her home.

We’ve seen Susan’s type before in plenty of mysteries. She’s the young investigator who just can’t let go when a big crime – with its attendant opportunities for recognition and promotion – drops into her lap. So of course she goes out on her own, against orders and definitely off the books, to try to solve the case before the FBI. Or perhaps in spite of the FBI, as she’s sure the neat and tidy solution they finally come up with isn’t all there is.

And there needs to be plenty. Because the crime that has been uncovered under the soil of tiny Perrick becomes known as the “Death Farm”. Twenty-plus bodies have been hiding under a local farm, bodies going back decades. All – but one – children. Young children. Decades of dead little boys and girls.

Susan feels compelled to find the killers – because the FBI find one but not his partner.

Eric Evans is compelled too, but he’s compelled by the dead. He’s just arrived in Perrick to teach at the local community college after his life derails in Philly.

Eric is extremely lucky that he couldn’t possibly have been the perpetrator or any of the murders, because if he were he would have been the FBI’s best suspect. Eric was diagnosed with schizophrenia years ago. He manages his condition with medication, and he’s mostly successful. He’s high functioning, to the point of being a good teacher, a decent drummer and completely capable of forming friendships and relationships and making a good life for himself.

But something about Perrick is sending him off the rails, or so it seems at first. The dead invade his dreams – and his waking life. The dead children from that farm. When he can’t pretend that the visions are just dreams, he tries to believe that they are just a symptom of his illness.

In the end, he teams up with Susan. She’s compelled to find the truth. He’s compelled to bring that truth to light to get those children out of his head, his house and even his classroom before someone decides that he’s even crazier than he actually is.

Or someone decides that Susan and Eric need to be the final victims.

Escape Rating B+: The crime in this story, the multi-year, multi-victim murder spree, is not unprecedented. There have been real-life cases where “death farms” have been discovered, to the nightmares of investigators and local residents alike, after an event uncovers one or a few of the bodies.

(I’m particularly thinking of the case of Belle Gunness in LaPorte County Indiana, which is indelibly imprinted on my brain. I was attending a dinner meeting and the post-dinner speaker gave the assembled – and rather startled – diners a fascinating but stomach-churning talk about her murder spree and discovery – complete with pictures. And I’m finding myself wondering what the post-lecture bar tab turned out to be…)

Susan Marlan is not an atypical investigator in a case – or story – like this one. The young cop going a bit rogue because she (or he) knows that the powers-that-be – the FBI in this case – are willingly overlooking something because it interferes with their neat theory. And because they want to go back to their big city home office and get out of tiny wherever.

And because someone local misdirects the out-of-towners for usually underhanded reasons of their own – as happens in this case. That the reader has a handle on who the perpetrators are long before the FBI – and even somewhat before Susan – does not detract from the compelling readability of the story.

Because this is a case where Susan’s actions and reactions in the face of that discovery are more important than the discovery itself.

What makes this tale rise above its stock characters is Eric Evans. The story does not fall into the trap of making Eric an obvious suspect so that he has to find the killer to get himself out of the frame. That would have been an easy way to go, and the story is much better for not going there.

It also feels like it treats his mental illness sympathetically and realistically – as well as his reactions to it and people’s reactions to him. That Susan is able to accept both his help and him is what powers this book into the opener of what could be a fascinating series. Hidden Bones will come to light this time next year. I’ll be looking for it when I want some creepy chills to go along with my mystery thrills.

To be honest,  I didn't go into this book with high hopes.  I LOVE a good ghost story, but sometimes it's hard to find a good one so I didn't want to be let down.  Forgotten Bones is part ghost story, part police procedural (but not too heavy on police jargon).  It far exceeded my expectations.  I read it in two sittings as I couldn't put it down (didn't even have time to take a picture for instagram as I was reading it!) and when it was finished, I decided I will already put book two on my TBR!  While it was a little over the top, and slightly predictable,  it was a fun (thankfully not too cheesy) and quick mystery of a book.

Forgotten Bones is not your average crime thriller, and I will go over why. The premise of the book is excellent. Susan, a young detective upon responding to a car accident scene, comes across the body of a young child. Police quickly attributes the crime to a local pedophile. However, Susan is suspicious that there is more to the story and decides to embark on an investigation on her own. Parallel to Susan's story we meet Eric, a geology professor going through a turbulent divorce and moves to California to get away from his ex-wife who dumped him for his brother.

Eric settles in at the new college and town in an attempt to rebuild his life. Eric is a known schizophrenic, and although he's entirely compliant to his medication regime, he starts to worry that his illness is getting worse as he starts to have visions of a little boy in overalls. Eric and Susan's paths will cross, and together, they will fight to discover the truth regarding the death of this little kid.

Barz alternates chapters between Susan's story and Eric's story. A technique that for most of the time, tends to chop the flow of the story. The reason this book is not your typical crime/mystery book is the fact that there are no red herrings. What you see, or better yet, who you suspect all along, is in fact, the culprit(s).

By the time I got to sixty percent of the book and had the mystery pretty much figured out, there was very little interest in the rest of the story. I honestly do not understand the author's intention with making the answers to this crime so visible right off the bat. I kept hoping that the story was going to turn out a bit like a Scooby-Doo cartoon where the obviously mean, greedy, and weird were innocent, and the super lovely characters turn out to be the guilty ones. 

Unfortunately, no! This novel was written with the intent to make the guilty quite evident from the start. The pitfall, however, is that once the reader has the mystery figured out there's very little substance to carry on the rest of the book.

Some important trigger warnings to mention are pedophilia (although not explicit), child abuse, and neglect.

Forgotten Bones is scheduled to be published on August 1, 2019. I would like to thank Thomas and Mercer publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

5 Stars

A body popping up isn't a big deal to a cop, but when it happens in a small town it's just that. Susan is called out on a traffic accident and soon she is in the midst of a mystery with a young boys buried body. Soon that young boy turns into more buried children on a local farm nearby. Eric is a schizophrenic that has control of his disease. Soon enough, after some major personal issues, he finds himself not so in control when he begins seeing a young boy. A young DEAD boy. As the fates would have it he soon teams up with Susan after he realizes he isnt having an episode, but is being "haunted" by a child from her case. Soon this small town will be rocked by the gruesome truth.

Wow. This story was action packed from beginning to end. The way its written it's almost like two stories that collide into one. This doesnt hurt the story though it just adds to the appeal. This story was really a good read. It was mysterious and scary. I read a lot of horror books and this one gave me chills more than once. I loved the characters. Susan was great with her "I'll do it anyway" attitude. Eric was by far my favorite. His side of the story, maybe because of the disease, was scary yet comical at times. He was really awesome!

Overall, if you want a well written story that will keep you guessing till the end....Read this book. If you want one that is filled with action and will scare you....Read this book. I promise you will not be disappointed. I really hope that these two, who make a very "crazy" (haha) team will come back together in another book.

Reviewed By
Stormi Ellis