The Bones Remember

What They're Saying

Johnson’s winning sequel to 2019’s Molten Mud Murder finds Alexa Glock, formerly of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, still in New Zealand, where she has found a job with the Forensic Service Center in Auckland. Her specialty in forensic odontology makes her the perfect person to identify the remains of a man discovered on remote Stewart Island, whose main tourist draws are its native birds and shark cage diving operations. Alexa confirms that the body is that of Robert King, who disappeared while deer hunting in Rakiura National Park 10 months earlier. There’s a bullet hole his skull. Then a dead man washes up on the beach, a third of his body torn away by sharks. He, too, was shot. The flora and fauna of rural New Zealand turn out to be relevant to the murder investigation. At the exciting climax, Alexa uses her wits, not a gun or martial arts skills, to take out the bad guy. Hopefully, this refreshingly normal heroine will be back soon.

Publishers Weekly

This was a quick and thrilling read. The characters were beautifully flawed and sometimes I wanted to yell at them, but that’s what makes a book enjoyable. This is a murder mystery set in New Zealand. Initially Alexa Glock is sent there for a recovered body, at first assumed to be self inflicted, and then shortly after she examines the first body, another body turns up. The mystery deepens. I learned a few things about sharks that I didn’t know before and about the cage diving industry as well. The cage diving industry has this whole island in uproars so Alexa must solve this mystery before it results in even more deaths. There were some very sad parts in this book, I won’t spoil it for you, but just be warned. The descriptions were beautiful and horrible and refreshing and disturbing, Johnson is really great at setting the scene. I haven’t read the first one, but I had no problem following everything that went on in this book. I’m definitely going to read the first book in this series. 5 out of 5 stars rating.

NetGalley.com reader/reviewer

Ready for some armchair travel with a hint of JAWS? Sara Johnson provides the ride in her second New Zealand-set Alexa Glock Forensics Mystery, THE BONES REMEMBER. Once you discover, with this dauntless forensic investigator, the wilds of Stewart Island, you’ll want more pages. And the shark attacks and treachery along the way will keep the pages turning.

Johnson’s abundant details of forensics, crime investigation, and New Zealand itself make her crime writing authoritative and intriguing. She leavens this with quick twists of plot and suspects, and a minor thread of romance.

Read the full review.

Beth Kanell, Kingdom Books Mystery Blog