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As VALLEY OF BONES opens, a body drops out of the sky right before Miami patrolman Tito Morales's eyes. A quick glance up, and the hotel room it fell from is obvious. Morales calls it in, but it takes precious little police work to snatch up the apparent killer. She's sitting in the victim's room, her prints on the murder weapon. How much easier could it get?
Detective Jimmy Paz catches the case. Thinking it might be a slam-dunk, he interviews suspect Emmylou Dideroff, hoping to close the file in record time. But something tells him that it's going to get complicated. It does. Emmylou offers to write her "confessions" if he will supply her with four lined notebooks. What she puts down is her life story, from her beginnings as an abused child, to her survival on the mean streets, to her fortuitous meeting of the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ. Her writing gives the authorities great insight and more information than they really need. But it seems that the cops aren't the only ones interested in the notebooks.
Dr. Lorna Wise, a psychologist studying Emmylou's case, declares her incapable of aiding in her own defense. Reading her patient's daily installments, Dr. Wise finds little reason that someone would ransack her house to get their hands on them, so it shocks her when a man forcefully wrests one of the notebooks from her. She hooks up with Detective Paz to work through the mystery. But there may be more to their relationship than mere business.
Paz, a reputed ladies' man, prides himself on knowing a little bit about a lot of things, having attended the "University of Girl." Is the student now about to graduate? On the heels of one rejection, he rebounds into Lorna's arms. Fortunately, they work well together --- on more than one level.
Unraveling the clues to find the solution takes a bit of concentration and a willingness to open your mind to some otherworldly ideas. Emmylou seems to have an angel guiding her at times; at others, she seems influenced by the devil. Jimmy and Lorna try a Cuban mystical ritual one night, not really believing it will help, but what harm could it do? And all three of them apparently see visions not of this Earth.
A compelling writer, Michael Gruber has tackled a tough current issue, for it appears that oil lust is at the heart of the murder. He takes a hard look at what people do in the competition for oil. Whether you believe it's at the core of some of today's world problems or not, he lays out a convincing case.
While I enjoyed the book, I felt it was a bit overlong. Emmylou's "confessions" rambled at times and the switchbacks between her life story and the investigation could be somewhat off-putting. That small complaint aside, VALLEY OF BONES is a page-turner.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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