BLOOD AND BONE
William Lashner
William Morrow
Thriller
ISBN: 9780061143489
In 2008, William Lashner informed his ever-growing readership that he was going to take a short break from his critically and commercially successful Victor Carl series to try his hand at something a bit different. The result, BLOOD AND BONE, is a stand-alone novel and not a legal thriller, though there are certainly a plethora of attorneys to be found within its pages. As with the Victor Carl books, however, this latest effort combines a character-driven plot with a complex history and binds it with a literate narrative equaled by only a very few.
There is an especially memorable passage in BLOOD AND BONE located in the last quarter of the book. It consists of an entire chapter in which the motive behind a lot of what has occurred is explained and gives rise to more queries. I had to force myself to read the rest of the novel in much the same manner that one becomes stuck, if you will, upon a particular song on a CD; I kept mentally hitting “repeat” and reading the chapter over and over. It was a bit of a conundrum, because this is one of those books whose narrative begs --- nay, demands! --- to be read from cover to cover in one sitting. Lashner makes this easy to do; I still am not sure, after reading his complete body of work, precisely how he does it. His plots are complex, yet he guides readers through the occasional thicket and sucking bog with a sure-footedness of a guide who has explored every inch of an ancient forest and knows all of its secrets.
BLOOD AND BONE is full of secrets, and Kyle Byrne unknowingly possesses the shovel to unearth them. Kyle has the whole package: good looks, athletic ability and charm --- genetic gifts that he has frittered away. A pro baseball prospect until flunking out of college, he spends his time playing on sandlot teams, working dead-end part-time jobs and playing video games. The shadow that hangs over his life is Liam Byrne, the father he barely knew. Liam was at best a fleeting presence during Kyle’s childhood for reasons he did not fully understand, even when he was barred from Liam’s funeral as an embarrassment --- a reminder of Liam’s excesses and impulsive behavior --- when he was barely 12 years old. One of the few facts that Kyle knows about his father is that he was an attorney, which has given rise to Kyle’s eccentric habit of frequenting the funerals of Philadelphia lawyers of a certain age who might have known Liam.
When Liam’s former law partner is murdered during an apparent burglary gone wrong, Kyle finds himself being drawn into his father’s past, even as his prior misdeeds, errors and omissions are coming back to bite him. What is most disturbing, however, is that Kyle seems to be haunted by Liam’s spirit while being silently pursued by a homicidal enigma named Robert Spangler, who is trying to track down documents that he believes to be in Kyle’s possession. Kyle is not only way out of his league, but also is suspected of murder. At the same time, he feels drawn toward the attractive Philadelphia homicide detective who is not entirely immune to Kyle’s charms herself.
What no one knows, however, is that Spangler, even as he pursues Kyle, is being manipulated. And so is Kyle. The result is a story that begins, quietly enough, over a decade ago during a Pennsylvania church service and ends with revelations that could potentially shake some of the highest levels of government.
William Lashner’s prose is pitch- and letter-perfect (when has it ever not been so?). By turns chilling, funny, melancholy and, yes, even heartwarming, BLOOD AND BONE is a volume you will keep close at hand to read and re-read.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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