Itยs every familyยs nightmare: A child disappears, never to be seen again. In Carol OยConnellยs new novel Bone by Bone, the nightmare is especially ghoulish. Twenty years after his brother Josh went missing, Oren, now an adult and an ex–investigator for the Armyยs Criminal Investigation Command, comes home for a visit. Heยs just gotten in when he hears a thump on the porch. He opens the front door to find a human jawbone, complete with teeth. His father tells him that other bones have been left at the familyยs doorstep, seemingly bits and pieces of the missing child. Horrified, the brother sets out to discover whoยs sending the dead boy back home bone by bone. But in order to figure out whatยs going on now, heยll have to go back and find the truth about what happened to his brother two decades ago. Heยll have to delve deep into family secrets, and dig up some unsavory facts about friends and neighbors, maybe even about his brother. OยConnell reads and signs Bone by Bone today at 6:30 p.m. Murder by the Book, 2342 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-524-8597 or visit www.murderbooks.com. Free.
Wed., Jan. 7, 6:30 p.m., 2009
This article appears in Jan 1-7, 2009.