Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

 

Reviewed by Ambrea

 Alas, Ambrea has not rejoined the BPL staff but we are delighted to share one of her reviews.  Fingers crossed that she will continue to share her insights with us.

 

Yadriel has a special gift:  he can see and speak with the dead.  In his family, every son or daughter has the opportunity to join the brujx and help wayward souls cross to the other side; however, they’re also strict on tradition…and Yadriel doesn’t fit.  To prove he’s worthy of becoming a brujo, he’ll complete his quinces ceremony and help a spirt cross over.

But when his cousin Miguel is murdered and Julian, a classmate, appears as a spirit, Yadriel finds himself caught in between doing what’s right—and doing what his family says.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas is a very interesting—and, ultimately, enjoyable—book.  It’s bright and colorful and vibrant story, despite dealing with the very heavy topic of death, and it’s fascinating because it creates such a unique concept.  It draws on Latinx traditions and various Hispanic cultures, showcasing a rich and amazing family history behind Yadriel, while simultaneously crafting a detailed story that’s compelling and heart-wreching.

I really think of it as being in the same vein as Holly Black and Anna-Marie McLemore.  It creates a unique world with wonderfully flawed characters, beautifully crafted lore, and incredibly vivid settings and stories.  I truly enjoyed every minute of Yadriel’s and Julian’s intertwining stories, and I loved the seeing the connections and relationships forming between characters. 

I also appreciated that Thomas didn’t confine their novel to one single genre.  I expected some level of gothic-horror (because ghosts) and mystery (because murder), but I don’t think I fully anticipated how diverse it would be—that is, it’s a love story and a coming-of-age story and a finding-your-family story.  It’s many different stories in one, which I truly enjoyed.

I suppose the only downside to Cemetery Boys was the fact it was predictable.  What’s the saying?  Ah, yes, according to Anton Chekov, “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.”  Cemetery Boys had several moments like that—moments where the pistol was obvious. 

But there’s a silver lining to predictability!  Not so many cliffhangers.

Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg

Kevin Tipple is an author who keeps readers up to date with news, interviews, and book reviews at his award-winner blog, Kevin's Corner.

 

Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg opens a few weeks after Lost Hills and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Detective Eve Ronin is continuing to be back at work and recovering from injuries sustained during that case. She finally has the cast off her wrist and is grudgingly doing the physical therapy needed to gain strength and mobility in the wrist. She has also been finally released from desk duty. That means she can finally get back on the streets doing her job and she is thrilled with that fact.

 

It is a hot, muggy morning in the middle of January and her and her partner, Duncan Pavone, are responding to a scene on Hueso Canyon Road in the Santa Monica Mountains. A few weeks earlier, Santa Anna winds created an epic firestorm that roared through the area burning one hundred thousand acres as well as sixteen hundred structures. It also killed.

 

It also revealed bodies of people who were not killed by the fire. Dumped bodies of the dead that were in the brush before the fire blasted through. Bodies that nobody, other than a killer or killers, knew were there.

 

Now they have another one. A skull fragment is in the backyard of a home that was spared the worst of the fire. Owned by Sherwood Mintner who states that the backyard has been re-landscaped several times over the years and that the piece -- “part of a forehead, the left eye socket, part of the nasal cavity, and the cheek bone (page six)” -- was absolutely not there before the fire. Homicide Detectives Duncan Pavone and Eve Ronin verify the piece is human in appearance and bring in forensics as his yard is now a crime scene.

 

It is also not the only piece of bone on the seared and scarred hillside.

 

It is not the only body out there either.

 

Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg is a fast moving and intense police procedural that builds very well on the first book. The ongoing theme for Eve Ronin, who some know as “Deathfist,” continues here in its ongoing secondary story line. It continues to directly and indirectly affect her personal life, her professional life in the Sheriff’s Department and is used by others when it suits them and their agenda.

 

It also works to humanize her in her interactions with others as she works cases and overcomes obstacles of a personal as well as a political nature.  Plenty of action powers this police procedural as it did with the first book. The tendency by the author to over explain the simplest things that readers of police procedural already know continues here as well.

 

A highly entertaining book, Bone Canyon is a fun and fast read that builds well on Lost Hills. While it could be read by those readers new to the series, there are many spoilers in the book thereby making it strongly preferable to having read the first before reading Bone Canyon.

 

For another take on the book, be sure to read Lesa Holstine’s review for Library Journal last October. Lesa also sent me her hardback copy to read as she continues to have more books than closet space. Big time thank you, Lesa!

 

Bone Canyon

Lee Goldberg

http://leegoldberg.com/portfolio/bone-canyon/

Thomas & Mercer

https://amazonpublishing.amazon.com/thomas-mercer.html

January 2021

ISBN# 978-1542042710

Hardback (also available in audio and eBook formats)

288 Pages

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2021