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The startling reviews of Tropic of Night announced Michael Gruber as one of the most talented thriller writers to debut in many years. Now, with the much-anticipated publication of Valley of Bones, Gruber fulfills that genre-bending promise as perhaps no writer since Graham Greene, with a genuinely exhilarating thriller that simultaneously offers a profound, deeply provocative exploration of the nature of faith itself. The setting is Miami. Rookie cop Tito Morales arrives at the Trianon Hotel to investigate a routine disturbance call -- and, to his shock and horror, watches as a wealthy oilman plunges ten stories and impales himself on a nearby fence. Soon Morales is joined by detective Jimmy Paz, famous throughout the city for solving -- or at least providing a plausible solution to -- the so-called Voodoo Murders that left Miami burning months earlier. Together Paz and Morales enter the hotel and discover, in the dead man's room, a most unusual suspect, an otherworldly woman by the name of Emmylou Dideroff. She emerges from a rapturous, prayerlike state and admits that she had a motive for killing the oilman. Ultimately, she says she wants to confess, and asks for a pen and several notebooks in which to convey the details of her confession. What Emmylou writes is nothing like what Paz expects; he enlists psychologist Lorna Wise in an effort to make sense of things that go beyond Emmylou's explanation of the murder: details of childhood abuse, of other crimes committed, of regular communion with saints -- and with the devil. Is she mentally disturbed or playacting in hopes of getting declared unfit for trial? Or does she really believe herself to be an instrument of God? And why is it that so many people -- including Paz's biological father -- are suddenly interested in the contents of these notebooks and in preventing them from becoming public? As Valley of Bones moves toward its startling and dramatic finale, Emmylou's "confessions" lead Jimmy Paz, Lorna Wise, and Tito Morales down a series of unexpected and dangerous turns that puts them in the path of perhaps the most terrifying evil imaginable and forces each of them to confront questions about faith, love, and the possibility of the miraculous.… (more)
User reviews
He's called to a site where a man has apparently thrown himself off the building. Found in his room is a confused young woman who is claiming visions. What's more, strange things happen around this woman. To assess this woman, Emmylou Dideroff, who writes a series of confessions telling about her ealier days, police psycholigist Lorna Wise steps in. Paz is attracted, but is this just a passing fad, like many of his other women?
Interesting this story explores the relationship between psychology and religion. I really did wonder sometimes about what was going on but it all came together in the end.
This is the second Paz book, and while not as good as the first, is definitely worth checking out. It's hard not to compare these efforts with the Butch
I'll keep reading the series if he keeps writing them. (I've given up on Butch and Marlene.)
This novel is no less convoluted as the first and yes, it also has a large dollop of the supernatural. Maybe I should say religion, but to me it’s all the same. It is told through three main narrations – Paz’s investigation into the death of Sudanese VIP, a historical narrative relating to The Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ and the murder suspect’s confession. Emmylou is an enigma of a character and reading her selectively remembered ‘confession’ is hugely entertaining. I really like the multi POV or multi-narrative technique and Gruber does this very well. One villain is obvious and when he pops up again, it’s not surprising. Others are more shadowy, but Gruber crashes them together at the end with his usual violence.
I thoroughly enjoyed Gruber's mix of strong characterization, multiple narrative perspectives, and quick pace. What makes the book special is how seriously the supernatural is considered; there are no stereotypes amongst the believers here -- indeed, they're by far the most interesting and well-rounded characters. This is a rarity in contemporary fiction, and to be lauded, especially when it's done as well as it is here.
Aside from the intricate mystery there is the spiritual factor. Emmylou claims to have communion with the devil which leads to her being put in a mental institution where, at the detective's request, she begins writing a confession. However, her confession is more along the lines of St. Augustine's Confessions ... and soon she is filling four notebooks with the story of her life. At this point we meet Lorna Wise, a psychiatrist who is determining Emmylou's fitness for trial. Both Wise and Paz have actual moments of seeing the devil that Emmylou has mentioned but they manage to lie to themselves. Little doubt is left to the reader, though, that what they are experiencing is real. Strange personality changes start coming over Paz who is beginning to wonder if he is possessed and then shaking off the feeling. I am screaming to him, "Wake up and smell the coffee! YES, yes you are!" Obviously this is no ordinary mystery.
Along the way we see Wise's various insecurities, Paz's Cuban-American world and how he relates to the "white" world, insights into police detecting, how men and women relate to each other, and so much more. Most of all, there is a strong spiritual thread throughout that is interesting in itself as each character responds in their own way. This all is being told through four points of view: the detective, the psychiatrist, Emmylou's confessions, and pages from the book Faithful Unto Death: The Story of the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ by Sr. Benedicta Cooley. As I read further I began to see that these are all showing various ways of conversion, of openness to God. This feeling is intensified when we meet Paz's former partner, a strong evangelical Christian who is not afraid to share his faith. Most unusual for a mystery of this sort.
This may sound like a jumble of information but that is part of what makes this book so very interesting. The author is a masterful writer who makes everything come together naturally.
Make no mistake, it is a gritty, adult mystery and has sexual content that may offend some readers, so far most of which is in Emmylou's confessions. However, any offensive content has been relayed with such a lack of passion or detail that I didn't find it bothersome.