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Digger Digson
The Bone Readers
Secrets can be buried, but bones can speak... When Michael (Digger) Digson is recruited into DS Chilman’s new plain clothes squad in the small Caribbean island of Camaho he brings his own mission to discover who amongst a renegade police squad killed his mother in a political demonstration.
Sent to London to train in forensics, Digger becomes enmeshed in Chilman’s obsession with a cold case – the disappearance of a young man whose mother is sure has been murdered. But along with his new skill in forensics, Digger makes rich use of the cultural knowledge he has gained from the Fire Baptist grandmother who brought him up, another kind of reader of bones. And when the enigmatic Miss K. Stanislaus, another of Chilman’s recruits, joins him on the case, Digger finds that his science is more than outmatched by her observational skills. Together, they find themselves dragged into a world of secrets, disappearances and danger that demands every ounce of their brains, persistence and courage to survive.
Jacob Ross brings the best traditions of crime fiction to the Caribbean novel with a fast-moving narrative, richly observed characters, a powerful evocation of place and a denouement that will leave readers breathless. Along the way, 'The Bone Readers' has much to say about power, wilful amnesia and the need for truth.
In Digger and Miss Stanislaus, 'The Bone Readers' introduces characters to rival Leonardo Padura's Cuban detective, Mario Conde, and Timothy Williams' Anne Marie Laveaud.
Sent to London to train in forensics, Digger becomes enmeshed in Chilman’s obsession with a cold case – the disappearance of a young man whose mother is sure has been murdered. But along with his new skill in forensics, Digger makes rich use of the cultural knowledge he has gained from the Fire Baptist grandmother who brought him up, another kind of reader of bones. And when the enigmatic Miss K. Stanislaus, another of Chilman’s recruits, joins him on the case, Digger finds that his science is more than outmatched by her observational skills. Together, they find themselves dragged into a world of secrets, disappearances and danger that demands every ounce of their brains, persistence and courage to survive.
Jacob Ross brings the best traditions of crime fiction to the Caribbean novel with a fast-moving narrative, richly observed characters, a powerful evocation of place and a denouement that will leave readers breathless. Along the way, 'The Bone Readers' has much to say about power, wilful amnesia and the need for truth.
In Digger and Miss Stanislaus, 'The Bone Readers' introduces characters to rival Leonardo Padura's Cuban detective, Mario Conde, and Timothy Williams' Anne Marie Laveaud.
270 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 2016
About the author
Jacob Ross
27 books55 followersJacob Ross was born in Grenada, and has lived in Britain since 1984. He is a poet, playwright, journalist, novelist and a tutor of creative writing. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been a judge of the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, the Olive Cook, Scott Moncrieff and Tom-Gallon Literary Awards.
~ Sources: Government of Grenada and Peepal Tree Press
~ Sources: Government of Grenada and Peepal Tree Press
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
September 11, 2016
This is an impressive piece of crime fiction set in the Caribbean. It is a police procedural that delivers a hard hitting picture of life and culture on the island. So you have the widespread existence of men engaging in underage sex, the high level of male machismo, violence, corruption, drugs, crime, plus the abuse and the exploitation of women and girls. Much of the dialogue is in local patois, which I found easy to understand. It is a character driven story that primarily focuses on events from the past and their impact on the present. Detective Superintendent Chilman is obsessed with an old case he failed to resolve, the disappearance of Nathan, that he is certain is a case of murder. Michael 'Digger' Digson, is the illegitimate son of the Police Commissioner. He does not know his father, his mother was murdered at a rally, when he was young, and he was bought up by his grandmother, who left her home to him. He is driven to discover the circumstances in which his mother died, which are shrouded in secrecy. Digger reluctantly joins the recently formed San Andrew CID headed by Chilman.
You get an insight into a number of cases that the unit gets involved with and Digger goes to a British Forensic School to acquire the specialist skills, which augment his instinctual gifts, as a professional bone reader. He can access the story of a death and how it played out by examining the bones. On his return from Britain, the unit is now headed by the headstrong Malan, whilst Chilman has ostensibly retired. Malan is opposed to following Chilman's orders that they investigate Nathan's disappearance. This leads to the entry of Kathleen Stanislaus, a strong woman, with a talent for reading situations and people, joining the unit. Digger and Stanislaus pull at the threads of this old mystery of Nathan that lead to a religious leader, Deacon Bello, and his group. It becomes clear that there are other murders that have not seen the light of day. It is a twisted, dangerous and murky trail that threatens to engulf both Digger and Kathleen. The truth is not easily discerned and Digger finds his role is treated as a political football when he is suspended.
Where the story excels is in the depth and complexity of the characters, the family and personal backgrounds. and in the relationships. You get a real feel of the nature of the police unit and the feelings that seethe within it. I really loved the portrayal of strong women like Digger's grandmother and Kathleen. The novel offers an immersive experience of the people, culture, and the politics of this Caribbean Island. Jacob Ross is an excellent writer. I plan to read other books he has written. This is a brilliant and superb read which I highly recommend, particularly if you are looking for something different in the crime fiction genre. Many thanks to Impress Books for an ARC.
You get an insight into a number of cases that the unit gets involved with and Digger goes to a British Forensic School to acquire the specialist skills, which augment his instinctual gifts, as a professional bone reader. He can access the story of a death and how it played out by examining the bones. On his return from Britain, the unit is now headed by the headstrong Malan, whilst Chilman has ostensibly retired. Malan is opposed to following Chilman's orders that they investigate Nathan's disappearance. This leads to the entry of Kathleen Stanislaus, a strong woman, with a talent for reading situations and people, joining the unit. Digger and Stanislaus pull at the threads of this old mystery of Nathan that lead to a religious leader, Deacon Bello, and his group. It becomes clear that there are other murders that have not seen the light of day. It is a twisted, dangerous and murky trail that threatens to engulf both Digger and Kathleen. The truth is not easily discerned and Digger finds his role is treated as a political football when he is suspended.
Where the story excels is in the depth and complexity of the characters, the family and personal backgrounds. and in the relationships. You get a real feel of the nature of the police unit and the feelings that seethe within it. I really loved the portrayal of strong women like Digger's grandmother and Kathleen. The novel offers an immersive experience of the people, culture, and the politics of this Caribbean Island. Jacob Ross is an excellent writer. I plan to read other books he has written. This is a brilliant and superb read which I highly recommend, particularly if you are looking for something different in the crime fiction genre. Many thanks to Impress Books for an ARC.
October 6, 2020
Now that I have read all the Jhalak Prize winners I can say that this book prize has never let me down. I loved all the winners. This was absolutely great. Not the type of crime fiction I normally read, a male author and a male protagonist... that is why I had not picked up. Well, fool me! Set on a Caribbean island, we follow Digger who has been “recruited” into the police and after a training course in London, joins the forensics squad on the island. There is an old case that has been lingering and when Miss K. Stanislaus joins the team they make progress. Ok, so first of all: the writing is top notch. Like top notch. Second: here we have a male author that writes excellent women characters! Now, this book deals with some things that if you like your crime on the cosy side will upset you, so consider yourself warned. But at the same time, it’s not that graphic that you cannot sleep. So what I am saying: try it. It deserves to be read.
February 6, 2017
The Bone Readers is, according to the back cover, the first book in Ross' 4-book crime series the Camaho Quartet, so named for the small Caribbean island where this story takes place. That's a good thing, and I'll be following this series as it's published. The Bone Readers isn't your average crime novel, the main character is not your average policeman, and the crimes are not your average crimes, all of which constitute definite plusses in my book.
We love the Caribbean islands (would move there in a heartbeat), and reading this book took me back there for a while. At the same time, it's not just the physical setting that is impressively and realistically evoked here -- Ross also takes us behind the scenes, if you will, to look at how things work politically, socially, and even at the family level on this island, and does so in a way that blends in nicely with the main character's investigations. The fact that the central focus is on two cold cases that are very personal to two people in this novel (one a death, one a disappearance) allows the author to hone in on a close-up look at victimization, loss, and grief, all of which permeate this story. Keep your eyes on the women here -- they are the strongest characters in the entire novel. Major applause.
Moving on to what many readers have had to say about this book, it seems that more than a few had issues with the accents of the characters. It does take a little time to get into the rhythm of the language Ross uses here, but it soon gets to the point where it just starts being natural. What this novel has that a lot of books coming off the bigger presses at the moment do not is depth, a keen understanding of behavior and human nature, and frankly, an original story/plot that will hold a reader's attention right up until the very end. Then again, I've come to expect very good things from Peepal Tree Press, which specializes in Caribbean fiction as well as "Black British fiction," as noted on the back cover. There is no question -- I'll be adding each book in this series to my library as it's published. Definitely a book I can recommend, especially for people looking for something completely different.
http://www.crimesegments.com/2017/01/...
We love the Caribbean islands (would move there in a heartbeat), and reading this book took me back there for a while. At the same time, it's not just the physical setting that is impressively and realistically evoked here -- Ross also takes us behind the scenes, if you will, to look at how things work politically, socially, and even at the family level on this island, and does so in a way that blends in nicely with the main character's investigations. The fact that the central focus is on two cold cases that are very personal to two people in this novel (one a death, one a disappearance) allows the author to hone in on a close-up look at victimization, loss, and grief, all of which permeate this story. Keep your eyes on the women here -- they are the strongest characters in the entire novel. Major applause.
Moving on to what many readers have had to say about this book, it seems that more than a few had issues with the accents of the characters. It does take a little time to get into the rhythm of the language Ross uses here, but it soon gets to the point where it just starts being natural. What this novel has that a lot of books coming off the bigger presses at the moment do not is depth, a keen understanding of behavior and human nature, and frankly, an original story/plot that will hold a reader's attention right up until the very end. Then again, I've come to expect very good things from Peepal Tree Press, which specializes in Caribbean fiction as well as "Black British fiction," as noted on the back cover. There is no question -- I'll be adding each book in this series to my library as it's published. Definitely a book I can recommend, especially for people looking for something completely different.
http://www.crimesegments.com/2017/01/...
September 4, 2016
I was lucky enough to get one of the early Caribbean editions of this book and - oh boy! - was I rewarded. Jacob Ross's earlier works are known for their poetic narrative and crafted literary styling, so you might wonder what he's going to do, dipping into the genre of the crime thriller.
Well, as it turns out, what he’s going to do is write a tightly-plotted novel which is – yes – centred around a crime, but which expands into a literary tour-de-force exposing the culture and political corruptions of his native Grenada. Some of it is not pretty and he’s going to lay it bare!
In much the same way as, for example, writers like James Lee Burke have used the crime novel to dissect the southern states of America, Jacob Ross puts Grenada’s traditions, taboos and transgressions under the microscope of some of his most forensic prose to date.
DS Chilman, the ageing cop of the piece, has a doleful prescience about the ‘new kinds of organised crime’ that reminded me most closely of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in Cormac McCarthy’s ‘No Country for Old Men’, whilst our main protagonist, Michael ‘Digger’ Digson, is the new kid on the block whose coming-of-age, as the scales of nativity fall from his eyes, provides the driving force of the book.
Miss Stanislaus, the leading female character, is also something of a unique invention, a dominating personality in a world and a profession which prefers its women suppressed, subservient and – most importantly – silent. She refuses the role of either girlfriend or love interest, but with her tortured past, manages to hold station at the emotional heart of the book without her against-the-odds triumphs ever making the reader feel the successes have been conjured for the purposes of political correctness or gender balance.
The dialogue is written colloquially, but I can't agree with reviewers who found this a problem. I found it easier to follow than Burke’s Louisiana Creole, or even some of Irvine Welsh’s attempts to turn Scottish slang into dialogue.
I trust there’s a sequel in the pipeline. This fictional world is far too rich to be done with in a mere 270 pages.
Well, as it turns out, what he’s going to do is write a tightly-plotted novel which is – yes – centred around a crime, but which expands into a literary tour-de-force exposing the culture and political corruptions of his native Grenada. Some of it is not pretty and he’s going to lay it bare!
In much the same way as, for example, writers like James Lee Burke have used the crime novel to dissect the southern states of America, Jacob Ross puts Grenada’s traditions, taboos and transgressions under the microscope of some of his most forensic prose to date.
DS Chilman, the ageing cop of the piece, has a doleful prescience about the ‘new kinds of organised crime’ that reminded me most closely of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in Cormac McCarthy’s ‘No Country for Old Men’, whilst our main protagonist, Michael ‘Digger’ Digson, is the new kid on the block whose coming-of-age, as the scales of nativity fall from his eyes, provides the driving force of the book.
Miss Stanislaus, the leading female character, is also something of a unique invention, a dominating personality in a world and a profession which prefers its women suppressed, subservient and – most importantly – silent. She refuses the role of either girlfriend or love interest, but with her tortured past, manages to hold station at the emotional heart of the book without her against-the-odds triumphs ever making the reader feel the successes have been conjured for the purposes of political correctness or gender balance.
The dialogue is written colloquially, but I can't agree with reviewers who found this a problem. I found it easier to follow than Burke’s Louisiana Creole, or even some of Irvine Welsh’s attempts to turn Scottish slang into dialogue.
I trust there’s a sequel in the pipeline. This fictional world is far too rich to be done with in a mere 270 pages.
August 22, 2016
Thank you for the advance copy of The Bone Readers. This book is different to your run-of-the-mill police procedural and in a good way. Really enjoyable.
I’m not going to go through the story as other reviews have done so. What I thought made this book sing was the way that Ross immerses you in a non-European world. This novel set on a fictional island that could be any of the Caribbean islands, takes you away from the beaches and the tourist, to the ‘real’country. I’ve never been to this part of the world, but after reading this book I felt like I understood it from the inside out. The patois, took a little while (maybe the first 20 pages) to get used to but boy was it worth it – really helped to bring out the ‘otherness of this country’. Ross doesn’t pull his punches and the language, customs, corruption, casual violence and simple beauty made this book a stand out.
This isn’t a simple novel – it’s immersive - the type of book that my book club will enjoy when it finally comes out. Ross takes a while to set the scene, giving the reader time to get used to the Island of Camaho and the various characters and the layered crimes. But as the story progresses the pace builds and I found myself reading through the night as the plot twisted and turned – and I certainly didn’t guess the ending.
While Digger has the hall marks of a good protagonist, it’s the women in this novel that stole my attention. Miss Stanilaus and the other women in this work are fascinating and formidable. It’s a brilliantly crafted work that had me thinking for weeks after. And unlike most crime I read, this books even better the second time around.
I’m not going to go through the story as other reviews have done so. What I thought made this book sing was the way that Ross immerses you in a non-European world. This novel set on a fictional island that could be any of the Caribbean islands, takes you away from the beaches and the tourist, to the ‘real’country. I’ve never been to this part of the world, but after reading this book I felt like I understood it from the inside out. The patois, took a little while (maybe the first 20 pages) to get used to but boy was it worth it – really helped to bring out the ‘otherness of this country’. Ross doesn’t pull his punches and the language, customs, corruption, casual violence and simple beauty made this book a stand out.
This isn’t a simple novel – it’s immersive - the type of book that my book club will enjoy when it finally comes out. Ross takes a while to set the scene, giving the reader time to get used to the Island of Camaho and the various characters and the layered crimes. But as the story progresses the pace builds and I found myself reading through the night as the plot twisted and turned – and I certainly didn’t guess the ending.
While Digger has the hall marks of a good protagonist, it’s the women in this novel that stole my attention. Miss Stanilaus and the other women in this work are fascinating and formidable. It’s a brilliantly crafted work that had me thinking for weeks after. And unlike most crime I read, this books even better the second time around.
February 8, 2021
Very realistic police procedural set in “Camaho” (obviously Grenada!)
The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross is an excellent book in the police-procedural, murder-mystery genre with a great hook: it’s set on a small (fictional) island adjacent to Trinidad and Barbados called Camaho.
The author was born and raised in Grenada (which is an actual island adjacent to Trinidad and Barbados). Ross uses his familiarity and comfort with the culture, geography, language and mores of the West Indies to infuse this story with the verisimilitude of Island life. You can almost taste the mangoes, smell the spicy curry and feel the bumps in the badly paved roads!
The main character in The Bone Readers is Michael “Digger” Digson. In the great tradition of the crime fiction protagonists, Digger has a troubled past and a complex personality. Early on in the book we discover that he’s an “outside child” (illegitimate son) of an important man on the island, the Commissioner of Police. This is a curious coincidence because it is only through some unusual circumstances that Digger became a police officer himself. Basically, he was bullied into doing it by DC Chilman, an apparently alcoholic detective very near retirement with an eye for rudderless youths with the potential and talent to become excellent police officers. Digger lives by himself, in the house left to him by his grandmother, who has raised him since the awful day a little over a decade ago when Digger was a little boy that his mom kissed him and said “Don’t worry, Sweetman, I home a lil later” and never came home again. In fact, her body was never even found but it’s pretty clear she was killed as part of a public disturbance that was violently settled by the police at the time. Part of the reason why Digger agreed to become a cop was so that he could research his mother’s disappearance and discover the details of the role his father may have played in her death.
If you think Digger has a complex personality, Ross is just getting started. Many of the other players in the novel, DC Chilman, Miss Stanislaus and Malan Greaves are also fascinating characters. They all have complicated relationships with each other and oftentimes with Digger. As I have said before, the importance of the richness of the secondary characters is a key factor in the assessment of the quality of a genre book. Since most police procedurals are very similar what makes the reader continue to enjoy them and read volume after volume in a long-running genre series are the changes and developments that happen to characters that they identify with and/or care about. From this perspective, The Bone Readers is very high-quality first entry in what I hope becomes an extended series of books.
DC Chilman, we discover, has an outside child himself and a surprisingly durable relationship with the Minister of Justice (the most important law enforcement official in the country.) Malan Greaves is Digger’s boss; he takes over supervision of the Camaho police station after Chilman retires. Malan has his own foibles. He’s married but he’s constantly flirting (and more) with women and is all too eager to engage in violence himself to “keep the peace.” This behavior is forced to change with the arrival of Miss Stanislaus on the force, who wants nothing to do with Malan but sees everything. Miss Stanislaus is brilliant, with Sherlockian powers of observation and deduction. But she also has a troubled past, and although her professional and personal disdain for Malan is quite clear, her attitude towards Digger is quite different. They make an intriguing couple, and effective team.
The pace of the story is somewhat languorous, like the pace of island life, but this doesn’t make The Bone Readers any less compelling. The central mysteries are all “cold cases’ of varying temperature. There’s the case of who killed Digger’s mom, which he is obsessed with, for obvious reasons. There’s also the case of a missing young man named Nathan that Chilman is obsessed with and makes Digger (and Malan) promise to focus on after their mentor retires. In their investigation of Nathan’s disappearance, Miss Stanislaus and Digger find out about someone else who has disappeared, a teenaged girl named Alice, and Miss Stanislaus notices that something is very peculiar about the church that Nathan and Alice attended. The Old Hope Spiritual Baptist Church is run by a charismatic (and corpulent) preacher named Deacon Bello who happens to be a spiritual advisor to several very important men on the island, including, it turns out, the Minister of Justice. Miss Stanislaus joins the church and starts living at their compound with several other women and young children. However things get hectic when Deacon Bello ends up dead at the hands of Miss Stanislaus using an official police weapon she had never been officially issued.
Overall, reading The Bone Readers, especially for someone who was born (and partially raised) in the Caribbean is a rare treat. The book shimmies with the rhythms and cadences of island patois. There are so many familiar (and unfamiliar) little details that produce feelings of nostalgia and pride (“Yes! This is how we/they do!”) which is a very unusual experience for me to have while reading crime fiction, but a welcome one. I think even for people without a familial collection to the islands, the novelty of the setting and the richness of the story will be attractive. I hope to spend A LOT more time with Miss Stanislaus and Digger solving mysteries on Camaho, so I hope Mr. Ross writes more books, and soon!
The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross is an excellent book in the police-procedural, murder-mystery genre with a great hook: it’s set on a small (fictional) island adjacent to Trinidad and Barbados called Camaho.
The author was born and raised in Grenada (which is an actual island adjacent to Trinidad and Barbados). Ross uses his familiarity and comfort with the culture, geography, language and mores of the West Indies to infuse this story with the verisimilitude of Island life. You can almost taste the mangoes, smell the spicy curry and feel the bumps in the badly paved roads!
The main character in The Bone Readers is Michael “Digger” Digson. In the great tradition of the crime fiction protagonists, Digger has a troubled past and a complex personality. Early on in the book we discover that he’s an “outside child” (illegitimate son) of an important man on the island, the Commissioner of Police. This is a curious coincidence because it is only through some unusual circumstances that Digger became a police officer himself. Basically, he was bullied into doing it by DC Chilman, an apparently alcoholic detective very near retirement with an eye for rudderless youths with the potential and talent to become excellent police officers. Digger lives by himself, in the house left to him by his grandmother, who has raised him since the awful day a little over a decade ago when Digger was a little boy that his mom kissed him and said “Don’t worry, Sweetman, I home a lil later” and never came home again. In fact, her body was never even found but it’s pretty clear she was killed as part of a public disturbance that was violently settled by the police at the time. Part of the reason why Digger agreed to become a cop was so that he could research his mother’s disappearance and discover the details of the role his father may have played in her death.
If you think Digger has a complex personality, Ross is just getting started. Many of the other players in the novel, DC Chilman, Miss Stanislaus and Malan Greaves are also fascinating characters. They all have complicated relationships with each other and oftentimes with Digger. As I have said before, the importance of the richness of the secondary characters is a key factor in the assessment of the quality of a genre book. Since most police procedurals are very similar what makes the reader continue to enjoy them and read volume after volume in a long-running genre series are the changes and developments that happen to characters that they identify with and/or care about. From this perspective, The Bone Readers is very high-quality first entry in what I hope becomes an extended series of books.
DC Chilman, we discover, has an outside child himself and a surprisingly durable relationship with the Minister of Justice (the most important law enforcement official in the country.) Malan Greaves is Digger’s boss; he takes over supervision of the Camaho police station after Chilman retires. Malan has his own foibles. He’s married but he’s constantly flirting (and more) with women and is all too eager to engage in violence himself to “keep the peace.” This behavior is forced to change with the arrival of Miss Stanislaus on the force, who wants nothing to do with Malan but sees everything. Miss Stanislaus is brilliant, with Sherlockian powers of observation and deduction. But she also has a troubled past, and although her professional and personal disdain for Malan is quite clear, her attitude towards Digger is quite different. They make an intriguing couple, and effective team.
The pace of the story is somewhat languorous, like the pace of island life, but this doesn’t make The Bone Readers any less compelling. The central mysteries are all “cold cases’ of varying temperature. There’s the case of who killed Digger’s mom, which he is obsessed with, for obvious reasons. There’s also the case of a missing young man named Nathan that Chilman is obsessed with and makes Digger (and Malan) promise to focus on after their mentor retires. In their investigation of Nathan’s disappearance, Miss Stanislaus and Digger find out about someone else who has disappeared, a teenaged girl named Alice, and Miss Stanislaus notices that something is very peculiar about the church that Nathan and Alice attended. The Old Hope Spiritual Baptist Church is run by a charismatic (and corpulent) preacher named Deacon Bello who happens to be a spiritual advisor to several very important men on the island, including, it turns out, the Minister of Justice. Miss Stanislaus joins the church and starts living at their compound with several other women and young children. However things get hectic when Deacon Bello ends up dead at the hands of Miss Stanislaus using an official police weapon she had never been officially issued.
Overall, reading The Bone Readers, especially for someone who was born (and partially raised) in the Caribbean is a rare treat. The book shimmies with the rhythms and cadences of island patois. There are so many familiar (and unfamiliar) little details that produce feelings of nostalgia and pride (“Yes! This is how we/they do!”) which is a very unusual experience for me to have while reading crime fiction, but a welcome one. I think even for people without a familial collection to the islands, the novelty of the setting and the richness of the story will be attractive. I hope to spend A LOT more time with Miss Stanislaus and Digger solving mysteries on Camaho, so I hope Mr. Ross writes more books, and soon!
July 10, 2020
A Crime series set in the Caribbean…. GIVE ME MORE!
The Bone Readers is the first of a four-part crime series set on a small Caribbean of Camaho, with the main detective being Michael “Digger” Digson. Digger was on the streets when he witnessed a crime, he was then brought in for questioning and requited by DS Chilman whose mission is to create a new and fresh police squad verse at thinking critically and solving crimes.
Digger begrudgingly takes up a role in the squad with his ulterior motive being, solving the disappearance and murder of his mother. Digger and other members of his team are sent get trained in ballistics and he is sent to London to train in forensics. DS Chilman’s only case for the squad is to find a young man called Nathan who disappeared years ago. Not everyone is keen to taking up this cold case because on an island where praedial larceny runs rampant and everyone is a “bad man” members of the squad of have their hands full.
The Squad evolves with the retirement of DS Chilman and Miss K. Stanislaus joins the team. She is set on finding out more about Nathan and what happened to him- but they get side tracked when a famous pastor on the island is killed until mysterious circumstances… everyone on the squad must now work to clear their names.
Honestly, I enjoyed this book. This was the first time I am reading a crime fiction written by a Caribbean author, set in the Caribbean. I LOVE to see it! I also loved how “realistic” and “unrealistic” at the times the circumstances where- I mean- where do you hear of a Police man just walking off the streets and getting a scholarship to go learn forensics… madness. I also loved the entire island feel of this book-from debriefing happening in a rum shop to roti being a peace offering to everyone knowing each other and knowing who the criminals are.... very island vibe.
Overall I felt the plot did waiver a bit, and didn’t go as deep as I would hope but this is the first in a series so I am looking forward to see what Digger gets up to next.
The Bone Readers is the first of a four-part crime series set on a small Caribbean of Camaho, with the main detective being Michael “Digger” Digson. Digger was on the streets when he witnessed a crime, he was then brought in for questioning and requited by DS Chilman whose mission is to create a new and fresh police squad verse at thinking critically and solving crimes.
Digger begrudgingly takes up a role in the squad with his ulterior motive being, solving the disappearance and murder of his mother. Digger and other members of his team are sent get trained in ballistics and he is sent to London to train in forensics. DS Chilman’s only case for the squad is to find a young man called Nathan who disappeared years ago. Not everyone is keen to taking up this cold case because on an island where praedial larceny runs rampant and everyone is a “bad man” members of the squad of have their hands full.
The Squad evolves with the retirement of DS Chilman and Miss K. Stanislaus joins the team. She is set on finding out more about Nathan and what happened to him- but they get side tracked when a famous pastor on the island is killed until mysterious circumstances… everyone on the squad must now work to clear their names.
Honestly, I enjoyed this book. This was the first time I am reading a crime fiction written by a Caribbean author, set in the Caribbean. I LOVE to see it! I also loved how “realistic” and “unrealistic” at the times the circumstances where- I mean- where do you hear of a Police man just walking off the streets and getting a scholarship to go learn forensics… madness. I also loved the entire island feel of this book-from debriefing happening in a rum shop to roti being a peace offering to everyone knowing each other and knowing who the criminals are.... very island vibe.
Overall I felt the plot did waiver a bit, and didn’t go as deep as I would hope but this is the first in a series so I am looking forward to see what Digger gets up to next.
January 23, 2018
This is going to be an unsophisticated review. More a set of notes for myself than a critical interrogation. Why? Because I’ve just finished reading it and I’m now trying to figure out how Jacob Ross’s crime story managed to get so deeply under my skin. The Bone Readers has gone straight into that small group of my all-time favourite novels.
The thing is, I do have a complaint about it. The rhythm of the ending chapters didn’t feel quite right to me. So how does it achieve that sleight of hand, which makes me not care about any perceived shortcoming? Because I can promise you this: I’ll be returning to the Bone Readers, to remind myself what great writing looks like. I’ve put it on the shelf of ‘re-readers’, right alongside Gorky Park.
It is telling that Martin Cruz Smith’s masterpiece jumps to my mind at this point. I had problems with that novel too: a story which made it to the all-time top five Gold Dagger winners, as voted for by members of the Crime Writers’ Association.
As with The Bone Readers, it was Gorky park’s ending rhythm that felt to me imperfect. But what a voice! Unique and wonderful. We love the story of Russian detective Arkady Renko because of his voice: precise, insightful and cynical but not judgemental. It’s not the plot that makes it so extraordinary. It’s not the police procedure. It’s not even the exotic setting of Cold War Moscow - though all of those things do add to the mix. It is Renko himself.
Which brings me to Michael (Digger) Digson, the protagonist of the Bone Readers. This is an unusual crime novel because it is also a coming of age story. We see Digger just before his transition to adulthood and we follow his journey over a number of years, seeing some of those scorching ordeals which turn him into a man.
It is through his eyes that we see the Caribbean island on which the story is set. It’s through his mind that we understand the islanders in all their diversity. Digger is fascinated by people: their weaknesses and strengths, the events that make them who they are. His gaze is insightful. But crucially it is also profoundly humane. The facts of a case may stand judge over the people involved, but the eye of the narration takes them in without condemnation. Even when Digger is angry with them, he understands. And when he sees small acts of kindness, his heart is warmed.
Nowhere is this seen more clearly than when we regard the man who becomes Digger’s commanding officer. He is a bully and a bruit, an abuser of people, a man sometimes driven by anger, sometimes by loyalty, sometimes by pride, sometimes by the imperative to protect. How easy it would be to cast such a person as a simple bad guy. But no one is simple in Digger’s view. Even when we know the scope of the wrongs they have committed.
I can’t write about the Bone Readers without mentioning Miss Stanislaus. I defy any reader to not fall in love with her. She lights up the page from the moment she walks into the police department. Always polite and meticulously turned out, she is stubborn and difficult to the end. But, as she points out to Digger when advising him on his girlfriend problems, given a choice between two women, go for the one who makes life most difficult, because she will make you a better person in the end.
It is from such finely observed characters that Jacob Ross weaves his island. Each subtle insight helps us to understand Digger and his world. Profoundly humane, the Bone Readers is a marvel, a book to be savoured. I know I will be reading it again and again.
The thing is, I do have a complaint about it. The rhythm of the ending chapters didn’t feel quite right to me. So how does it achieve that sleight of hand, which makes me not care about any perceived shortcoming? Because I can promise you this: I’ll be returning to the Bone Readers, to remind myself what great writing looks like. I’ve put it on the shelf of ‘re-readers’, right alongside Gorky Park.
It is telling that Martin Cruz Smith’s masterpiece jumps to my mind at this point. I had problems with that novel too: a story which made it to the all-time top five Gold Dagger winners, as voted for by members of the Crime Writers’ Association.
As with The Bone Readers, it was Gorky park’s ending rhythm that felt to me imperfect. But what a voice! Unique and wonderful. We love the story of Russian detective Arkady Renko because of his voice: precise, insightful and cynical but not judgemental. It’s not the plot that makes it so extraordinary. It’s not the police procedure. It’s not even the exotic setting of Cold War Moscow - though all of those things do add to the mix. It is Renko himself.
Which brings me to Michael (Digger) Digson, the protagonist of the Bone Readers. This is an unusual crime novel because it is also a coming of age story. We see Digger just before his transition to adulthood and we follow his journey over a number of years, seeing some of those scorching ordeals which turn him into a man.
It is through his eyes that we see the Caribbean island on which the story is set. It’s through his mind that we understand the islanders in all their diversity. Digger is fascinated by people: their weaknesses and strengths, the events that make them who they are. His gaze is insightful. But crucially it is also profoundly humane. The facts of a case may stand judge over the people involved, but the eye of the narration takes them in without condemnation. Even when Digger is angry with them, he understands. And when he sees small acts of kindness, his heart is warmed.
Nowhere is this seen more clearly than when we regard the man who becomes Digger’s commanding officer. He is a bully and a bruit, an abuser of people, a man sometimes driven by anger, sometimes by loyalty, sometimes by pride, sometimes by the imperative to protect. How easy it would be to cast such a person as a simple bad guy. But no one is simple in Digger’s view. Even when we know the scope of the wrongs they have committed.
I can’t write about the Bone Readers without mentioning Miss Stanislaus. I defy any reader to not fall in love with her. She lights up the page from the moment she walks into the police department. Always polite and meticulously turned out, she is stubborn and difficult to the end. But, as she points out to Digger when advising him on his girlfriend problems, given a choice between two women, go for the one who makes life most difficult, because she will make you a better person in the end.
It is from such finely observed characters that Jacob Ross weaves his island. Each subtle insight helps us to understand Digger and his world. Profoundly humane, the Bone Readers is a marvel, a book to be savoured. I know I will be reading it again and again.
Read
February 20, 2017A murder mystery set on a poor postcolonial Caribbean island riddled with violent misogyny and homophobia, racism, the lingering effects of slavery in destroying healthy social structures, twisted religion. It's a pretty bleak read at times, obviously, and those triggered by violence against women should stay away. That said, it's also a very humane book--our hero is the island's sole forensics expert, as part of a chaotic little police force most of whom are struggling against the odds to make things better.
The mystery is good--unconventionally structured, with a long sweep--but what's really outstanding is the vividness with which the island is drawn, and the painful humanity on show. It's absolutely engrossing.
I read this directly after Mr Loverman, also about a bright Caribbean islander damaged by a damaged society, and they made for a fascinating pair in terms of bringing Britain's colonial legacy home. Highly recommended.
The mystery is good--unconventionally structured, with a long sweep--but what's really outstanding is the vividness with which the island is drawn, and the painful humanity on show. It's absolutely engrossing.
I read this directly after Mr Loverman, also about a bright Caribbean islander damaged by a damaged society, and they made for a fascinating pair in terms of bringing Britain's colonial legacy home. Highly recommended.
March 18, 2017
Review originally written for my blog here
So, this book was announced as the winner of the Jhalak Prize last night and soI knew it was definitely time to read it. It's a crime fiction novel which is a genre I rarely ever touch as I'm not a huge fan of it, however, this novel is just wonderful and I'm definitely going to pay more attention to crime novels in the future!
As it's a crime novel, I can't say too much about the plot because that will spoil all the fun of the secrets and reveals as you read through. The characters are all fantastic and very well fleshed out and I really enjoyed the interactions between them all. The book is set on the fictional island of Camaho in the Caribbean which is based on Grenada, the author's home. Because of this, it's showing us a very gritty, realistic view of life on the island and doesn't hold back from criticising certain traditions. One thing that I absolutely adored about the novel was that the characters spoke in their own language and it's not adapted to Standard English. Although this may make it harder for some readers to understand (particularly those who do not speak English as a first language), I felt it really helped add to the immersion of the novel and I personally adore it when authors write dialogue the way it would be spoken by the characters.
I found the authors writing absolutely beautiful and I'm very excited to hear that this is the first in a planned quartet as I look forward to reading more about these characters and I really enjoyed the reveals as they worked on their case as I was kept in constant suspense and constantly surprised. This book has definitely both made me want to read more of his work, and made me want to read more crime fiction.
I would highly recommend this novel and I can definitely see why it was chosen as the very first winner of the Jhalak Prize - something which it definitely, definitely deserves. It's so hard to put down that I read it in just two sittings (and I only stopped the first time because I had to go eat!)
So, this book was announced as the winner of the Jhalak Prize last night and soI knew it was definitely time to read it. It's a crime fiction novel which is a genre I rarely ever touch as I'm not a huge fan of it, however, this novel is just wonderful and I'm definitely going to pay more attention to crime novels in the future!
As it's a crime novel, I can't say too much about the plot because that will spoil all the fun of the secrets and reveals as you read through. The characters are all fantastic and very well fleshed out and I really enjoyed the interactions between them all. The book is set on the fictional island of Camaho in the Caribbean which is based on Grenada, the author's home. Because of this, it's showing us a very gritty, realistic view of life on the island and doesn't hold back from criticising certain traditions. One thing that I absolutely adored about the novel was that the characters spoke in their own language and it's not adapted to Standard English. Although this may make it harder for some readers to understand (particularly those who do not speak English as a first language), I felt it really helped add to the immersion of the novel and I personally adore it when authors write dialogue the way it would be spoken by the characters.
I found the authors writing absolutely beautiful and I'm very excited to hear that this is the first in a planned quartet as I look forward to reading more about these characters and I really enjoyed the reveals as they worked on their case as I was kept in constant suspense and constantly surprised. This book has definitely both made me want to read more of his work, and made me want to read more crime fiction.
I would highly recommend this novel and I can definitely see why it was chosen as the very first winner of the Jhalak Prize - something which it definitely, definitely deserves. It's so hard to put down that I read it in just two sittings (and I only stopped the first time because I had to go eat!)
October 2, 2022
Michael „Digger“ Digson wird für den Polizeidienst auf einer Insel in der Karibik rekrutiert. Dabei haben die Beamten es oftmals mit einer unangenehmen Mischung aus Ineffizienz und Korruption im Polizeidienst zu tun und auf der Straße mit Gewalt gegen Frauen. Zudem hat Digger seine eigene Agenda: Er will das Verschwinden seiner Mutter aufklären, die nach einer Demonstration und brutalem Polizeieinsatz nicht mehr nach Hause kam.
Ein unverbrauchter Schauplatz, interessante Figuren, der Auftakt in diese Reihe ist durchaus ansprechend. Nur der Plot ist im erster Teil des Romans etwas unfokussiert.
Ein unverbrauchter Schauplatz, interessante Figuren, der Auftakt in diese Reihe ist durchaus ansprechend. Nur der Plot ist im erster Teil des Romans etwas unfokussiert.
February 27, 2017
A good book - both as a police procedural mystery but also as an insight into life within Grenada (all the island of Camaho as it is called in this novel). Religious sects, animism, police cover ups, nepotism, married men with multi-girlfriends and men who have sex with young teens seem to be prevalent.
I enjoyed the dialogue and the respectful way Missa Digger and Miss Stanislaus talked between themselves.
I enjoyed the dialogue and the respectful way Missa Digger and Miss Stanislaus talked between themselves.
August 28, 2016
Jacob Ross' The Bone Readers (Inpress Books 2016) is the story of Michael (Digger) Digson, a down-on-his-luck Caribbean islander who can't find a job and barely survives in the home left to him by his grandmother. He has three things going for him: a moral compass, a smart mind, and a burning need to find out why his mother left him when he was eight. When he witnesses a murder, he is able to recall important details for the investigating offer that lead to the capture of the killers. As a result he is offered a job in a new plain clothes detective squad just being organized. He accepts as much because he needs money to fix his roof as because he hopes that being inside the law will allow him access to records of his mother's disappearance. He's not alone in his ulterior motives: Everyone in the department seems to have their own reasons for being on the badge side of the law. When another new hire joins the group with the express purpose of solving a twenty-year-old crime, Digger finds himself wrapped into the mystery along with her.
Ross does not disappoint as a storyteller. Through his verbal eyes, I experience the Caribbean island culture that is the setting to the story as though I am a native, including the distinctive patois of the inhabitants. In fact, both dialogue and narrative are in this dialectic style of speaking:
‘You mother is your jumbie. Nothing to do with San Andrews CID, y’unnerstand? I dunno nothing about what you looking for. You get that?"
"Malan shook his head. ‘Is procedure –you taking up the case, so you have to read the file.’ ‘It didn help y’all find de boy; not so?’ she said."
Digger himself is an unusual character, with strong native intelligence, an uncanny ability to pick out details, and an innate talent to read bones as though they were a replay of events. I expected this to be the underpinning of the plot, but it is sprinkled in sparingly, though Digger investigates a wide variety of crimes.
Overall, this is a unique read, paced to the islands where it takes place with a group of interesting characters I will enjoy following into future books.
Ross does not disappoint as a storyteller. Through his verbal eyes, I experience the Caribbean island culture that is the setting to the story as though I am a native, including the distinctive patois of the inhabitants. In fact, both dialogue and narrative are in this dialectic style of speaking:
‘You mother is your jumbie. Nothing to do with San Andrews CID, y’unnerstand? I dunno nothing about what you looking for. You get that?"
"Malan shook his head. ‘Is procedure –you taking up the case, so you have to read the file.’ ‘It didn help y’all find de boy; not so?’ she said."
Digger himself is an unusual character, with strong native intelligence, an uncanny ability to pick out details, and an innate talent to read bones as though they were a replay of events. I expected this to be the underpinning of the plot, but it is sprinkled in sparingly, though Digger investigates a wide variety of crimes.
Overall, this is a unique read, paced to the islands where it takes place with a group of interesting characters I will enjoy following into future books.
June 14, 2023
A fun little read! Nothing too mind blowing & a bit obvious for me, but not a bad story or book.
I love Chilman, he had me laughing and smiling from the first few pages but sadly he doesn’t feature enough for me. He has a way to be both deadly serious and humorous at the flip of a moment but I did feel some familiar ‘old cop’ stereotypes with him - a theme with most characters in this book (attractive love interest, ‘omnipotent’ detective, ‘I’m too old for this shit’ leader).
I will say Jacob Ross portrays the cold sternness to warm playfulness of Caribbean people down to a tee, something that I really loved about many small part characters.
While I enjoyed the story the writing style was a bit too simple, with familiar cliches, repeated adjectives and quite a few early time jumps that didn’t always feel necessary. It felt as though by the end this book lost a little steam which is a shame - if it had more detail/intricacies & 50-100 more pages of good writing it would be v solid!
I did feel it was clear that this was his crime debut and edited from a collection of short stories. Having said that it’s a fun book in a potentially interesting series - almost like a Caribbean James Bond or 80s/90s action thriller, and who am I to say that’s a bad thing!?
I love Chilman, he had me laughing and smiling from the first few pages but sadly he doesn’t feature enough for me. He has a way to be both deadly serious and humorous at the flip of a moment but I did feel some familiar ‘old cop’ stereotypes with him - a theme with most characters in this book (attractive love interest, ‘omnipotent’ detective, ‘I’m too old for this shit’ leader).
I will say Jacob Ross portrays the cold sternness to warm playfulness of Caribbean people down to a tee, something that I really loved about many small part characters.
While I enjoyed the story the writing style was a bit too simple, with familiar cliches, repeated adjectives and quite a few early time jumps that didn’t always feel necessary. It felt as though by the end this book lost a little steam which is a shame - if it had more detail/intricacies & 50-100 more pages of good writing it would be v solid!
I did feel it was clear that this was his crime debut and edited from a collection of short stories. Having said that it’s a fun book in a potentially interesting series - almost like a Caribbean James Bond or 80s/90s action thriller, and who am I to say that’s a bad thing!?
January 10, 2022
Once you start, you can't stop. A thrilling and immersive crime novel set in the Caribbean. Excellent.
March 28, 2023
Michael Digson finds himself in trouble with the law after witnessing a murder on the streets. Ultimately he is “recruited” to join a small group of police officers that are being assembled because the supervisor sees changes coming to their small Caribbean island and thinks that the police force isn’t ready to respond. Through the course of the novel, you get an overview of Digson’s training on the force and then you move into the heart of the mystery - the disappearance of a young man. In the background running throughout the story is Digson’s search to find out what happened to his mother who was killed during a protest when he was a child. Ross has crafted an excellent thriller - the plotting is solid, the setting is vividly drawn, and you get a true sense of the characters as individuals, not just something to move the plot along. I will definitely read the next in the series.
October 5, 2020
A difficult style, heavy in dialogue with endless frustrating gaps which the reader has to work hard to fill in (not exactly in terms of plot, just how the characters are behaving, their motivation, decision making etc). I can imagine some readers might enjoy that, but for me there was just insufficient plot to justify the effort required.
Detective fiction needs more than just "a feeling" from the detectives as they piece together the puzzle, and that happened repeatedly, especially from the rather unconvincing Miss Stanislaus. Felt like lazy writing. And the case of Digger's mother was virtually forgotten about somewhere along the way. Overall, disappointing.
Detective fiction needs more than just "a feeling" from the detectives as they piece together the puzzle, and that happened repeatedly, especially from the rather unconvincing Miss Stanislaus. Felt like lazy writing. And the case of Digger's mother was virtually forgotten about somewhere along the way. Overall, disappointing.
June 16, 2021
Camaho, though a fictional Caribbean island felt authentic. The book takes on multiple themes such as sexual violence, exploitation, gender roles, womanising and corruption. Things which are all too common to the Caribbean. I struggled at times with the writing style, it was heavy in dialogue and I’m realising thats not my thing. As a hardcore crime fiction fan this fell short for me, there were too many subplots which I found distracting and the pacing wasnt consistent. Overall it was an ok read but I can appreciate why so many truly enjoyed it.
December 1, 2022
De auteur van Botteneiland was mij, tot ik dit boek in handen kreeg, totaal onbekend. Enig opzoekwerk leert dat deze in Engeland wonende schrijver niet de minste is. Dichter, redacteur, docent creatief schrijven en winnaar van diverse prijzen kan hij op zijn curriculum schrijven. Met Botteneiland won hij in 2017 de Jhalak Prize voor een schrijver van kleur. (Ik heb persoonlijk een beetje moeite met dat expliciet vermelden ‘voor een schrijver van kleur’ maar dat terzijde). Waar hij eerder novellen en romans over de Caribische eilanden schreef is Botteneiland zijn eerste misdaadroman. Zelf geboren op Grenada mag het niet verbazen dat hij de sfeer en cultuur van dat tropische eiland verwerkt in het fictieve Camaho waar het verhaal zich afspeelt. De setting van moorden en verdwijningen is hier alvast niet alledaags. Tropische temperaturen, oude gewoonten, onbekende gemeenschappen en een vleugje voodoo zijn de lokkertjes om aan dit boek te beginnen.
Wanneer het verhaal aanvangt is de jonge Michael ‘Digger’ Digson net van school maar zonder de financiële middelen om voort te studeren. Wanneer hij opgeroepen wordt als toevallige getuige van een moord op een student brengt zijn gedetailleerde getuigenis hem in het vizier van hoofdinspecteur Chilman. Die gebruikt een weinig orthodoxe manier om hem te rekruteren voor zijn semiofficieel team van speurders, voornamelijk bestaand uit drop-outs. Een zuiver opererende cel binnen de corrupte afdeling Moordzaken. Digger heeft twee uitzonderlijke talenten. Hij herkent feilloos stemmen én hij kan menselijke botten ‘lezen’. Chilman stuurt hem naar Londen om een opleiding forensisch onderzoeker te volgen en dat laatste talent ten volle te ontwikkelen.
Na zijn terugkeer wordt hij pas goed aan het werk gezet maar hoe dieper hij graaft (soms letterlijk) hoe verder hij verstrikt raakt in een net van geheimen en mysteries. Hij stuit op een vreemde kerkgemeenschap van enkel vrouwen maar waarvan een man, ‘diaken Bello’ de leiding heeft. Hij ontdekt gemeenschappen die liever hun dochters zien sterven dan haar te laten trouwen met een ‘zwarte fella’.
Digger en Chilman hebben één ding gemeen: allebei zijn ze geobsedeerd door een cold case. Voor Digger is dat de dood van zijn moeder die tijdens een demonstratie tegen de verkrachting van vrouwen door een misdadige politieman werd doodgeschoten. Voor Chilman is het de nooit opgeloste verdwijning van de jongen Nathan. Dat maakt van Botteneiland geen rechttoe, rechtaan thriller. De twee verhalen worden door elkaar geweven zonder dat het verband duidelijk is. Het is aan de lezer om de warrige logica van een altijd dronken hoofdinspecteur Chilman te volgen. Als of wanneer zijn team de zaak oplost zal dat dan ook vooral te danken zijn aan de individuele acties van zijn team leden.
Dezelfde warrigheid schijnt zich af te spelen in de geschiedenis van Digson’s moeder. De zaak lijkt eerst niet van de grond te komen tot op het einde zijn vader, ook een hoofdcommissaris van politie, hem enige duidelijkheid verschaft en de lezer eveneens licht ziet aan het eind van de tunnel. Het wordt Digger niet gemakkelijk gemaakt. Voor zijn vader is hij het kind dat hij had bij een andere vrouw en dus niet welkom. “Maar dat zal hem niet veel hebben uitgemaakt, aangezien mijn moeder voor hem niet meer was geweest dan een dienstmeisje dat hij per ongeluk zwanger had gemaakt, en ik niet meer dan een ‘buitenkind’.” Zijn grootmoeder die hem groot heeft gebracht na de dood van zijn moeder wil hem daar niets over vertellen en de gemeenschap zwijgt ook uit angst. Onder de oppervlakte loopt een heel complex web van onderlinge relaties en verschillende gemeenschappen die elk hun eigen geheimen hebben.
In Camaho heerst een echte macho cultuur. Een cultuur waar de mannen het voor het zeggen hebben en de vrouwen geacht worden om voor huis en kinderen te zorgen. Op een buitenechtelijke verhouding meer of minder wordt niet gekeken noch op het verwekken van onwettige kinderen. In die optiek is het opvallend hoe Jacob Ross heel sterke vrouwenrollen neerschrijft. Ze houden de hele mikmak bij elkaar al staan ze er meestal alleen voor. Ik was gecharmeerd van Miss K. Stanislaus die zonder enige verklaring door Chilman als partner aan Digger wordt toegewezen. Het is een mooie, modebewuste vrouw die niet op haar mondje is gevallen en de macho’s bij Moordzaken flink op hun plaats zet. Niet alleen is ze intelligent, ze is ook wijs en kent de eilanders. Later zal blijken dat ook zij een mysterieus verleden heeft.
Je zou dit misschien minder verwachten in een thriller maar er zitten best wel wat thema’s in het boek die worden aangeraakt. Sociaal onrecht, religie, omgaan met verdriet en verlies, corruptie en machtsmisbruik bij politie en politici, seksisme en armoede. Een écht psychologische thriller is het naar mijn gevoel niet. Daarvoor zijn de karakters toch wat te weinig uitgediept al worden ze krachtig beschreven maar ik geef Ross het voordeel van de twijfel. Misschien dat ze in de loop van de volgende boeken hun volledige body krijgen. Een pluspunt zijn zeker de dialogen. Hier en daar doorspekt met ‘eilandtaal’ en vaak erg humoristisch.
Botteneiland is het eerste boek uit het Camaho Quartet met Michael ‘Digger’ Digson in de hoofdrol. Niet elke knoop wordt in dit verhaal volledig ontward maar als eerste boek in een serie moet dat ook niet. Black Rain Falling is het tweede boek dat uitgegeven werd in de reeks maar voor zover ik weet voorlopig alleen in het Engels beschikbaar. Spannende fictie blijft een populair genre en deze reeks zal daar zeker zijn plaats in vinden.
Alle info over dit boek vind je op
https://www.lsamsterdam.nl/boek/botte...
Wanneer het verhaal aanvangt is de jonge Michael ‘Digger’ Digson net van school maar zonder de financiële middelen om voort te studeren. Wanneer hij opgeroepen wordt als toevallige getuige van een moord op een student brengt zijn gedetailleerde getuigenis hem in het vizier van hoofdinspecteur Chilman. Die gebruikt een weinig orthodoxe manier om hem te rekruteren voor zijn semiofficieel team van speurders, voornamelijk bestaand uit drop-outs. Een zuiver opererende cel binnen de corrupte afdeling Moordzaken. Digger heeft twee uitzonderlijke talenten. Hij herkent feilloos stemmen én hij kan menselijke botten ‘lezen’. Chilman stuurt hem naar Londen om een opleiding forensisch onderzoeker te volgen en dat laatste talent ten volle te ontwikkelen.
Na zijn terugkeer wordt hij pas goed aan het werk gezet maar hoe dieper hij graaft (soms letterlijk) hoe verder hij verstrikt raakt in een net van geheimen en mysteries. Hij stuit op een vreemde kerkgemeenschap van enkel vrouwen maar waarvan een man, ‘diaken Bello’ de leiding heeft. Hij ontdekt gemeenschappen die liever hun dochters zien sterven dan haar te laten trouwen met een ‘zwarte fella’.
Digger en Chilman hebben één ding gemeen: allebei zijn ze geobsedeerd door een cold case. Voor Digger is dat de dood van zijn moeder die tijdens een demonstratie tegen de verkrachting van vrouwen door een misdadige politieman werd doodgeschoten. Voor Chilman is het de nooit opgeloste verdwijning van de jongen Nathan. Dat maakt van Botteneiland geen rechttoe, rechtaan thriller. De twee verhalen worden door elkaar geweven zonder dat het verband duidelijk is. Het is aan de lezer om de warrige logica van een altijd dronken hoofdinspecteur Chilman te volgen. Als of wanneer zijn team de zaak oplost zal dat dan ook vooral te danken zijn aan de individuele acties van zijn team leden.
Dezelfde warrigheid schijnt zich af te spelen in de geschiedenis van Digson’s moeder. De zaak lijkt eerst niet van de grond te komen tot op het einde zijn vader, ook een hoofdcommissaris van politie, hem enige duidelijkheid verschaft en de lezer eveneens licht ziet aan het eind van de tunnel. Het wordt Digger niet gemakkelijk gemaakt. Voor zijn vader is hij het kind dat hij had bij een andere vrouw en dus niet welkom. “Maar dat zal hem niet veel hebben uitgemaakt, aangezien mijn moeder voor hem niet meer was geweest dan een dienstmeisje dat hij per ongeluk zwanger had gemaakt, en ik niet meer dan een ‘buitenkind’.” Zijn grootmoeder die hem groot heeft gebracht na de dood van zijn moeder wil hem daar niets over vertellen en de gemeenschap zwijgt ook uit angst. Onder de oppervlakte loopt een heel complex web van onderlinge relaties en verschillende gemeenschappen die elk hun eigen geheimen hebben.
In Camaho heerst een echte macho cultuur. Een cultuur waar de mannen het voor het zeggen hebben en de vrouwen geacht worden om voor huis en kinderen te zorgen. Op een buitenechtelijke verhouding meer of minder wordt niet gekeken noch op het verwekken van onwettige kinderen. In die optiek is het opvallend hoe Jacob Ross heel sterke vrouwenrollen neerschrijft. Ze houden de hele mikmak bij elkaar al staan ze er meestal alleen voor. Ik was gecharmeerd van Miss K. Stanislaus die zonder enige verklaring door Chilman als partner aan Digger wordt toegewezen. Het is een mooie, modebewuste vrouw die niet op haar mondje is gevallen en de macho’s bij Moordzaken flink op hun plaats zet. Niet alleen is ze intelligent, ze is ook wijs en kent de eilanders. Later zal blijken dat ook zij een mysterieus verleden heeft.
Je zou dit misschien minder verwachten in een thriller maar er zitten best wel wat thema’s in het boek die worden aangeraakt. Sociaal onrecht, religie, omgaan met verdriet en verlies, corruptie en machtsmisbruik bij politie en politici, seksisme en armoede. Een écht psychologische thriller is het naar mijn gevoel niet. Daarvoor zijn de karakters toch wat te weinig uitgediept al worden ze krachtig beschreven maar ik geef Ross het voordeel van de twijfel. Misschien dat ze in de loop van de volgende boeken hun volledige body krijgen. Een pluspunt zijn zeker de dialogen. Hier en daar doorspekt met ‘eilandtaal’ en vaak erg humoristisch.
Botteneiland is het eerste boek uit het Camaho Quartet met Michael ‘Digger’ Digson in de hoofdrol. Niet elke knoop wordt in dit verhaal volledig ontward maar als eerste boek in een serie moet dat ook niet. Black Rain Falling is het tweede boek dat uitgegeven werd in de reeks maar voor zover ik weet voorlopig alleen in het Engels beschikbaar. Spannende fictie blijft een populair genre en deze reeks zal daar zeker zijn plaats in vinden.
Alle info over dit boek vind je op
https://www.lsamsterdam.nl/boek/botte...
April 5, 2022
What a propulsive mystery novel once you get into it! The characters are super memorable, as is the Grenadian setting and culture that I knew nothing about before.
Definitely looking forward to seeing where this series goes once Black Rain Falling is released in the U.S.!
Definitely looking forward to seeing where this series goes once Black Rain Falling is released in the U.S.!
July 17, 2016
I would like to thank Netgalley and Inpress Books for an advance copy of The Bone Readers, a police procedural set on the fictional West Indian island of Camaho.
Michael "Digger" Digson is co-opted into the CID by the unorthodox Superintendant Chilman because he shows promise, has no job and sees it as an opportunity to find out what happened to his mum whose body disappeared after being shot by police at a demonstration. As Digger gains experience Chilman worries over the case that got away - Nathan who disappeared without trace 4 years ago. When Chilman retires he leaves Malan in charge of the office and Digger in charge of the Nathan file. When results are not forthcoming he then sends in Miss Stanilaus to help them find Nathan. After that it's all go with bodies, politics and strange religions.
Bone reader refers to Digger's special skill of being able to see, in low light, how a person died from what the bones tell him.
The novel is a bit slow to get started with plenty of scene setting and background but once it gets going the action is thick and fast. I am always interested in foreign locations in my reading and it doesn't disappoint with plenty of background and ways of thinking although I found the patois a bit annoying to wade through.
Digger is a difficult character to grab hold of. He seems to float through life and react to situations rather than take the initiative. He is smart and dedicated when he has the bit between his teeth and slightly old fashioned in his chivalry.
I would recommend The Bone Reader to anyone wanting an interesting puzzle set in an exotic location.
Michael "Digger" Digson is co-opted into the CID by the unorthodox Superintendant Chilman because he shows promise, has no job and sees it as an opportunity to find out what happened to his mum whose body disappeared after being shot by police at a demonstration. As Digger gains experience Chilman worries over the case that got away - Nathan who disappeared without trace 4 years ago. When Chilman retires he leaves Malan in charge of the office and Digger in charge of the Nathan file. When results are not forthcoming he then sends in Miss Stanilaus to help them find Nathan. After that it's all go with bodies, politics and strange religions.
Bone reader refers to Digger's special skill of being able to see, in low light, how a person died from what the bones tell him.
The novel is a bit slow to get started with plenty of scene setting and background but once it gets going the action is thick and fast. I am always interested in foreign locations in my reading and it doesn't disappoint with plenty of background and ways of thinking although I found the patois a bit annoying to wade through.
Digger is a difficult character to grab hold of. He seems to float through life and react to situations rather than take the initiative. He is smart and dedicated when he has the bit between his teeth and slightly old fashioned in his chivalry.
I would recommend The Bone Reader to anyone wanting an interesting puzzle set in an exotic location.
December 18, 2020
This is a gorgeously written book set on the Caribbean island of Camaho( Grenada). Michael “ Digger” Digson is the “ outside child” of the island’s police commissioner. He is thwarted in his academic aspirations because of poverty and lack of acknowledgement. His mother has been murdered by the police in a political demonstration and her body has never been recovered. Haunted by these traumas, Digger drifts through life until, bizarrely, he is forcefully recruited by the police by a superior officer who is haunted by a cold case that he has been unable to solve.Digger is sent to England to train in forensics and, upon his return is paired with the mysterious and brilliant K Stanislaw. He teams with her to pursue a series of disappearances which just might intersect with the cold case tormenting Digger.
The plotting of the book is first rate. However, the prose, language and dialogue lift this book to a higher level. You feel you are right in Grenada drinking rum, eating the food and bantering in the island dialect. The sense of place and culture is palpable and enhances the social issues that conspire to thwart the investigators as they seek out the answers to their psychological and societal problems. This book is a must read.
The plotting of the book is first rate. However, the prose, language and dialogue lift this book to a higher level. You feel you are right in Grenada drinking rum, eating the food and bantering in the island dialect. The sense of place and culture is palpable and enhances the social issues that conspire to thwart the investigators as they seek out the answers to their psychological and societal problems. This book is a must read.
October 21, 2023
"The Bone Readers" started off strong, but somewhere in the middle I was overwhelmed by the many characters that were suddenly introduced in order to provide an explanation for the story line. But this always happens to me when I read mystery novels, so it's not the book's mistake, but rather my flaw.
When Digger was 18 years old, he was recruited into a special team police force in order to solve mystery cases. Digger himself has a mystery he wants to solve, where did his mother's body go to when she was shot during a demonstration many years ago? Most of the book focuses on a shady extremist church's missing church-members, which Digger himself has ties to (his grandmother belongs to that church). On top of that, we get a little bit of Digger's romantic liaisons, and it's really all over the island. The author Jacob Ross was born and raised in Grenada, and that's undoubtedly where he took his inspiration from for the setting of the novel.
Mystery novels always end up with a 3-star rating from me (or worse), so take it with a grain of salt!
When Digger was 18 years old, he was recruited into a special team police force in order to solve mystery cases. Digger himself has a mystery he wants to solve, where did his mother's body go to when she was shot during a demonstration many years ago? Most of the book focuses on a shady extremist church's missing church-members, which Digger himself has ties to (his grandmother belongs to that church). On top of that, we get a little bit of Digger's romantic liaisons, and it's really all over the island. The author Jacob Ross was born and raised in Grenada, and that's undoubtedly where he took his inspiration from for the setting of the novel.
Mystery novels always end up with a 3-star rating from me (or worse), so take it with a grain of salt!
October 10, 2020
Some people look upon crime fiction with distain. I would definitely recommend this book to those people as it might make them reconsider their opinion. For a relatively short book Jacob Ross packs a lot in. The crime element is only a part of this book as it is the characters who really drive the story. They are very well rounded - some incredibly likeable and some not. The descriptions of the landscape are so detailed that I almost didn't miss a map of the island at the front of the book! The plot is nuanced, unpredictable and (for me) completely original. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next one.
October 14, 2016
I must admit to really struggling with this at first. As many others have said, the dialogue was difficult to understand and the setting was something I knew next to nothing about. Just as I was beginning to think this was one of the few book I have had to give up on, I seemed to 'get it'! From then on I couldn't put it down.
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this fascinating book.
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this fascinating book.
February 24, 2017
Rather riveting tale that kept me guessing which is the mark of a successful mystery. I would like to read more of Digger (Michael Digson).
July 30, 2022
When you get to the last page of a book, and you flip the back cover wanting another page I would say it's an amazing book!! From beginning to end, this book arrested me. I loved the setting, the fictional eastern Caribbean island country of Camaho, the plot line, the characters, the language, everything.
It is rare for me to read literacy fiction by the same author in succession. After reading Black Rain Failling, I had to get the needed context from Ross' first work in this series. I wasn't disappointed, and I got enough context.
Ross is a superb writer who knows the eastern Caribbean and eastern Caribbean people and culture. This is probably what I appreciate most about this novel---the culture. Even writing about murder, power, gender relations, and religion Ross is able to make this a story particular to the eastern Caribbean as well as making it clear that all societies deal with these themes and dynamics. This is an all too human story on many levels.
You don't have to be a reader of crime fiction to love this novel. I highly recommend the series.
It is rare for me to read literacy fiction by the same author in succession. After reading Black Rain Failling, I had to get the needed context from Ross' first work in this series. I wasn't disappointed, and I got enough context.
Ross is a superb writer who knows the eastern Caribbean and eastern Caribbean people and culture. This is probably what I appreciate most about this novel---the culture. Even writing about murder, power, gender relations, and religion Ross is able to make this a story particular to the eastern Caribbean as well as making it clear that all societies deal with these themes and dynamics. This is an all too human story on many levels.
You don't have to be a reader of crime fiction to love this novel. I highly recommend the series.
April 20, 2017
I don’t read many murder mysteries or police procedurals, but this book is a keeper. Set in the beautiful Caribbean island nation of Grenada, the fast-paced story follows the rise of a young man from poverty to purpose as he combats social stratification, an amazingly sexist culture which would make even Bill O’Reilly blush, and Third World-standard corruption to solve certain murders which are, or become, increasingly personal. The supporting cast members are well developed, the plot well thought out and the conclusion spot-on. Sprinkle in a little patois, some crazy religious mumbo jumbo (is there any other kind?) as well as a few love interests, and it all makes for a great ride. I look forward to seeing these characters again, or at least the ones that didn’t get bumped off.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
March 31, 2024
This is the first volume of the Camaho Quartet and I was immediately captivated by it.
Michael 'Digger' Digson is recruited by Detective Superintendent Chilman for a newly formed police force. Digger has his own agenda, however, as he wants to find out what happened to his mother. He is an illegitimate child and his biological father is the chief of police of the Caribbean island of Camaho.
It soon becomes clear that the women and girls on the island are oppressed and abused and that only a few of them fight back, but have to pay for it with their lives. The men always get away scot-free. Digger wants to take action against this, but it's not that easy. With the help of Chilman's daughter Miss Stanislaus, a secretary at the police station and DS Chilman's backing, he manages to solve the cases.
Very excitingly written with lots of insight knowledge about a world that is foreign to me.
(4½)
Michael 'Digger' Digson is recruited by Detective Superintendent Chilman for a newly formed police force. Digger has his own agenda, however, as he wants to find out what happened to his mother. He is an illegitimate child and his biological father is the chief of police of the Caribbean island of Camaho.
It soon becomes clear that the women and girls on the island are oppressed and abused and that only a few of them fight back, but have to pay for it with their lives. The men always get away scot-free. Digger wants to take action against this, but it's not that easy. With the help of Chilman's daughter Miss Stanislaus, a secretary at the police station and DS Chilman's backing, he manages to solve the cases.
Very excitingly written with lots of insight knowledge about a world that is foreign to me.
(4½)
December 22, 2020
Michael (Digger) Digson, who has been refused money to pay for the university education he desires, is recruited into the local police force where he ends up being sent to London in order to study forensics. He returns back to Camaho (the First People's name for Grenada) where he gets deeply involved in a cold case, an obsession with his former boss, Chilman, and he ends up working with the brilliant Miss K Stanislaus.
This is a well written and crafted novel, although it took a while for me to become sure I wanted to keep read the next book about Digger. Ross is writing about what he knows--he was born and raised in Grenada, although he moved to London in 1984, and, like Digger, was a bright, literate youth. The dialogue is patois, but Ross makes it easy to read (not rife with apostrophes, etc, that make it visually distracting).
This is a well written and crafted novel, although it took a while for me to become sure I wanted to keep read the next book about Digger. Ross is writing about what he knows--he was born and raised in Grenada, although he moved to London in 1984, and, like Digger, was a bright, literate youth. The dialogue is patois, but Ross makes it easy to read (not rife with apostrophes, etc, that make it visually distracting).
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