Bones of Betrayal: A Body Farm Novel (Body Farm Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jefferson Bass (Author)

Book Description

Series: Body Farm Novels | Publication Date: December 29, 2009

Forged in the crucible of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was a top-secret military installation—the linchpin of the Manhattan Project. Brilliant careers were born and dark secrets buried in the desperate race to build the Bomb. Those secrets begin to emerge when the body of a renowned physicist is discovered . . .

Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton, founder of the Body Farm, is shocked when an autopsy reveals the cause of Dr. Leonard Novak's death: a deadly radioactive pellet inside the elderly scientist's body. Who would commit such a horrific crime? Is it related to Novak's role in creating America's deadliest weapon? The answers may lie with the victim's aging ex-wife, Beatrice, a captivating, yet utterly unreliable storyteller. Careening between history and fantasy, dementia and lucidity, Beatrice draws Brockton into a maze of memories, leading him to darker truths than he could have imagined.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In bestseller Bass's average fourth forensic thriller to feature Dr. Bill Brockton (after The Devil's Bones), a frozen corpse found in a lake near the Oak Ridge, Tenn., nuclear research facility turns out to be that of Dr. Leonard Novak, one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project, the secret government program to build the first atomic bomb during WWII. When the source of death, potent radioactive material the old man somehow ingested, poisons the local medical examiner, Brockton's inquiry takes on added urgency. After meeting Novak's ex-wife at his funeral, Brockton wonders if there might be a link between the present-day murder and long-forgotten events; with the aid of an attractive local librarian, he starts to dig into Oak Ridge's past. Given the small pool of suspects, many readers will guess the killer's identity before it's revealed. Those looking for a more evocative portrait of the paranoid atmosphere surrounding the Manhattan Project should seek out Joseph Kanon's Los Alamos. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The latest Body Farm novel finds forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton looking into an unusual death. A man’s body is pulled out of a swimming pool in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The autopsy reveals that he appears to have died after ingesting a highly radioactive pellet. When Brockton discovers that the victim was a key player in the Manhattan Project—that, in fact, he designed a reactor that was instrumental in the creation of the first atomic bomb more than 60 years ago—he realizes that to solve the crime, he must penetrate the secrets-laden history of the Manhattan Project itself. This series, written by forensic anthropologist Bass (the creator of the real Body Farm in Tennessee) and Jefferson, just keeps getting better. The latest installment features both the most compelling story and the best portrayal yet of Brockton, who has completed the transition from fictional representation of coauthor Bass to fully realized protagonist. Expect bigger and better things from this point on. --David Pitt --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061284750
• ISBN-13: 978-0061284755
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #575,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jefferson Bass is the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Together, they wrote Death's Acre, a nonfiction account of the Body Farm, before embarking on a forensic fiction writing career as Jefferson Bass. Their debut novel, Carved in Bone, reached no. 25 on The New York Times Best Seller list and was followed by a series of bestselling crime novels, as well as a second nonfiction title (Beyond the Body Farm). Their sixth and newest Body Farm novel is The Bone Yard.

Bios of Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson

Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass is a legend in forensic circles. In 1980 Dr. Bass created the world's first laboratory devoted to human decomposition: the University of Tennessee's "Body Farm." Dr. Bass has written or coauthored more than 200 scientific publications, many of them based either on the research facility's work or on murders and other mysteries he's helped to prosecute or solve. During half a century in the classroom, Dr. Bass has taught tens of thousands of students, including many of the foremost forensic anthropologists practicing in the United States today. He's been featured on numerous network television news programs, as well as in documentaries for National Geographic and the BBC. CBS was not exaggerating when it called Dr. Bass "America 's top forensic scientist."

Jon Jefferson is a veteran journalist, science writer, and documentary filmmaker. His journalism credits include work for The New York Times, National Public Radio, Newsweek, and USA Today. Jefferson learned the art of combining scientific material with compelling human stories during a decade as a science writer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In the 1990s he began writing and producing documentaries for the History Channel and the Arts and Entertainment network, covering topics ranging from Vatican treasures to World War II fighter planes. An aviation buff, Jefferson owns and flies an experimental airplane. As a volunteer with a search-and-rescue team, Jefferson trained his Australian shepherd, Chief, to work as a cadaver dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great installment in a series, bad first book to pick up., March 18, 2009

By 

Donna Lordi (Joliet, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bones of Betrayal: A Body Farm Novel (Body Farm Novels) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Bones of Betrayal has one of the more interesting premises I've read - it's a forensic mystery based on a radioactive puzzle. I've not read a book with that as the focus. This proves to be an interesting twist on an age-old classic suspense. While it has a few cliches, it doesn't suffer from them - and with a (slightly less-so) typical forensic adventure that's interesting on its own, they wind up enhancing the story. The running joke about the chainsaw, (sorry, but you have to read it for that one!), was really funny.

Oak Ridge is one of the country's greatest "forgotten" nuggets of history. Most people have no idea that this is where the foundation for our war won by the atom was laid. This made the backdrop interesting.

The writing is fun and engaging. I found myself wanting to turn ahead to find out more about a dire circumstance befalling one character. The personalities of his cast are complex while still falling back on that formerly-mentioned clicheness. The persona of Beatrice in particular filled me with horror and sadness in parts, amusement, pain and anger in others.

Like most good books, it ultimately shines because it's not made wonderful by the plot, but by the characters. No, it's not the next literary novel of the century, but it's a great forensic story with an amusing cast. Since I didn't read the earlier books, though, there was some context I was missing, which was my one major dislike.

Overall, a good book. An original twist on an unoriginal formula, it was unexpectedly enjoyable.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Body Farm novel glows, February 14, 2009

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bones of Betrayal: A Body Farm Novel (Body Farm Novels) (Hardcover)

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Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. Frozen body found in dirty swimming pool
2. Add a STIHL* chainsaw to the list of casualties
3. Frozen body turns out to be hot, as in Geiger counter hot
4. History lesson on the Manhattan Project follows
5. Blurry photographs lead back to wartime Oak Ridge
6. The truth outs, but slowly

Unlike the other novels from this writing team, this one doesn't focus on the Body Farm and its decomposing occupants, but is more a historical whodunit with links to present time.

Despite its scientific subject matter, the story makes for light and entertaining reading, and you don't have to be a nuclear physicist to find out what makes it tick.

Half the life of the story is the attempted romance sub-plots, the cheesy but good natured humor, and the self-deprecating nature of the hero, Dr. Bill Brockton.

Recommended light reading for planes and trains, and people who live near to nuclear reactors.


*Gratuitous product placement plug for the world's best chainsaw


Amanda Richards, February 14, 2009


Footnote: "STIHL" is pronounced "schteel" rather than "steel".

Footnote 2: Tell Dr. Brockton that it's spelled "Husqvarna"

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Like the "Bones" TV Series, You'll Love This., February 4, 2009

By 

Karen Joan "Siren" (Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bones of Betrayal: A Body Farm Novel (Body Farm Novels) (Hardcover)

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I am a huge fan of the television series "Bones," and when I saw Kathy Reichs' (author of the Temperance Brennan novels) endorsement of BONES OF BETRAYAL, I knew I had to read this book. BONES OF BETRAYAL is the fourth installment in the Body Farm series by Jefferson Bass. I have not previously read the other three books in this series and had some concern about starting at book four. However, this book stands on its own very well, with only mild, well explained references to previous stories. With a story based in forensic anthropology, the birth of atomic science, and a mysterious murder, BONES OF BETRAYAL is a clear winner.

Let me say up front that I am a geek. I have a Master's Degree in Physics with a minor in Mathematics, and love novels that are based in hard science. BONES OF BETRAYAL hits the jackpot for me, mixing two scientific fields quite well: atomic physics and forensic anthropology, as well as the history of the atomic bomb and WWII. All three play important roles in solving the murder case, all three are well and appropriately explained for the lay reader, and all three combine quite seamlessly. The details of each are just right: not too dumbed down and not too sophisticated.

In BONES OF BETRAYAL, a frozen corpse found in a swimming pool near the Oak Ridge nuclear research facility, where the atomic bomb was developed. Dr. Bill Brockton, founder of the Body Farm and a leading authority in forensic science, is called in to investigate. The body turns out to be that of Dr. Leonard Novak, one of the key scientists on the Manhattan Project, the code name for the WWII project that perfected the bomb. When Dr. Brockton discovers that the cause of death was not drowning, but rather radiation poisoning, he wonders if Novak's murder is related to events long past. Dr. Brockton meets Novak's bright and colorful ex-wife, Beatrice, at his funeral, and he begins his investigation of those long ago events with her. Beatrice weaves a number of captivating tales, but are any of them true? Can Dr. Brockton unravel the mysteries of history and navigate unsuspected twists and turns in order to solve a murder in the present?

I had great fun with BONES OF BETRAYAL and zipped right through it. The plot and pacing both worked well, with the science, action, and history all blending perfectly. Each fed the other beautifully. The characters were likeable and well developed, and I felt that I had a good rapport with them, even the ones introduced in earlier books. All in all, BONES OF BETRAYAL is an excellent read, and I will definitely be reading the other books in this series.