The Dark Place [Hardcover]

Aaron J. Elkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1983

The Dark Place finds forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver on a trail that stretches from prehistoric times--to the present danger...

A hiker in Washington State's Olympic National Park vanished eight years ago. Only a pile of bones remains--but that's enough to go on for Gideon Oliver, the "Skeleton Detective." He deduces that someone, or something, of superhuman strength killed the young man--and that the spear that killed him is identical to those used by hunters ten thousand years ago...

And now, a young woman has disappeared--and Gideon can't help but think she'll meet the same fate. To save her, he must study the sparse records of an extinct tribe of American Indians in far-off California--and embark on a dangerous trek through North American's only rain forest...

"Murder, a singular detective, a winning supporting cast, humor--what more could we want from a mystery?" Chicago Sun-Times

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A thundering adventure...to be savored. (Publishers Weekly) --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company; 1st edition (September 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802755658
• ISBN-13: 978-0802755650
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,611,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a former anthropologist who has been writing mysteries and thrillers since 1982, having won an Edgar for Old Bones, as well as a subsequent Agatha (with my wife Charlotte), and a Nero Wolfe Award. My major continuing series features forensic anthropologist-detective Gideon Oliver, "the Skeleton Detective."

Lately, I've seen myself referred to as "the father of the modern forensic mystery," and, by gosh, I think I am! Before "Fellowship of Fear," the first Gideon Oliver, published in 1982, you'd have to go back 70 years and more to Austin Freeman and his Dr. Thorndyke series. Between the two good doctors (Thorndyke and Oliver), there was only Jack Klugman's "Quincy," so far as I know, and he was a TV character.

The Gideon Oliver books have been (roughly) translated into a major ABC-TV series and have been selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild, and the Readers Digest Condensed Mystery Series. My work has been published in a dozen languages. Charlotte and I live on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, our marriage having survived (more or less intact) our collaboration on novels and short stories.

Although I've been a full-time writer for some time now, I also remain active in real-life forensics by serving as the forensic anthropologist on the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This impressive anthropological mystery should've been the first in the series!, October 18, 2006

By 

M. C. T. Henry Jr. "henryct" (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Place (A Gideon Oliver Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

After being missing for years in the rain forests of Washington State, the skeleton of a hiker is found with a spear point lodged in his vertebra. Gideon is called in by the FBI to examine the remains and concludes that only a throw of superhuman strength could have caused the mortal wound. Was is Bigfoot? a long, lost band of primitive Indians? It's up to the famous Skeleton Detective to discover the truth.

The Dark Place should truly be the first book in the Gideon Oliver series. Here Elkins finds Gideon's true voice. The story also pertains directly to Gideon's expertise as an Anthropologist. Along for the ride is his good friend, FBI agent John Lau and the chief park ranger Julie Tendler. The burgeoning romance between Gideon and Julie is playful and well written. It's real chemistry that brings these two characters together. All in all, this Gideon Oliver story is my idea of a great cozy. Like so many other Gideon Oliver mysteries, it's a fast read, with insightful facts about anthropology, a great sense of humor, a bit of romance, and at the heart of it all-- a fascinatingly bizarre mystery.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dark Place - A Sparkling Gem, November 13, 2006

By 

D. Rubin (Olympia, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Place (A Gideon Oliver Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been buying copies of this book for friends for years. It's my favorite of Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver mysteries, combining the characteristic mix of forensic science and atmospherics .. in this case the primeval Pacific Northwest setting that represents Oliver's home turf. It also is a fetching romance with a light touch and has a plot that's a good combination of surprise and poignancy.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raves for the Dark Place by Aaron Elkins, October 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Place (Mass Market Paperback)

From reading this book I think Elkins is an outstanding writer. I have read only a couple books in my life, but reading this book was very interesting, knowing that the book took place around here where I live on the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington.

The part that interested me the most was when Gideon Oliver, a bone detective, got called to look at some bones from a murder that had happened years ago. Gideon and Julie Tendler, a park ranger, go on a six- mile hike in the Olympic National Park where a man named Louis Zander found a spear which they thought could've been the murder weapon. That chapter interested me because it had lots of action in it.

In a way this book is a love story, too, because Gideon falls in love with Julie. That's the main reason he stayed and took the case.

Some parts of the book were confusing because of some of the words the characters used, but overall I thought the book was very well-detailed. I think it was an outstanding book, and I hope Elkins comes out with another book about the Olympic National Park.