G.I. Bones (Sueno & Bascom Mysteries, Book 5) [Hardcover]

Martin Limón (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2009

Praise for the Sueño and Bascom series:

“Setting the standard for military crime fiction, Limón’s compelling stories of murder, greed, and abuse of power are set off by the Korean culture and 1970s atmosphere.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Altogether engaging.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Combining the grim routine of a modern police procedural with the cliff-hanging action of a thriller movie.”—The Wall Street Journal

“It’s great to have these two mavericks back.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Easily the best military mysteries in print today.”—Lee Child

“Martin Limón does what the best storytellers do: take you away to a brand new world.”—Michael Connelly

A Korean fortune-teller is being bothered by a dead American soldier who wants his bones found and buried. An underage officer’s daughter is missing together with a Latino soldier. Several of the leading Korean gangsters who own the bars in the ville have been killed. Sueño and Bascom of Military Intelligence must go back to the founding of Itaewon, Seoul’s red-light district, in order to learn who killed the soldier, who’s taking revenge on the gang lords, and where to find the missing girl.

Martin Limón is the author of numerous stories about his army police duo as well as five previous novels, Jade Lady Burning (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Slicky Boys, Buddha’s Money, The Door to Bitterness, and The Wandering Ghost, all available from Soho Crime. He lives near Seattle.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When a Korean fortune-teller claims the spirit of a long dead American soldier is bothering her at the outset of Limón's well-crafted sixth mystery to feature U.S. Army criminal investigators George Sueño and Ernie Bascom (after 2007's The Wandering Ghost), the pair delve deep into the more than 20-year-old case of Tech. Sgt. Florencio R. Moretti, who went missing in 1953 and is presumed dead. At first, their mission is simply to find Moretti's remains, but as they search for the truth in Seoul's red-light district, Itaewon, they uncover a past of military and government corruption, prostitution and murder. As usual, Sueño and Bascom don't hesitate to put their own lives and careers at risk. Limón's own experiences as a U.S. soldier stationed in Korea serve to enrich the intricate portrait of 1970s Seoul. While excessive attention to details of Korean language and dialect slow the pace at times, loyal fans and newcomers alike should be pleased. Author tour. (Nov.)
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From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Military Police Sergeants Sueño and Bascom are pitted against the Seven Dragons, gang lords of Itaewon, the red-light district of Seoul, in this sixth volume in the highly praised and popular crime series set in 1970s Korea. The plot is crisp, the characters are fully portrayed, and the dialogue is convincing. But perhaps the author's greatest strength is his richly rendered atmosphere. With a full palette of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes, he creates a window into another world, a foreign culture (for most American readers), and a set of circumstances fraught with intrigue, danger, hope, and passion. The two sergeants of the United States 8th Army Criminal Investigation Detachment are called upon to find the bones of a G.I. named Moretti, who was murdered some 20 years earlier but whose body was never found. Now, some two decades later, his bones become restless, apparently stalking a fortune-teller, Aunti Mee. She calls upon the resourceful team of Sueño and Bascom to find the bones and send them back to the United States, so that both the dead and the living can get some peace. The sergeants pursue the case, against the wishes of nearly everyone in positions of authority and power. A subplot involves an Army officer's teenage daughter who goes missing, and who is determined to free herself from the shackles of her overbearing parents. That's an old story, but one that is given a new setting and new consequences in Limón's gritty, always entertaining novel.–Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA END

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Soho Crime; First Edition edition (November 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569476039
• ISBN-13: 978-1569476031
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,037,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

At seventeen, Martin Limon joined the army and served briefly as a reporter for the Pacific Stars & Stripes in Seoul, Korea. During five tours in Korea, he studied the language, traveled the country from the DMZ to the Yellow Sea, and was personally embroiled in the clash of cultures on this trip-wire edge of the American empire. His first novel, Jade Lady Burning, was published by Soho Press in 1992 and was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. The series features 8th Army detectives George Sueno, from East L.A., and Ernie Bascom, a native of the suburbs of Detroit.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review, November 13, 2009

By 

C. J. Hale (Missouri) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: G.I. Bones: A Sergeants Sueno & Bascom Mystery (Kindle Edition)

If the author wasn't assigned to CID in Korea, he was very close or he has remarkable research abilities. I was commanding a counterintelligence unit there during that period, worked closely with the CID, and I can attest to the realism of the CID's anti-blackmarketing activities and the the geography, language/terminology and people of Itaewon. It was a wild and wooly period in the Republic of Korea. The book is a pretty fair mystery too.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Limon Yet, October 28, 2009

By 

T. Berner (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: G.I. Bones (Sueno & Bascom Mysteries, Book 5) (Hardcover)

Jade Lady Burning, Martin Limon's first Sueno and Bascomb mystery, rightfully earned The New York Times' "Notable Book of the Year" accolade. It was a haunting story of two young military cops in 1970's Korea.

The characters were a terrific duo in the tradition of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin: a redneck Anglo who thinks with his fists and a sensitive Hispanic who has found an intellectual home in an Asian country and a physical home in the Army. The author's command of plot was evidence of his first hand experience of police procedure as a CID investigator in Korea himself. His grasp of the setting -his appreciation of the culture and geography of Korea - grew from his own deep love of the peninsula.

G.I. Bones is the latest Sueno and Bascomb mystery and the best of them. It involves the death of a saintly GI at the end of the Korean War, a gang of hoodlums who control Itaewon, the red light district outside of Eigth Army Headquarters which has always been Ground Zero for all of Limon's mysteries and a rebellious daughter of a high ranking officer.

As an introduction to the series, G.I. Bones is perfect. The conflicts between the Army and the locals it is there to protect, between North and South Korea, between cops and brass, between good guys and bad guys all stand out in sharp relief. For those who know the series already, G.I. Bones is a particular treat, showing the development of Mr. Limon as a writer and the growth of the characters themselves. A little of Sueno has rubbed off on Bascomb, and vice versa.

The result is a rich and deeply affecting glimpse of a different time and a different place with universal concerns.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super historical military police procedure, November 7, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: G.I. Bones (Sueno & Bascom Mysteries, Book 5) (Hardcover)

Korean fortuneteller Aunti Mee insists The Wandering Ghost of Tech Sergeant Florencio R. Moretti will not leave her alone. The GI went missing two decades ago back in 1953. U.S. 8th Army Criminal Investigation Detachment investigators Sergeants George Sueno and Ernie Bascom are assigned to investigate what everyone in CID including them assumes is a corpse.

The two military cops enter the Itaewon red light sector of Seoul seeking clues that will lead to Moretti's remains so he can be properly buried back in the States. The pair also searches for a missing military teenage dependent of whom they assume is a runaway. Neither expected they would face the wrath of the Seven Dragons gang who own the district; both expected the wrath of superiors who want Moretti's bones to remain interred wherever they are.

This is a super historical military police procedure that brings to life 1970s Seoul and to a degree how Koreans and soldiers of that era looked back to the end of the Korean Conflict. The mysteries of the missing dependent and the murder of Moretti are excellent, but it is the historiographer's delight of time and place that make G.I. BONES and the series a winner.

Harriet Klausner