Sea of Bones

Rating:
Summary: strong susepnse thriller
Review: In the well to do enclave of Paradise Key, a group of wealthy investors lost over twenty-two million dollars in a ponzi scheme perpetrated by Victor Trebuchet and Adrienne Debarret. British Lord Warfield had the investors eating out of his hands as he enthusiastically endorsed the satellite, rocket and launch pad site in Kenya. They even brought in scientists to explain how the new technology used on the rockets and satellites would quadruple their investment in a matter of months. When the scheme collapses the two con men (and one woman) disappear leaving very unhappy investors who want their money back.

Since they don't want the police involved because they would look like fools they hire lawyer Tom Petrie to help them rescue their losses. He gets Dan Shaw, who is supposed to be studying for his bar exam, as well as other allies to out scam the scanners. They trace them to Italy where the head con lives in a villa under the name of Senor Arbaleste; so they rent the place next door to him. They plan to exchange a forged painting by a master for the mission's money and their scheme works but lives are lost because of it.

Ron Faust is a brilliant storyteller who infuses his work with excellent characterizations, plenty of suspense and a beautiful location that mocks the scams taking place. It is like many serpents coming into paradise all of them capable of great evil. Dan, the protagonist and the narrator, is not a particularly sympathetic person as he commits crimes and justifies them by saying they are for the greater good. SEA OF BONES packs a potent touch.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: An Offbeat, Intelligent Page-Turner With a Stunning Climax.
Review: Ron Faust is one of the best thriller writers in America today. Sea of Bones, his latest, doesn't disappoint. The last reviewer seemed to have a problem with the fact that part of the plot is connected to the previous book in the series, but it's no problem at all, even if you haven't read the previous one, Dead Men Rise Up Never. Faust's dialogue is witty, sparkling, and dry, and his characters live and breathe--I especially love the old Judge, who retries famous old court cases in his spare time (when he's not involved in scams like the one in this story). And Daniel Shaw is an intriguing protagonist. . . in short, this is an extremely enjoyable, off-beat thriller by a very underrated writer.

Rating:
Summary: A skimpy plot buried in flowery language
Review: There's no doubting the fact that Ron Faust can write; he has a descriptive, muscular prose that has caused more than one reviewer to compare his style to Hemingway. That being said, I'm sorry to admit that out of the 4 books I've read by him, I've only enjoyed one and it wasn't Sea of Bones. The book starts out with an unusual hook; the narrator has killed a man and buried the body in the ocean, and he watches with interest as several other characters attempt to find the body. As the story goes on, however, we find out that these events are part of a previous book involving the same characters and have nothing to do with this book or its plot. Instead, the plot of Sea of Bones involves a talented con-man who has ripped off several wealthy people for millions of dollars. The narrator and a small group of his friends plan an elaborate scheme to turn the tables on the con-man and rip him off instead. While the plot is somewhat interesting if not highly original, we don't get into the meat of the story until roughly 150 pages in. Instead, we are given lengthy details of dinner parties and other social functions along with pages and pages of clever dialogue and other padding which does nothing to advance the plot and instead bogs the book down so heavily that I found myself falling asleep after reading only 4 or 5 pages. While the ending of the book was somewhat exciting, slogging through 340 pages of fluff to get there was almost like torture. For a fast-paced, exciting and literary thriller, read When She Was Bad by the same author, and leave Sea of Bones on the shelf where it belongs.