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Jimmy Paz #2
Valley of Bones
The startling reviews of Tropic of Night announced Michael Gruber as one of the most talented thriller writers to debut in many years. Now, with the much-anticipated publication of Valley of Bones , Gruber fulfills that genre-bending promise as perhaps no writer since Graham Greene, with a genuinely exhilarating thriller that simultaneously offers a profound, deeply provocative exploration of the nature of faith itself. The setting is Miami. Rookie cop Tito Morales arrives at the Trianon Hotel to investigate a routine disturbance call -- and, to his shock and horror, watches as a wealthy oilman plunges ten stories and impales himself on a nearby fence. Soon Morales is joined by detective Jimmy Paz, famous throughout the city for solving -- or at least providing a plausible solution to -- the so-called Voodoo Murders that left Miami burning months earlier. Together Paz and Morales enter the hotel and discover, in the dead man's room, a most unusual suspect, an otherworldly woman by the name of Emmylou Dideroff. She emerges from a rapturous, prayerlike state and admits that she had a motive for killing the oilman. Ultimately, she says she wants to confess, and asks for a pen and several notebooks in which to convey the details of her confession. What Emmylou writes is nothing like what Paz expects; he enlists psychologist Lorna Wise in an effort to make sense of things that go beyond Emmylou's explanation of the details of childhood abuse, of other crimes committed, of regular communion with saints -- and with the devil. Is she mentally disturbed or playacting in hopes of getting declared unfit for trial? Or does she really believe herself to be an instrument of God? And why is it that so many people -- including Paz's biological father -- are suddenly interested in the contents of these notebooks and in preventing them from becoming public? As Valley of Bones moves toward its startling and dramatic finale, Emmylou's "confessions" lead Jimmy Paz, Lorna Wise, and Tito Morales down a series of unexpected and dangerous turns that puts them in the path of perhaps the most terrifying evil imaginable and forces each of them to confront questions about faith, love, and the possibility of the miraculous.
436 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
62 people are currently reading
483 people want to read
About the author
Michael Gruber
41 books308 followersMichael Gruber is an author living in Seattle, Washington. He attended Columbia University and received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Miami. He worked as a cook, a marine biologist, a speech writer, a policy advisor for the Jimmy Carter White House, and a bureaucrat for the EPA before becoming a novelist.
He is generally acknowledged to be the ghostwriter of the popular Robert K. Tanenbaum series of Butch Karp novels starting with No Lesser Plea and ending with Resolved. After the partnership with Tanenbaum ended, Gruber began publishing his own novels under William Morrow and HarperCollins.
Gruber's "Jimmy Paz" trilogy, while critically acclaimed, did not sell at the same levels as the Butch Karp series in the United States. The Book of Air and Shadows became a national bestseller shortly after its release in March of 2007, however.
Series:
* Jimmy Paz
He is generally acknowledged to be the ghostwriter of the popular Robert K. Tanenbaum series of Butch Karp novels starting with No Lesser Plea and ending with Resolved. After the partnership with Tanenbaum ended, Gruber began publishing his own novels under William Morrow and HarperCollins.
Gruber's "Jimmy Paz" trilogy, while critically acclaimed, did not sell at the same levels as the Butch Karp series in the United States. The Book of Air and Shadows became a national bestseller shortly after its release in March of 2007, however.
Series:
* Jimmy Paz
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
July 30, 2025
Michael Gruber - image from Order of Books
This is another very interesting suspense novel, a worthy follow up to the excellent Tropic of Night. (Really, go read that one first) Jimmy Paz remains the central character, a Cuban-American Miami detective with connections to the Santaria community. An Arab is smacked on the head and thrown from a hotel room to his death. A young woman is found in the room in a state of shock.
The story-telling is braided. Chapters alternate among the diary of the mad woman, the investigation by Paz, the tale of the psychologist who examines the woman and works with Paz and, in brief bits, the history of the religious order with which the woman is affiliated. Emmylou Dideroff’s personal history is the attraction here, a corrupt child who has several lifetimes of experience under her belt, including associations with the worst sorts of criminals and the best kinds of humans. But most of all with their supernatural counterparts.
What is real? What is imagined? What is faith? These continue to be central themes in Gruber’s work. A compelling read. I found it to be a step below Tropic of Night, perhaps because he already paved some of the road traveled here, but that was a very high bar.
Gruber's site
Others in the Jimmy Paz series I have read
-----2004 - Tropic of Night - #1
-----2007 - Night of the Jaguar - #3
November 25, 2011
Gruber continues to delight me with his intelligence, depth of thought, and interesting characters. His thrillers jump out of their genre to stand as literary works of art. I've looked up several words (new to me, or forgotten) in each of his 3 books I've read so far. Not many authors build my vocabulary this way, and I appreciate it. Not to mention he keeps me turning the pages past the time I should be asleep.
April 25, 2014
I'm not going to summarize this book, but I am going to give it my highest recommendation. It is a great and engrossing read with some of the most powerful characterizations I have ever encountered. Sister Emmylou Dideroff is my new hero, one of the toughest characters in fiction. Any book that features an order of nuns nicknamed The Bloods, who have their own jump school will win my heart, and as far as I know this is the only one that has that. Take my word for it; this is a fabulous read. Do not delay. Get it now.
August 5, 2012
If you're reading this review of the Jimmy Paz series than you've read them all. In my opinion this series is remarkable for its intelligence, its strong plot and, it's philosphical world view and psychological depth of characters. Mixing murder with ethnography and sorcery, Gruber brings us a fascinating tale of Jimmy Paz, a cuban-american detective who is about to have his world and beliefs shaken to the core.
We all have brains, we all possess varying degrees of intelligence, and we all are physical beings with fears and desires on a basic level. Genre fiction: such as Noir detective series appeal largely to the latter. Literary genres appeal to the former. Gruber fuses the two and captivates our entire being as a whole within his diabolical novels.
Though I've left paranormal and fantasy tastes in the books I read behind (I've read tons of them in my earlier years) I, for my part, am glad to have Gruber on my list as he rekindles what I loved about those books and fuses them with my current day preferances.
We all have brains, we all possess varying degrees of intelligence, and we all are physical beings with fears and desires on a basic level. Genre fiction: such as Noir detective series appeal largely to the latter. Literary genres appeal to the former. Gruber fuses the two and captivates our entire being as a whole within his diabolical novels.
Though I've left paranormal and fantasy tastes in the books I read behind (I've read tons of them in my earlier years) I, for my part, am glad to have Gruber on my list as he rekindles what I loved about those books and fuses them with my current day preferances.
November 29, 2008
Books like this are why it's called "genre writing." _Valley of Bones_ falls (not to say sinks) into the category of "beach reading" (provided it's a really nice beach and you're in an especially distracted mood) or what it's perhaps more accurate to call "potato chip reading": the pages go down like potato chips, but no individual chip requires your attention. There's only one reason to write like this: money. Before anyone gets his knickers in a wad, let's be clear: I'm very happy if writers make money. But I also think it's fair to say, if the most impassioned defense one can bring to bear on a book is that it makes money, that there's at least the possibility the writer doesn't love you nearly as much as his publicist would like you to believe he does. I certainly don't think it's an easy task to sustain invention, even at the dilute level of _Valley of Bones_, for 400+ pages, but books like this make me wonder one thing: Why not try to write better? _Valley of Bones_ contains a fine collection of sentences goony enough for the Bulwer-Lytton contest, not a few of which are simply incomprehensible. And if you can't write better, how come Harper doesn't give you a real editor? Could it be that your publisher, too, is more interested in rolling out a product than in writing as a (dare I say it?) profession? The problem here isn't--or isn't solely--the writer's devices (such as a long, intermittently interesting journal that may or may not contain information that may or may not explain the plot of the novel) or characterization; the problem is that the elements of the story are handled by someone who suggests he isn't all that interested (Gruber's technique for characterization, just to focus on that, is to provide his characters with a series of psychological tics and catch-phrases which they dutifully trot out whenever they appear; he doesn't actually believe in character development). I don't think I'll be spoiling much if I say the title of the book has absolutely nothing to do with the story or that, in the end, Gruber makes only a feint at resolving the book's central mystery. It's not amateurish; these days, sadly, it's entirely professional. What it is, is distracted, lowest-common-demoninator writing (and editing) that demonstrates a major preoccupation with buyers and only a minimal interest in readers.
February 18, 2020
I think that after first book about detective Jimmy Paz, Tropic of Night, Michael lost some of his grip and that is why I gave this one 4 star. Although it has some stunning parts and the basic idea is great, writer did not use full potential and developed story as I hoped at the beginning. For me it is a combination of love story, spy novel and The Librarian, with lots of references on philosophical and religious books written in the last few centuries. Any way, if you liked first novel, you will probably love this one, to some extent, so I can recommend it for reading.
June 9, 2022
That was a great read!
March 19, 2018
This is a book that will change you. Wonderful ideas - philosophical, ethnographical, spiritual, anthropological - will percolate in your consciousness for weeks. You will find yourself dreaming about becoming a fearless warrior, caring for the wounded of the world with grace and fearlessness. You will stop what you're doing to google the facts, to research what is real and what has been invented by this incredibly talented author. Above all you will aspire to live up to the example set by Sister Emmylou Dideroff.
April 27, 2015
Scott Danielson and I discuss Valley of Bones in Episode 106 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. (While fighting over Twinkies.)
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I first read about it in the July 2005 Crisis magazine. They rarely reviewed fiction and this is a gritty mystery, so my interest was piqued. When the reviewer said it was a really Catholic book, but without the usual trappings found in a mystery I really perked up my ears.
In Miami, a man is hit on the head and thrown from a hotel balcony. When the homicide detective, Paz, goes up to investigate, he finds a woman, Emmylou Dideroff, in the room. She is in a trance, speaking to St. Catherine of Siena, which qualifies her to the detective as both a wacko and a likely murderer. This seems confirmed when they find a bloody weapon on the balcony with Emmylou's fingerprints all over it. She even has a likely motive but denies committing the murder. This is not as open and shut as it seems as Jimmy Paz pursues clues that lead to the international oil market, a FBI watch list, and missionaries in the Sudan.
Aside from the intricate mystery there is the spiritual factor. Emmylou claims to have communion with the devil which leads to her being put in a mental institution where, at the detective's request, she begins writing a confession. However, her confession is more along the lines of St. Augustine's Confessions ... and soon she is filling four notebooks with the story of her life. At this point we meet Lorna Wise, a psychiatrist who is determining Emmylou's fitness for trial. Both Wise and Paz have actual moments of seeing the devil that Emmylou has mentioned but they manage to lie to themselves. Little doubt is left to the reader, though, that what they are experiencing is real. Obviously this is no ordinary mystery.
Along the way we see Wise's various insecurities, Paz's Cuban-American world and how he relates to the "white" world, insights into police detecting, how men and women relate to each other, and much more. Most of all, there is a strong spiritual thread throughout that is interesting in itself as each character responds in their own way.
This all is told through four points of view: the detective, the psychiatrist, Emmylou's confessions, and pages from the book Faithful Unto Death: The Story of the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ by Sr. Benedicta Cooley. These are all showing various ways of conversion, of openness to God. This feeling is intensified when we meet Paz's former partner, a strong evangelical Christian who is not afraid to share his faith. Most unusual for a mystery of this sort from a regular, well reviewed writer.
This may sound like a jumble of information but that is part of what makes this book so very interesting. The author is a masterful writer who makes everything come together naturally.
Make no mistake, it is a gritty, adult mystery and has sexual content that may offend some readers, most of which is in Emmylou's confessions. However, any offensive content has been relayed with such a lack of passion or detail that I didn't find it bothersome.
==============
I first read about it in the July 2005 Crisis magazine. They rarely reviewed fiction and this is a gritty mystery, so my interest was piqued. When the reviewer said it was a really Catholic book, but without the usual trappings found in a mystery I really perked up my ears.
In Miami, a man is hit on the head and thrown from a hotel balcony. When the homicide detective, Paz, goes up to investigate, he finds a woman, Emmylou Dideroff, in the room. She is in a trance, speaking to St. Catherine of Siena, which qualifies her to the detective as both a wacko and a likely murderer. This seems confirmed when they find a bloody weapon on the balcony with Emmylou's fingerprints all over it. She even has a likely motive but denies committing the murder. This is not as open and shut as it seems as Jimmy Paz pursues clues that lead to the international oil market, a FBI watch list, and missionaries in the Sudan.
Aside from the intricate mystery there is the spiritual factor. Emmylou claims to have communion with the devil which leads to her being put in a mental institution where, at the detective's request, she begins writing a confession. However, her confession is more along the lines of St. Augustine's Confessions ... and soon she is filling four notebooks with the story of her life. At this point we meet Lorna Wise, a psychiatrist who is determining Emmylou's fitness for trial. Both Wise and Paz have actual moments of seeing the devil that Emmylou has mentioned but they manage to lie to themselves. Little doubt is left to the reader, though, that what they are experiencing is real. Obviously this is no ordinary mystery.
Along the way we see Wise's various insecurities, Paz's Cuban-American world and how he relates to the "white" world, insights into police detecting, how men and women relate to each other, and much more. Most of all, there is a strong spiritual thread throughout that is interesting in itself as each character responds in their own way.
This all is told through four points of view: the detective, the psychiatrist, Emmylou's confessions, and pages from the book Faithful Unto Death: The Story of the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ by Sr. Benedicta Cooley. These are all showing various ways of conversion, of openness to God. This feeling is intensified when we meet Paz's former partner, a strong evangelical Christian who is not afraid to share his faith. Most unusual for a mystery of this sort from a regular, well reviewed writer.
This may sound like a jumble of information but that is part of what makes this book so very interesting. The author is a masterful writer who makes everything come together naturally.
Make no mistake, it is a gritty, adult mystery and has sexual content that may offend some readers, most of which is in Emmylou's confessions. However, any offensive content has been relayed with such a lack of passion or detail that I didn't find it bothersome.
February 6, 2010
I reviewed Gruber’s Tropic of Night; Valley of Bones is a sequel of sorts. This one also has Iago (Jimmy) Paz as a detective working a murder, and the setting again is a very vibrant, very vivid Miami. Noisy, colorful, crowded, dreadfully poor and rundown on the one hand and polished like a gemstone on the other.
These are crime novels. A guy gets thrown off a hotel balcony, a woman is found in his room, her fingerprints on the object used to clonk the guy over the head. Her name is Emmylou Dideroff and she is caught up in an intense conversation with St. Catherine of Siena when Jimmy starts asking her questions. Religious mania? Looks like it. Of course that’s not all there is to the story.
The third central character is Lorna Wise, who is a therapist/social worker assigned as one of a team who evaluates the accused’s mental capacities.
Okay, so you’ve got three main characters, and complex back stories on each of them. Emmylou declares she’ll tell them everything, but she wants to do it by writing it all down in notebooks. What we get then, in chunks, is her first person autobiography. It’s disturbing and entertaining reading, covering a horrific childhood and finally her association with the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ. Not what you might be thinking in terms of nuns. These are not your typical nuns.
So here’s the good: There are great characters here and I loved watching them interact. In fact I read until really late because I was intrigued. The attraction between Jimmy and Lorna is nicely done, often funny and sad at turns. Their conversations, the cultural clash and how they work it out, all of this worked. At first Lorna is shocked at the idea that Jimmy never went to college: he’s very smart, widely read, often bests her in logical argumentation. He calls himself a student of the University of Girl because he only dates smart women and spends a lot of time talking to each of them about their work. She’s an upper middle class white girl from the north with a PhD from Columbia — Jimmy plays havoc with her preconceptions. In a whole variety of ways.
You can tell I liked this novel. But something kept getting in the way, what was it– oh yeah, the murder.
I guess I’d say there were some pacing problems here. The first 3/4 of the novel are great, and then Gruber seems to realize he’s left the actual plot behind the murder alone for too long and it’s time to get down to work. So in about a fourth of the book we get it all packed together, how Emmylou was tied in a roundabout way to the victim, the money question behind it all, the quilty parties. A complex backstory here that involves oil and Africa.
Which really? I needn’t need. Or I needed far less of. And still I really liked this book, and I can recommend it in spite of what I see as pacing issues. I think I liked this one more than the first Jimmy Paz story because I was more comfortable with the way the religious theme was worked in and carried out. For which you may call me ethnocentric, and I’d have to plead guilty.
These are crime novels. A guy gets thrown off a hotel balcony, a woman is found in his room, her fingerprints on the object used to clonk the guy over the head. Her name is Emmylou Dideroff and she is caught up in an intense conversation with St. Catherine of Siena when Jimmy starts asking her questions. Religious mania? Looks like it. Of course that’s not all there is to the story.
The third central character is Lorna Wise, who is a therapist/social worker assigned as one of a team who evaluates the accused’s mental capacities.
Okay, so you’ve got three main characters, and complex back stories on each of them. Emmylou declares she’ll tell them everything, but she wants to do it by writing it all down in notebooks. What we get then, in chunks, is her first person autobiography. It’s disturbing and entertaining reading, covering a horrific childhood and finally her association with the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ. Not what you might be thinking in terms of nuns. These are not your typical nuns.
So here’s the good: There are great characters here and I loved watching them interact. In fact I read until really late because I was intrigued. The attraction between Jimmy and Lorna is nicely done, often funny and sad at turns. Their conversations, the cultural clash and how they work it out, all of this worked. At first Lorna is shocked at the idea that Jimmy never went to college: he’s very smart, widely read, often bests her in logical argumentation. He calls himself a student of the University of Girl because he only dates smart women and spends a lot of time talking to each of them about their work. She’s an upper middle class white girl from the north with a PhD from Columbia — Jimmy plays havoc with her preconceptions. In a whole variety of ways.
You can tell I liked this novel. But something kept getting in the way, what was it– oh yeah, the murder.
I guess I’d say there were some pacing problems here. The first 3/4 of the novel are great, and then Gruber seems to realize he’s left the actual plot behind the murder alone for too long and it’s time to get down to work. So in about a fourth of the book we get it all packed together, how Emmylou was tied in a roundabout way to the victim, the money question behind it all, the quilty parties. A complex backstory here that involves oil and Africa.
Which really? I needn’t need. Or I needed far less of. And still I really liked this book, and I can recommend it in spite of what I see as pacing issues. I think I liked this one more than the first Jimmy Paz story because I was more comfortable with the way the religious theme was worked in and carried out. For which you may call me ethnocentric, and I’d have to plead guilty.
August 4, 2018
One of my favorites, a thriller, a mystery, a police procedural, a wonderful introduction to the culture and place of South Florida, plus a primer on the long running conflict in Sudan. Jimmy Paz is the protagonist in a series of three books by Gurber, but the other characters in each are super as well, just terrific. I have this book in hardbound, and in a Kindle version, and the Kindle version has a fascinating addendum that is the back story to sources for Michael Gruber's experiences that allowed him to write these with such evident authenticity.
This series of three novels, of which Valley of Bones is the second, is at turns scary, thrilling, witty, and wise. Each of my many readings of these three books has been entertaining and worthwhile. This story reaches back to the 19th century to the founding of a religious order of nursing nuns who provide a back story that is itself enthralling and stirring.
Each of these novels leaves me with the feeling that it could be so, it may be so, I wish it is so.
I will be reading them again.
This series of three novels, of which Valley of Bones is the second, is at turns scary, thrilling, witty, and wise. Each of my many readings of these three books has been entertaining and worthwhile. This story reaches back to the 19th century to the founding of a religious order of nursing nuns who provide a back story that is itself enthralling and stirring.
Each of these novels leaves me with the feeling that it could be so, it may be so, I wish it is so.
I will be reading them again.
July 16, 2012
It's the suspect who is most fascinating in this Jimmy Paz case. She's a hard, manipulative woman with an enigmatic and otherworldly quality about her that seems to unexpectedly infect those who come in contact with her, including Paz. She requests hardbound notebooks in which to write her lengthy and absorbing confession, which is integrated into the novel as the overall plot unfolds. As a result, the book entails three discrete interwoven sub-chronicles that gradually coalesce into an anomalous but fascinating story.
Good writing. Good read.
Good writing. Good read.
May 28, 2021
Almost as good as Tropic of Night, but now I know what Gruber can do the astonishment isn't there.
This one is as rich as the first, with a (slightly) different focus. Evil is front and center, and Gruber teases out its many permutations. Those of Good are also explored, to our perplexity.
Once again, the author makes it Very Hard to dismiss the unexplainables that Jimmy Paz dearly wishes would just go away. Speaking of which, I hope Mami gets a chance to strut her stuff in the next one.
This one is as rich as the first, with a (slightly) different focus. Evil is front and center, and Gruber teases out its many permutations. Those of Good are also explored, to our perplexity.
Once again, the author makes it Very Hard to dismiss the unexplainables that Jimmy Paz dearly wishes would just go away. Speaking of which, I hope Mami gets a chance to strut her stuff in the next one.
August 19, 2010
A really out there writer. I enjoy his books a lot -- recently I've read The Good Son, and before that another Jimmy Paz novel. Strange, strange combination of guns n' conspiracy, literary/historical smarts, cultural stuff (Cuban Miami), great characters (love Jimmy, Cletis, and Jimmy's mom), and...religious mysticism, with real devils, zombies, and spirit possession. Wacky, but fun and never boring. I also appreciated a writer who steadfastly refuses to split the infinitive.
December 9, 2021
Not quite as good as the first Jimmy Paz book but still very readable and a heck of a lot of fun. I listened to it as an audiobook and found myself rationing the listening time as a walked and commuted so that it wouldn't be done too quickly.
August 31, 2016
Another fantastic Gruber read. His approach to fiction resonates with me. It's like I've found a kindred soul.
July 19, 2018
“Valley of Bones” by Michael Gruber – A Communion for Murderers
Michael Gruber Resumes the Story
The book opens on a crime which itself wasn't exactly remarkable for the most part. A rookie cop, Tito Morales, responds to a regular disturbance call, thinking nothing of it. After he witnesses the businessman plunging to his death, he goes on to examine his room and is joined by detective Paz just in time. Inside, they find a rather peculiar woman who seems to be stuck in some sort of delirious trance. It takes her little time to confess she not only had reasons to kill the man, but this wasn't the first time evil took hold of her. After writing several notebooks' worth of confessions, the question arises: is she telling the truth, is she insane, or is this her attempt at creating an insanity plea? The things she reveals include an abusive childhood, communions with devils and saints, and not to mention an array of other crimes.
Mysticism and Demonology
With how well Michael Gruber managed to depict the culture of voodoo in his last book, I believe it was a wise idea to continue along the lines of mysticism, and this time we're exploring Christianity and demonology. The insane woman whose case Paz gets embroiled in serves as our corridor to various spiritual and theological concepts, and Gruber doesn't shy away from injecting his personal philosophy into his deliberations.
Along the way we also receive a rather healthy dose of education on various subjects, some of which we'd be hard-pressed to seek out on our own, including: psychometric testing, evangelism, the state of mental care, entomology, anthropology and even art history. I do admit it sounds as if this is the type of book to splay itself all over the place, Michael Gruber uses his magic touch to make it all work seamlessly in the actual story.
Twists of Mystery
With all the spiritual and philosophical elements going on, we shouldn't forget there is an actual detective story in here, and as it happens, I found it to be a damn good one. The entire premise revolving around the woman who may or may not be crazy certainly helps to keep us hooked, wondering which parts of her story are true and which are false.
Speaking of which, Jimmy Paz is as flawed and interesting as ever, especially since Gruber is now opening up on him a bit more, revealing his inner world to a greater extent. We can sense there is definitely more to his character and, ultimately, he is a man of hidden depths and layers on his own spiritual journey.
The Final Verdict
With all things said and done, Valley of Bones by Michael Gruber is a fantastic addition to the Jimmy Paz series, building on the positive points from the previous one and introducing some new elements. I highly recommend it if you want to see what Michael Gruber is all about, or enjoy murder mysteries and want a solid work off the beaten track.
This was an abridged version of our review. If you'd like to read the full one, you can do so here: https://bookwormex.com/valley-bones-m...
Michael Gruber Resumes the Story
The book opens on a crime which itself wasn't exactly remarkable for the most part. A rookie cop, Tito Morales, responds to a regular disturbance call, thinking nothing of it. After he witnesses the businessman plunging to his death, he goes on to examine his room and is joined by detective Paz just in time. Inside, they find a rather peculiar woman who seems to be stuck in some sort of delirious trance. It takes her little time to confess she not only had reasons to kill the man, but this wasn't the first time evil took hold of her. After writing several notebooks' worth of confessions, the question arises: is she telling the truth, is she insane, or is this her attempt at creating an insanity plea? The things she reveals include an abusive childhood, communions with devils and saints, and not to mention an array of other crimes.
Mysticism and Demonology
With how well Michael Gruber managed to depict the culture of voodoo in his last book, I believe it was a wise idea to continue along the lines of mysticism, and this time we're exploring Christianity and demonology. The insane woman whose case Paz gets embroiled in serves as our corridor to various spiritual and theological concepts, and Gruber doesn't shy away from injecting his personal philosophy into his deliberations.
Along the way we also receive a rather healthy dose of education on various subjects, some of which we'd be hard-pressed to seek out on our own, including: psychometric testing, evangelism, the state of mental care, entomology, anthropology and even art history. I do admit it sounds as if this is the type of book to splay itself all over the place, Michael Gruber uses his magic touch to make it all work seamlessly in the actual story.
Twists of Mystery
With all the spiritual and philosophical elements going on, we shouldn't forget there is an actual detective story in here, and as it happens, I found it to be a damn good one. The entire premise revolving around the woman who may or may not be crazy certainly helps to keep us hooked, wondering which parts of her story are true and which are false.
Speaking of which, Jimmy Paz is as flawed and interesting as ever, especially since Gruber is now opening up on him a bit more, revealing his inner world to a greater extent. We can sense there is definitely more to his character and, ultimately, he is a man of hidden depths and layers on his own spiritual journey.
The Final Verdict
With all things said and done, Valley of Bones by Michael Gruber is a fantastic addition to the Jimmy Paz series, building on the positive points from the previous one and introducing some new elements. I highly recommend it if you want to see what Michael Gruber is all about, or enjoy murder mysteries and want a solid work off the beaten track.
This was an abridged version of our review. If you'd like to read the full one, you can do so here: https://bookwormex.com/valley-bones-m...
August 21, 2017
It was a interesting book that I happened upon while in a open sew session. I really enjoyed the portion that discussed Saints and the amazing order of nuns. There were lots of characters and I enjoyed getting to know their back stories. They were all interesting some more complicated then others. Some of their stories were just tragic.
Yes, I would recommend a friend but I would warn that it is a little lengthy but if you stick with it the author wraps everything up nicely by the end. My next decision is weather to go back and reach the first in the series or push forward and read the third....
Yes, I would recommend a friend but I would warn that it is a little lengthy but if you stick with it the author wraps everything up nicely by the end. My next decision is weather to go back and reach the first in the series or push forward and read the third....
May 21, 2017
review writing limited for a time due to uncooperative fingers. But this was an amazing novel. Gruber is able to construct multiple plotlines and seamlessly weave them together that the interruption isn't a signal to switch to the next section, but to read consecutively, accepting his construct. And Jimmy Paz maintains his identity without undue repetitions from #1, taking the world of spirit--voodoo, santeria, a Catholic nun against all odds--and without easy answers or hardly any, opens doors into possibilities.
November 19, 2019
This was a great ride of a novel. Nicely, at the end of the day, everything that happened and that some characters attributed to the supernatural divine **could** be explained by natural causes. Nice.
By the way, I stumbled on this book via a visit to gnooks.com and its suggestion of Michael Gruber based on my three favourite authors _ John le Carre, Joseph Conrad and Mary Doria Russell. Go figger, eh?
By the way, I stumbled on this book via a visit to gnooks.com and its suggestion of Michael Gruber based on my three favourite authors _ John le Carre, Joseph Conrad and Mary Doria Russell. Go figger, eh?
February 13, 2018
Another enjoyable read from Michael Gruber. Still playing with my head with his psychological convolutions. I felt this was not as tight as some of his other works. The sisterhood of blood of Christ was an interesting construct, but the Sudanese saga bogged down the story.
I will continue to read Grubera work
I will continue to read Grubera work
June 9, 2017
Peverted and snarky. I've not read this author before, and after listening for the last two hours I won't be looking for him again. This author seems so taken with himself that this reader visualizes him smirking as he writes. He's mistaken. He's not that good.
September 26, 2020
Opet dobra ocjena za kreativnost, minus ljubavni život glavnog lika. Ne znam zašto mnogi pisci trilera smatraju da moraju ubaciti i to i onda zeznu ukupni dojam. Mix svega, nesvakidašnje i drži pažnju.
Read
April 11, 2024Very good. I especially enjoy the interesting side stories involving ethnic Cuban culture in Miami, Voodoo, Santeria, and an order of Catholic Sisters -- I'm not sure if that is fictional or not -- and their work.
Read
July 17, 2024DNF. A book with dual personality. The flashback story is hard and very intriguing. Flashes of great writing. And then the Jimmy Paz story comes along and CLUNK, the narrative tanks. The dialogue is cringe AF and the characters are laughable, but not in a good way.
October 25, 2018
Just as good as book one of this series. Seriously.
May 5, 2020
Good stuff, thanks.
Thank God for atheists! I mean, Jesus Christos what a lovely story FULL of all kind of interesting thought provoking thoughts.
Onward
Thank God for atheists! I mean, Jesus Christos what a lovely story FULL of all kind of interesting thought provoking thoughts.
Onward
June 11, 2021
Could have done without all the F… but that’s just my opinion. Good airplane read for sure.
October 3, 2023
Tried but couldn’t get into it
June 30, 2024
I didn’t enjoy this as much as the others. The journal entries and Emmylou were creepy
Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews