The Bone Man (Melville International Crime) in Around the World in 80 Books

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Sep 12, 2016 Julie Griffin rated it really liked it

You know that guy, the one who starts talking and takes a breath about an hour later? His stories are interesting, but almost as interesting can be the diversions into whatever his focus grabs on at the moment... Not quite as manic as Robin Williams, but maybe Robin Williams lite. This is the guy who narrates The Bone Man. And it isn't the main character. This tale of a skeleton found in a bone grinding machine in the basement of a fried chicken restaurant in the corner of Austria next to the fo You know that guy, the one who starts talking and takes a breath about an hour later? His stories are interesting, but almost as interesting can be the diversions into whatever his focus grabs on at the moment... Not quite as manic as Robin Williams, but maybe Robin Williams lite. This is the guy who narrates The Bone Man. And it isn't the main character. This tale of a skeleton found in a bone grinding machine in the basement of a fried chicken restaurant in the corner of Austria next to the former Yugoslavia starts off at a gallop and keeps the pace until the end page. This could be annoying, but I found it endearing. Apparently many Austrians find Haas and his main character, Simon Brenner, endearing as well, as the books are a big hit there, and several movies have been made from the series. So, we picked this one to read for Reading Around the World challenge, as most everything else available for Austria deals with Vienna in the Gilded Age, or World War II, and our mission was to read about life in the last few decades if we could find it. This book is a good introduction to Austrian life, and it is also entertaining although the mystery gets a bit lost in the background behind the eccentric narration and characters. Brenner, who used to be a cop, is now a private detective. He gets called to the chicken restaurant when human bones are found among the chicken ones (this book might also make readers consider becoming vegetarians, although it is not grisly or gruesome in the usual sense, just very greasy and .... well... ). Brenner cannot find the manager, who called him, so talks with her father in law, who owns the restaurant, and her husband, who lead him off to a soccer game, where a bag of balls contains a human head, which belongs to a player from another team, who accused the son in law of bribing him to lose a game, and this leads into the art scene, the soccer scene, and even the schilling to seniors over the border in the former Yugoslavia scene. Breezy is the word to describe this book. I will be looking for others in the series, and maybe see if I can find one of the movies somehow (with subtitles). And the description of food caused me to look up Austrian cuisine in the bargain, and it looked tantalizing despite the bones, chicken or otherwise, looming over the book..... ...more

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Jul 16, 2013 Daisy rated it really liked it

Shelves: food, former-yugoslavia-balkan, austria, aroundtheworld2013

Needless to say: quirky, cheeky narrator makes this mystery unlike any other, unless it's another Brenner story by Wolf Haas.

Brenner didn't ask any follow-up questions. Because it had been his experience that you learn a lot more from people when you don't follow up. As soon as you do, they get wary. But if you wait patiently and aren't too interested, they'll tell you everything. But you've got to wait with feeling, and attention, sure, interest, too, even a key word here or there, but don't ev ...more

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Around the World in 80 Books