S W KaneBesprekingen

Are you afraid of ghosts?

"The Bone Jar" takes the reader on a journey through an abandoned asylum where the body of an elderly woman turns up. Detective Lew Kirby is on the case, but will soon find how it this case will become personal. In the end, the truth will be revealed.

I've always been intrigued and disturbed by what went on in these places. This book is a thrilling look at how the history of a building collides with the present. Who lives among these walls - whether in the flesh or as a spirit. And what exactly is "The Bone Jar"?

A quick read, this thriller was exciting and kept me on the edge of the page! I don't want to give it all away, so get your copy now! Thank you Netgalley and Amazon UK for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion.

The body of an elderly woman has been found in the bowels of a derelict asylum on the banks of the Thames. As Detective Lew Kirby and his partner begin their investigation, another body is discovered in the river nearby. How are the two murders connected?

Before long, the secrets of Blackwater Asylum begin to reveal themselves. Lew along with the help of an urban explorer, Connie Darke, whose sister died in a freak accident at the asylum, must put the pieces of the puzzle together to keep the killer from striking again.

I really enjoyed this book. I was immediately intrigued with this book when the premise mentioned a murder in an asylum. That itself creates an interesting atmosphere for creepy thriller.

While at times I did get confused while reading because there were so many characters and sub plots going on at the same time. But, at the end all of it with all its twists and turns come together for a thrilling finish.

Overall an excellent start to a new series. Looking forward to more books in this series!

Thank You to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC

A body found at an abandoned mental asylum, sold!

This is a whodunit detective story. Kirby is a good lead character. You will like him. He has his personal problems which made it interesting. The story was a little slow, maybe intentional, with many characters to keep track of. Pace certainly picked up when more clues were revealed. It was hard to guess the villain that's for sure, related characters don't even share the same last name....in my book that's cheating.

This first book in the Detective Lew Kirby series has him trying to figure out who killed an elderly retired nurse and left her body in the abandoned ward she supervised in the Blackwater Asylum.

The case has Kirby looking into events that happened more than 50 years earlier. Who wanted Ena Massey dead? And, how did they get her into the abandoned asylum. Kirby interviews a former patient who has been squatting in a caretaker's cottage on the grounds long enough to have earned squatter's rights. He also interviews the developer who wants to turn the property into luxury living spaces and those he has hired to guard the grounds.

Kirby learns that there are a number of urban explorers who have made all sorts of visits to the Blackwater Asylum over the years including one young woman whose sister died there accidentally some five years earlier. Connie Darke has wanted to find out who was with her sister ever since the accident happened. She and her sister's boyfriend Ed are trying to solve that mystery when Ed himself goes missing.

Then there is the adjoining property that was recently inherited by an heir from Australia who also has ties to the events at Blackwater Asylum.

While juggling his investigation, Kirby is also dealing with some problem that his mother is having that he fears is early-onset dementia.

The story is nicely twisty and told from a variety of viewpoints including Kirby, Connie Darke, and Raymond who is the former patient turned landowner. As I listened and read this one, I was impressed by the variations and accents that Matthew Lloyd Davies used. I was also glad that I could follow along or check on parts of the story in the Kindle book because I'll admit that this Minnesota gal had trouble understanding some of the accents.

London is groaning under a severe snowstorm and Siberian temperatures when the body of an elderly woman is found in an isolated ward of an abandoned and derelict asylum. As soon as Detective Lew Kirby and his partner Pete Anderson start their investigation a second body is found in the River Thames. It soon becomes clear that the past of Blackwater Asylum ,with its tragedies,rumours and whispers,is to play a major part towards the solving of these crimes. It is a good story and the setting,an abandoned asylum during wintertime,is fabulously atmospheric. The writing is sound and the two detectives are likeable and believable. But,there is always a but,there are so many storylines who are, some closely and some marginally, interweaved that it becomes a tad confusing and it does not always lead to a better story. And then some secondary storylines are left unsolved ,probably for a second episode, but ,barring a fantasy trilogy, I don't really like that kind of open ending.

The Bone Jar's description led me to expect atmospheric psychological suspense. In reality, this book is a straight-forward police procedural.

All the pieces needed to create a compelling read are here, but it didn't quite click together for me.

Detective Kirby, who's in charge of the murder investigation, is not all that competent, and his partner is mostly absent throughout. Too many obvious pieces are left dangling until the "ah-ha" moment. I didn't dislike Kirby, nor did I like him. I found his character to be forgettable.

We have a ton of characters, all with secrets, which they allude to but don't unveil until the end. I assume this tactic is meant to build tension. But there are so many characters! Keeping track of who they are, along with their extensive backstories and emotional baggage, is exhausting.

The setting's enormous potential is a missed opportunity here. Much is never explored, examined, or explained. I so badly wanted more from the asylum's history, particularly given the book's title. (I can't explain this without spoilers.)

Kirby's "devastating family secret" is revealed in a short, clipped scene lacking emotion. The explanation is vague and inadequate, and so it wound up feeling like an unnecessary thread in an already overly busy story.

In the end, I enjoyed the story well enough, though it's not one I can rave about.

I love a good police procedural particularly when the author is able to carry a story while developing the central characters to the point where I care as much about the main characters as I do the story that is being told.
The Bone Jar has this in abundance. The book begins with the discovery of the murder of an elderly woman in a run down, abandoned asylum. The setting is amazing and the way the author describes the asylum and surrounding area offers a glimpse of the eerie and isolated area inside and outside the asylum. I truly enjoyed the main characters especially DCI Lew Kirby. I like when I am able to get to know a character by not only through their professional persona but also their personal lives with all the highs and lows that come with life. It brings a depth to not only the character but also the story itself. I truly hope that this is the beginning of a series involving DCI Kirby.

A body is found in a derelict mental asylum in Battersea, clearly related to events and people who lived and worked there many years ago and DI Lew Kirby is tasked with finding out who wanted this person dead. Whilst the asylum is fictional, some of the practices described clearly aren't, but hopefully no longer. The atmosphere of the old asylum and it's ghosts, real and imagined are well described and there are a few red herrings before the culprit and their motives are revealed.