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Does Gus Carpenter really want to know what’s inside the skeleton box? In Anthony– and Barry Award–winning author Bryan Gruley’s gripping new novel, Gus must decide if the truth is better off dead and buried.
Mysterious break-ins are plaguing the small town of Starvation Lake. While elderly residents enjoy their weekly bingo night at St. Valentine’s Catholic Church, someone is slipping into their homes to rifle through financial and personal files. Oddly, the intruder takes nothing—yet the “Bingo Night Burglaries” leave the entire town uneasy.
Worry turns into panic when a break-in escalates to murder. Suddenly, Gus Carpenter, editor of the Pine County Pilot, is forced to investigate the most difficult story of his life. Not only is the victim his ex-girlfriend Darlene’s mother, but her body was found in the home of Bea Carpenter—Gus’s own mother. Suffering from worsening dementia and under the influence of sleeping pills, Bea remembers little of the break-in.
With the help of Luke Whistler, a former Detroit Free Press reporter who came north looking for slower days and some old-fashioned newspaper work, Gus sets out to uncover the truth behind the murder. But when the story leads him to a lockbox his mother has kept secret for years, Gus doesn’t realize that its contents could forever change his perception of Starvation Lake, his own family, and the value of the truth.
“Better late than never if you haven't started reading or recommending Gruley's outstanding trilogy. . . . His characters successfully convey the realities of today's troubled economy and remind us that old secrets can be even more painful when discovered later.”
Bryan Gruley is reporter at large for Bloomberg News and the former Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal. He has won the Anthony, Barry, and Strand Awards and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best first novel. He lives with his wife in Chicago. Visit BryanGruley.com.
MerONM
Posted March 3, 2012
Since this book has not yet been published, it's impossible to review!
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.tedfeit0
Posted September 27, 2012
A very old and deep-seated secret brings to an end the Starvation Lake trilogy. It begins with a series of home invasions in the quaint Michigan town on Bingo Night, when inhabitants are obviously away from their houses. The only mystery, however, is that nothing seems to be missing and the sheriff’s inability to solve the crimes is affecting his reelection efforts.
Then the home of Gus Carpenter’s mother, who appears to be in the early throes of dementia, is invaded on a night she chooses to go to sleep instead of playing bingo, and her best friend is found dead on the bathroom floor, bringing Gus to accelerate his investigation as editor of the local paper, and uncovering a scandal of epic and personal proportions rooted in the long past.
This novel is somewhat less satisfying than the preceding two books in the series, despite the same characters and setting. The town’s (and the author’s) enthusiasm for ice hockey remains pleasant and exciting, and Gus’ efforts to uncover the truth are rewarding. The writing is on the same high plane of its predecessors, but somehow it doesn’t quite measure up to that admittedly lofty standard.
Frankly, if this does in fact conclude the Starvation Lake series, I’ll miss the town, and I hope the author has another gem up his sleeve.
Recommended.
Al607
Posted July 12, 2012
A great Read, I'm looking forward to the next one!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.There are more than a few secrets hiding in the small town of Starvation Lake, Michigan, and this author has brought them to the surface in such a way that if you wanted to put the book down for another day, you could not.
As the story opens, we learn that there have been a rash a break-ins in town recently and they have all happened when the residents are away playing bingo at the local Catholic Church. The eerie thing about these break-ins is that nothing is stolen, the burglar just goes through the residents' personal papers.
The main character, Gus Carpenter, runs the local paper, The Pine County Pilot, and he and his reporter, Luke Whistler, are on the case. They like to try to shake up the local police as they have had no luck at all in finding the Bingo Night Burgler. Sadly, one night, two ladies decide not to go to bingo and are in the house (which happens to be Gus's mother's house) when the burglar arrives and unfortunatly, one of them is killed. The victim is Phyllis Bontrager, the mother of Gus's former girlfriend, Darlene, who is a police officer and Bea Carpenter's best friend. Bea Carpenter, Gus's mother, is suffering from the first stages of dememtia and remembers very little of the break-in. The Sheriff, Dingus Aho, who is coming up for election, is under pressure to solve these crimes and, to top it all off, one of his officers is out on the streets asking the townspeople to vote for him for Sheriff and he will clean up the mess. Many plots come to the fore at this time. Gus, editor of the town newspaper wants to cover the crime and most others just want to cover the crime up; he still has feelings for his ex-girlfriend, and he is always fighting with the people who own the newspaper and want to shut it down and last, but certainly not least he is helping to coach the town hockey team, The River Rats, in their quest for the state junior hockey championship.
Now, back to the secrets. Gus and Luke (who has his own agenda) are out there trying to dig up some clues to Phyllis's murder and the burglaries. They come up against numerous blank walls including a secret box that his mother has been keeping for many years. Also, Luke has some secrets too and is investigating on his own. It seems that the mystery leads them to the long-ago disappearance of a Roman Catholic nun from the local diocese and a box that was buried in the woods. The reader will feel like they can talk, touch, stand up and cheer for the hockey team and, ride along with the characters in this novel of a small-town world where everyone knows everyone and everyone else's business. This is the third in a series about Gus Carpenter (the others are The Hanging Tree and Starvation Lake). Although The Skeleton Box is definitely a stand alone novel, it might be interesting to read the others first just to see where everyone came from.
Quill Says: Sometimes a secret should remain a secret...don't be so quick to try and solve the puzzle. This is a wonderfully written book that yanks you right into this small town world and you won't want to stop until the last page. A definite keeper!
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Posted March 23, 2013
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Posted May 22, 2012
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Overview
Does Gus Carpenter really want to know what’s inside the skeleton box? In Anthony– and Barry Award–winning author Bryan Gruley’s gripping new novel, Gus must decide if the truth is better off dead and buried.
Mysterious break-ins are plaguing the small town of Starvation Lake. While elderly residents enjoy their weekly bingo night at St. Valentine’s Catholic Church, someone is slipping into their homes to rifle through financial and personal files. Oddly, the intruder takes ...