Tania Carver’s novel Cage of Bones is the third in a series featuring Inspector Phillip Brennan. The story is crafted so that you need not have read the first two in order to dig right in. The story begins with a grisly discovery. Workers find a cage full of bones and a young, feral child locked inside. The mystery deepens with the discovery of “The Gardener” and the investigation uncovers dark secrets both past and present.Carver is actually a two-person writing team and the novel has the feel of two hands here. It’s broken into very short chapters. This means we jump between characters, settings, and time quite frequently. I found myself going back through the book as I returned to certain portion of the storyline in order to refresh my memory. This short approach also never allowed me to lose myself in any one particular portion of the story. Perhaps pure mystery/ thriller readers enjoy this fragmented style. I found it a bit jarring. It kept the narrative exclusively on plot and never on character.The plot was full of twists and turns as a good mystery thriller should be. It had a few over-the-top plot devices, but it was an entertaining read. ‘Cage of Bones’ by Tania CarverPublished by Sphere, 17 September 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7515-4525-8Employees of a building company inspecting an old house for demolition, discover a feral child in the cellar imprisoned in a cage of human bones.Detective Inspector Phil Brennan of the Essex Police Major Incident Squad, calls in his partner psychologist Marina Esposito, to try and talk to the child, but the child can barely form words. As the CSI and the detectives investigate the cellar it becomes apparent that this is not an isolated incident. They have disturbed a killer who has been operating secretly undetected for many years.How has this killer operated for so long, where are his victims? And more importantly does he have accomplices that have enabled him to have stayed hidden for so many years?This is the most action packed thriller that I have read for many a year. The story moves along at a cracking pace. The characters are well fleshed out and each of their lives a story in themselves. Detective Rose Martin, manipulative and power hungry, who had an affair with DCI Ben Fenwick, and is now is well in with his successor DCI Brian Glass, back on duty after a period of recuperation following her abduction in an earlier case. DS Mickey Philips, who has unexpressed feeling for DC Anni Hepburn -will he ever be able to voice them? And Faith – what is her story?It’s not a comfortable book, delving as it does into the depths into which humans can sink. Greed, lust for power, and evil. As Phil Brennan digs around he becomes more and more uncomfortable – but he cannot put his finger on the cause of his discomfort, he only knows something is wrong, but what? As the hunt for the killer intensifies before he kills again, there are secrets long buried now rising to the surface which will have a profound effect on Brennan, and those around him. For lovers of a good thriller this is a must. Atmospheric and plain scary you won’t be able to put it down. ------Lizzie Hayes
