Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Skin and Bone

SERIES: Digging Up Bones #2

AUTHOR: T.A. Moore

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 253 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2019

BLURB:

Cloister Witte and his K-9 partner, Bourneville, find the lost and bring them home.

But the job doesn’t always end there.
Janet Morrow, a young trans woman, lies in a coma after wandering away from her car during a storm. But just because Cloister found the young tourist doesn’t mean she’s home. What brought her to Plenty, California… and who didn’t want her to leave?
With the help of Special Agent Javi Merlo, who continues to deny his growing feelings for the rough-edged deputy, Cloister unearths a ten-year-old conspiracy of silence that taps into Plenty’s history of corruption.
Janet Morrow’s old secrets aren’t the only ones coming to light. Javi has tried to put his past behind him, but some people seem determined to pull his skeletons out of the closet. His dark history with a senior agent in Phoenix complicates not just the investigation but his relationship with Cloister.
And since when has he cared about that?

REVIEW:

For anyone who pays attention or somewhat knows me, knows I read ALMOST anything. But one thing I love more than any of the rest, is a good murder mystery/whodunnit/thriller. However you want to classify it. I love books that make you think. Trying to figure everything out and why and hopefully before it’s revealed. And this book checks all my boxes. I could not put it down. And I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to read book 1 first. But that’s my fault. Trust me when I say, I will be going back. Now not having read book 1 yet, I don’t know what all I’ve missed, but for the most part I could figure it out. It is an ongoing series with the same characters, though, so I would recommend reading book 1 first. Hell, I just recommend period.

K-9 cop Cloister and his beloved shepherd, Bourneville, get called out one horrendously stormy night to try to find a missing woman. With the rain pouring the way it is, it’s hard to hope for a trace of anything, but they try anyway. They finally find her a ways away from her car, beaten, bloody and unconscious. When Cloister tries to check her, he’s almost killed himself when the assailant does a hit and run, leaving Cloister broken and bloody as well. When he wakes up, something about things aren’t adding up and Cloister has to figure out why. With the help of his lover, if you can call him that (it’s complicated), FBI agent Javi Merlo, they start digging at what’s going on and find themselves up to their eyeballs in corruption, cover-ups, and more. They are trying to figure out what’s happening before the girl and themselves ends up dead for real this time.

Men are the most stubborn mules lol. Ah, who am I kidding? Women are just as bad. The more I read about Cloister and Javi, the more I wanted to shake them both so bad. They both obviously care so much about each other, but understandably, their pasts make them hesitant. And after learning some of those pasts, yeah, I definitely don’t blame them. Cloister ended up in this line of work after things that happened in his childhood and I felt so bad for him. I can’t go into detail…spoilers..but because of what happened, he was shunned a lot and treated very wrongly. It’s heartbreaking. Doing the work he does is hard too. I don’t know if I could do it. I’ve seen k-9’s that look for missing or dead people and it’s not always as glamorous as tv makes it out to be. People aren’t found as often as you think and it’s not just hard on the cop but the dog as well. They feel all that. So I greatly admire people who do that work. That’s what made me love this book even more.

And for Javi, for him to have even remotely kept working after things that happened to him, damn. I can’t blame him for the guilt and pain he’s going through. After reading what his part in things were, I don’t know if I could be quick to forgive. It’s not horribly bad, but he did use someone in a way he shouldn’t have which lead to something horrible. That part wasn’t his fault. It’s a fine line. Javi’s a good guy, though. I probably would help him move, because, hey, well all make mistakes.

The case they are working on it’s helping. They are dragging some old corruption out in what they are digging. Things that still have a lingering effect on many people. Cops included. The more they dig into the case, the more their own lives seem to resurfacing and making things much harder. And the secrets spilled are some doozies.

I can’t wait to go back and see how this all started. And I can’t wait to see if there is a book 3. Oh I hope lol. This could go so many ways and I’m excited to see any of them lol. Go read these!

RATING:  

BUY LINKS: 

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