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The Dark Place
The Dark Place
The Dark Place
Ebook267 pages4 hours

The Dark Place

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Gideon Oliver earns his moniker “The Skeleton Detective” in this riveting entry to the Edgar Award–winning mystery series “that never disappoints” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
 
Deep in the primeval rainforest of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, the skeletal remains of a murdered man are discovered. And a strange, unsettling tale begins to unfold, for forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver determines that the murder weapon was a primitive bone spear of a type not seen for the last ten thousand years. And whoever—or whatever—hurled it did so with seemingly superhuman force. Bigfoot “sightings” immediately crop up, but Gideon is not buying them.

But something is continuing to kill people, and Gideon, helped by forest ranger Julie Tendler and FBI special agent John Lau, plunges into the dark heart of an unexplored wilderness to uncover the bizarre, astonishing explanation.
 
Fans of authors Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen and television shows like Bones will be fascinated by Aaron Elkins’s award-winning landmark forensic detective series.

The Dark Place is the 2nd book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
 
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 1, 2014
ISBN9781497609945
Author

Aaron Elkins

Aaron Elkins’s mysteries and thrillers have earned him an Edgar, an Agatha, a Nero Wolfe Award, and a Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement Award. His nonfiction works have appeared in Smithsonian magazine, the New York Times magazine, and Writer’s Digest. A former anthropology professor, Elkins is known for starting the forensic-mystery genre with his 1982 novel, Fellowship of Fear. He currently serves as the anthropological consultant for the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force in Washington State. Elkins lives in Washington with his wife, Charlotte—his occasional collaborator—who is also an Agatha winner.

Read more from Aaron Elkins

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Reviews for The Dark Place

Rating: 4.666666666666667 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

12 ratings6 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved it! Just surprising and delightful and so very interesting right to the last well crafted sentence.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    captivating

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am just getting to know Gideon Oliver and while I too have those Really??? moments I find the stories interesting enough to subdue my disbelief. In The Dark Place Gideon is involved in a mystery that involves the temperate rain forest in Washington State. Here the sun never reaches the ground and in most of the area the sky is not even visible. There was a definite sense of time and place that grabbed my attention.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A wonderful crime novel from Aaron Elkins, bringing his hero -- forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver -- on stage for the second time. In general, the books in this series are quick and amusing reads, from which you learn a little about forensic anthropology, and a little about whatever locale Elkins has chosen. This book, however, goes a lot further. To say where it goes would give too much away, but the setting (Washington's Olympic National Park) becomes a palpable presence. So does the person who becomes a central character, a truly fascinating individual. I've reread this more than once, and expect to do so again.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington can hide a lot. But can it hide a prehistoric tribe? So it would seem in this latest round of Gideon Oliver's adventures, along with his wife Julie. They make a great team, and add John Lau to the mix you get entertainment.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not bad. It's a very sudden passion - particularly after Fellowship of Fear established Gideon as still getting over Nora - but though sudden it's reasonably explained/explored. The mystery is something of a side-story - not the major focus of the book, though it is what moves things forward.

Book preview

The Dark Place - Aaron Elkins

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