In a novel rich in historical detail, acclaimed author Eliot Pattison reconsiders the founding of America and explores how disenfranchised people of any age and place struggle to find justice, how conflicting cultures can be reconciled through compassion and tolerance, and ultimately how the natural world has its own morality. Aboard a British convict ship bound for the New World, protagonist Duncan McCallum witnesses a series of murders and apparent suicides among his fellow Scottish prisoners. A strange trail of clues leads Duncan into the New World and eventually thrusts him into the bloody maw of the French and Indian War. Duncan is indentured to the British Lord Ramsey, whose estate in the uncharted New York woodlands is a Heart of Darkness where multiple warring factions are engaged in physical, psychological, and spiritual battle. Exploring a frontier world shrouded in danger and defying death in a wilderness populated by European settlers, Indian shamans, and mysterious scalping parties, Duncan, the exiled chief of his near-extinct Scottish clan, finds that sometimes justice cannot be reached unless the cultures and spirits of those involved are appeased.
Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Having already won an Edgar for his Inspector Shan series (The Skull Mantra, etc.), Pattison makes a strong bid for another with this outstanding mystery set in colonial America. Scottish prisoner Duncan McCallum, indentured to the Ramsey Company, is troubled by a series of mysterious deaths on the ship carrying him to the New World. When McCallum's close friend Adam Munroe and a professor who was to work as a tutor are added to the list of the dead, McCallum, who has extensive medical training, is enlisted by the captain to investigate. The shipboard mysteries remain unresolved when they arrive in New York, and McCallum's quest for the truth leads him to perilous encounters on both sides of the French and Indian War. Pattison's moving characters, intricate plot and masterful evocation of the time, including sensitive depictions of the effects of the European war on Native Americans, set this leagues beyond most historicals and augur well for future entries in this series. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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"[M]oving characters, intricate plot and masterful evocation of the time."
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Most helpful customer reviews
By Jeffrey Swystun
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
It took time for the novel to come together but once momentum was found, it was an infectious read. My initial struggles involved the lack of clarity among the characters, a dense plot involving many angles that eventually pay off, and a lack of pace in the first half of the book. The colonial America envisioned by Pattison harkens back to the atmosphere and detail employed by James Fenimore Cooper. He introduces Scots, Irish, Welsh, English, and the various tribes occupying the Eastern seaboard up to the Great Lakes. The affinity between the displaced Highlanders and the tribes is based on historical fact and makes for an amazing backdrop for the novel. Many mysteries make up the plot including murder, sedition, greed, class, race, spirituality, and an old world facing eradication in the face of rapid change. It may take some work to get through all that goes on in this ambitious story but you will be rewarded. I look forward to Pattison's follow-up.
By Dave and Joe
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This book is full of great ideas but is executed with clumbsy writing. I found the story difficult to follow and the characters only partially realized. I finished it ... but I forced myself to ... not high praise. On the upside, I learned a lot about early American history ... well researched, realistic depiction of the time.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars
52 reviews
47 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An exceptional work of fiction
Mar 30 2008
By thewordlover
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
In BONE RATTLER, Pattison writes a brilliant suspense novel that includes insights about the founding of our country, as well as the spiritual nature of both Native Americans and the persecuted minorities like the Scots who fled to these shores for refuge, freedom and a new life. These disenfranchised people had to make up justice on the early frontier even though they did not speak the same language, share similar cultures or espouse the same religious views. How did this happen uniquely in pre-colonial America? The crimes in this mystery encompass people from several distinct cultures (Scottish, English, Huron, French, Iroquois, Dutch, German, Quaker, Jesuit etc). BONE RATTLER focuses on the heroism inherent in maintaining identity or culture in the face of great trials; the sacrifices made by the founders of our country; and also the question of what law and justice mean and how they can be developed and preserved. This novel truly is leagues beyond the average mystery! It is hard to imagine a subject more relevant in our contemporary world than how democracy can be created, and how disparate tribes and peoples can communicate with and get along with one another. To have woven all of this into a fasciating mystery is a triumph.
34 of 38 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth Getting Past The First 20 Pages
Jan 16 2008
By Robert Abidor
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Let me say it straight out-the first 20 pages are really tough. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on. But I forced myself to continue and it was worth the effort.
Pattison's brillant tale of mystery and muder set during the French & Indian Wars deserves your attention. At a time when American's struggle to understand the Muslim world, Pattison takes us back to another time of cultures crossing: Native American's versus European settlers. Here we face the Europeans trying to grasp the religion and religious symbols of the culture they cross-with deadly consequences.
Good and evil, man's mistreatment f his fellow man are simple story lines. But when you add the lost culture of the Native A merican's who inhabited the area north of New York City massive lessons can be learned. The significance of the geogrpahy, so close to the World Trade Centers, should not be lost on any reader.
I do not try to summatize the book. I leave that to others. But if you want a great read with lots to learn, pick up Bone Rattler!
Pattison's brillant tale of mystery and muder set during the French & Indian Wars deserves your attention. At a time when American's struggle to understand the Muslim world, Pattison takes us back to another time of cultures crossing: Native American's versus European settlers. Here we face the Europeans trying to grasp the religion and religious symbols of the culture they cross-with deadly consequences.
Good and evil, man's mistreatment f his fellow man are simple story lines. But when you add the lost culture of the Native A merican's who inhabited the area north of New York City massive lessons can be learned. The significance of the geogrpahy, so close to the World Trade Centers, should not be lost on any reader.
I do not try to summatize the book. I leave that to others. But if you want a great read with lots to learn, pick up Bone Rattler!
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Colonial Killings
Jan 4 2009
By EddieLove
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
A Scots prisoner en route to America during the French & Indian War is asked to employ his medical training to investigate a killing onboard ship that continues as he encounters more violence in the colonies. I usually love historical thrillers, and this one started out well, but gets bogged down as the hero pores over the same clues again and again. There's admirable detail in the impassioned histories of the characters, and good insight into the period, but the proceedings are a bit exhausting, certainly overlong. (Plus, it's pretty obvious in this day and age that the native Americans are not going to be depicted as the bloody savages that they're talked about here for the first two-thirds, and these prejudices will be proved wrong. Which is all right and proper - but it does put the reader ahead of the curve suspense-wise)
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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