The Breaking Point

April 27, 2015
Bestseller Bass, the pseudonym of Jon Jefferson and Bill Bass, slathers on the melodrama with a trowel in the least accomplished of the nine Body Farm novels (after 2013’s Cut to the Bone). In 2004, the FBI seeks the skills of forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton, founder of Tennessee’s Body Farm for postmortem research, after a fiery plane crash appears to have ended the life of humanitarian Richard Janus. Brockton finds evidence establishing that Janus died in the crash, but not everyone accepts his judgment. To complicate matters, the crash also killed an undocumented Mexican immigrant, who was crushed by the plane just instants before a mountain lion was set to pounce. Disaster after disaster afflicts Brockton, in both his personal and professional life. Brockton makes some mistakes that seem out of character—given the expertise of Bill Bass, the founder of the real Body Farm—and the unrelenting assault on his sanity lessens rather than increases interest. Agent: Giles Anderson, Anderson Literary Agency.

January 1, 2015

Dr. Bill Brockton is accused of misidentifying a body, threatened by a serial killer who has already attempted to kill him and his family, and shocked by revelations from his wife.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015
Dr. Bill Brockton, founder of the University of Tennessee's Body Farm (and a fictional version of Dr. Bill Bass, one of two coauthors, with Jon Jefferson, behind the Jefferson Bass pseudonym), has a tough case on his hands. A man has died in a plane crash; the body is burned almost beyond recognition, and the FBI asks Brockton to see if he can determine whether the dead man is indeed a world-famous humanitarian, and whether he might have been murdered. Soon Brockton finds his professional expertise called into question and his life and the lives of his loved ones threatened by an old adversary. This is another strong performance in what has become an outstanding series for CSI fans. Brockton still isn't as well known as Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan or Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, but he ought to be. These novels are every bit as compelling and skillfully written as any of the competition.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)