Valley of Bones

Compelling and layered, Gruber's second outing will require near-addictive listening. Detective Jimmy Paz, of the Miami PD, works a murder case that will totally change his life as it introduces him to psychologist Lorna Wise and suspect Emmylou Dideroff. The suspect's past involves the Sudan, oil, child abuse, a paramilitary community, a Catholic nursing order--and more. Interpreted by narrator Nick Sullivan, Gruber's novel is pitch-perfect throughout. Sullivan creates truly authentic voices for Paz (a Cuban-American), Emmylou (a rural Southerner), and all the other characters, incorporating emotions with just the right shading. One wants to discover the ending yet doesn't want it to end. M.A.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 8, 2004
Gruber's new mystery/thriller more than fulfills the promise of his dazzling Tropic of Night
(2003), a critical and commercial success and his first book published under his own name. The story emerges from three directions: the POV of Cuban-American Miami cop Jimmy Paz; pages from the book Faithful Unto Death: The Story of the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ
by Sr. Benedicta Cooley; and a series of handwritten notebooks, The Confessions of Emmylou Dideroff
. Gruber brings back Paz ("a neatly built, caramel-colored man, in a beautifully cut gray-green silk and linen suit" and one of the smartest, coolest, most intriguing cops working the pages of American thrillers these days) from Tropic
to investigate the death of Arab oil trader Jabir Akran al-Muwalid, who's been bonked on the head with a piston rod and thrown off the balcony of his hotel room. Inside al-Muwalid's room, Paz finds Emmylou Dideroff kneeling on the floor, having a one-sided conversation with St. Catherine of Siena. The rod belongs to Emmylou, so she's assumed to be the killer; she's put into a mental hospital under the care of Paz's new psychiatrist girlfriend. Emmylou's written confessions tell the horrifying but riveting tale of growing up with an insane mother and a stepfather who molested her, as well as her adventures as a whore, drug dealer and, after joining the Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ, a tribal leader in Africa. Readers will find each of the stories—Paz's, Emmylou's and that of the founder of the Nursing Sisters—equally fascinating. Evocative prose, an erudite author, spellbinding subject matter and totally original characters add up to make this one a knockout. Agent, Simon Lipskar
. (Jan. 4)

Forecast:
A good marketing push and word of mouth should assure a position at the top of the charts for Gruber, who ghosted Robert K. Tanenbaum's bestselling Butch Karp legal thrillers for many years.