BoneMan's Daughters

Robert Petkoff masterfully portrays intelligence officer Ryan Evans's personality change after he experiences torture in the Middle East. Upon his return home, his daughter is kidnapped by the BoneMan, a serial killer who breaks all the bones of his child victims before killing them. Evans's personal experience with torture techniques makes him the FBI's primary suspect. Petkoff's versatile vocal skills deliver a compelling plot that is classic Dekker. In particular, Petkoff's depiction of the insane workings of the serial killer's mind is riveting. The substance of this story is raw and the scenes of torture unsettling, but the accounts of violence are suggestive, not graphic. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

February 9, 2009
Bestseller Dekker (Chosen
) introduces a serial killer with an unusual MO—he breaks all the bones in his female victims' bodies while leaving the skin perfectly intact. Two years after Austin, Tex., authorities catch the person they think is the BoneMan, they begin to realize they've got the wrong guy. The real murderer, Alvin Finch, who hasn't killed anyone during those two years, is getting restless and decides to take up his old trade. Meanwhile, Cmdr. Ryan Evans, an intelligence officer in Iraq, is captured by insurgents who torture him; they replicate the BoneMan's crimes using young children and make him watch. Ryan escapes and returns to Texas, where his teenage daughter is abducted. Accused of being the BoneMan, he's captured by police, escapes and eventually, as all readers know he must, joins in battle against Finch. Those with an insatiable appetite for thrillers about creepy, sadistic killers of young women should be satisfied.

June 29, 2009
The “BoneMan,” a serial killer, who murders his victims by breaking their bones, but not their skin, re-emerges after a two-year hiatus and abducts 16-year-old Bethany Evans, the estranged daughter of military intelligence officer Ryan Evans. Having recently returned from Iraq, where he was captured and psychologically tortured by insurgents, Ryan is an emotional wreck. His mental state not only impedes his efforts to find Bethany, but also gives the authorities reason to suspect him of being the BoneMan himself. Robert Petkoff's narration matches the novel's tense pace step-by-step. He handles the diverse cast of characters with ease, and though his voice sounds too youthful for Ryan, it works perfectly for the BoneMan, who Petkoff infuses with chilling malevolence. A good—and gruesome—suspense-filled ride. A Hachette/Center Street hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 9).

April 1, 2009
Well known for taut, supernatural thrillers ("Sinner; Skin") that push readers to the brink, Dekker goes over the edge with a gruesome plot that may make sensitive readers squirm. A serial killer is kidnapping young girls, breaking their bones, and leaving them to die. Ryan Evans is an intelligence officer who is alienated from his own family. When the BoneMan kidnaps Ryan's daughter, Ryan must take on this deranged killer himself to save her. Full of Dekker's trademark suspense, this well-written thriller is bound to elicit strong demand from fans. Despite the dark material, it does not contain overly graphic accounts of violence. For CF suspense collections.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2009
Christian novelist Dekker offers a mainstream novel featuring a soulless serial killer, a top Naval Intelligence officer and a 17-year-old aspiring model in a tale set in Austin, Texas.

Ryan Evans, a career officer, finds himself imprisoned while serving in Iraq by a man who wants to teach him a lesson on war. In a room with photos of children killed in a bombing plastered to the walls, his captor gives the officer an edict: Evans must hand over his wife and child back in the United States or watch a succession of Iraqi children die by having their bones slowly broken. Evans manages to break free and return to the base, but not before witnessing several children suffer this horrible fate. The experience profoundly affects him. Returning home, Evans tries to reestablish his life with his estranged wife, Celine, and daughter, Bethany, an aspiring model. But while Evans was serving his country, Celine and Bethany have moved on. Celine has found another man—District Attorney Burt Welsh—and she wants out of her marriage. As for Bethany, she simply wants nothing to do with her father, but none of that matters when the BoneMan strikes again. BoneMan—so named for his method of killing young female victims by breaking their bones without breaking their skin—haunted Texas for years, then abruptly stopped for two years (coincidentally, it's the same amount of time that Evans has been absent from the area). Populated by characters who relentlessly review everything they know about the case but never develop into people the reader will care about, Dekker's story is lightly and improbably plotted. Many moments in the book seem to exist only as space-fillers, and there's one implausible plot twist after another.

Dekker's villain—who is addicted to Noxzema skin cream—is almost likable compared to his victims and the other characters, all of whom overthink every action in this less-than-thrilling tale that might hit the mark with Dekker fans but will leave most readers begging for mercy.

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