The Bone Garden

I just finished reading this book and it definitely was a page turner. I have never read Tess Gerritsen before, and knew nothing about her, but I'm glad I picked this book up.

This is the story about 1830 Boston and present day Boston, and how the lives of people in the past and present collide. In 1830 Boston, the city is rocked with a series of murders by a killer the press has called The West End Reaper. In present day, a woman discovers a body in her yard as she working the soil. This body leads her to search through boxes of the previous owner of her home, along with the help of her previous owner's brother. They discovers articles and letters relating to the West End Reaper murders.

The 1830s portion of the book focuses on young medical students, including Oliver Wendell Holmes who later wrote a medical journal/discovery that doctors would prevent the spread of disease by (here's a shocking idea) washing their hands, and a group of students struggling to learn the profession as well as defend themselves from the rumors that the West End Reaper is possibly a doctor.

The characters are very easy to relate to and easy to fall in love with. I loved Norris and Rose from 1830 Boston, and Julia, Henry and Tom in present day Boston. I haven't read very many books where the past and present blended so well together, but Tess Gerritsen does a marvelous job of mixing the two and combining the lives of her characters, past and present.