Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Valley of Bones
by Michael Gruber
Rookie cop Tito Morales arrives at the Trianon Hotel in time to see a wealthy oilman plunge ten stories and impale himself on a nearby fence. Soon Morales is joined by detective Jimmy Paz. Together Paz and Morales enter the hotel and discover, in the dead man's room, a most unusual suspect, an otherworldly woman by the name of Emmylou Dideroff. She emerges from a rapturous, prayerlike state and admits that she had a motive for killing the oilman. Psychologist Lorna Wise is enlisted in an effort to make sense of things that go beyond Emmylou's explanation of the murder.

This book is very intense as it describes extremely graphic sexual abuse. Plus it is almost impossible to tell if Emmylou is possessed by the devil or by god. Or is there really a difference between the two? Book two in the series. Tropic of Night is book 1 and is refered to several times in this mystery.

Gruber is the ghostwriter behind Robert K. Tanenbaum popular novels.