The Bone Room - Review

The Bone Room (The Nocturnist - Bk 1) by James Vitarius

Rating: 4
Source: Received from the author review

Description:  (from Amazon - if I wrote my own it'd be pages and pages!)
Dr. Zeke Oswald thought he was getting a fresh start with his new job working the night shift in a small city hospital.  Until, that is, he stumbles across a dead body in the middle of the night.  One of the hospital's nurses has been murdered and soon, beautiful, yet inexperienced detective Selinda Bruchart is looking into Zeke's involvement and his past.  Zeke becomes an amateur sleuth and with the help of hospital intern Patience McMorris, sets out to solve the crime and clear his name.

Genre: Mystery

Why I Picked This Book: This summer I had been contacted by the author and had done a feature on this book (feature).  I really enjoyed the excerpt I read and jumped at the chance to read the book for a full review.

My Impression:
Pros: The characters are very well developed.  All 3 of the main characters, Selinda, Zeke and Patience, have flaws but they're also developed in such a way that you still root for them. There is a decent amount of medical related details but it never felt unreadable or was confusing. There were a few things about hospital staffing and budgeting that I had never really know before which I found interesting.  The mystery itself was very well done.  While I had some wild guesses about what was really going on I didn't know for sure until everything unraveled.  This says book 1 and I was a little worried about a cliffhanger ending because as I was reading this I wanted to find out what was going on!  No worries though, the mystery itself is resolved and I was satisfied with the ending though I do want to find out what happens next.  I was expecting a paranormal mystery do to some shelving on GoodReads (which I can't find now.  Did I imagine it?) and while Zeke has a secret that could kind of be considered paranormal there isn't really anything other-worldy.  I don't want to tell you too much because figuring out what is going on is definitely part of the fun but don't go in expecting serious paranormal.

Cons: While I found all the medical details interesting I do think there was were too many explanations.  It slowed the pacing on some parts that would've been really page turning.  As well, since Patience and Zeke are so well developed Selinda's character seems a little extraneous.  While a detective was necessary and having her inexperienced but intelligent helped explain Zeke's involvement knowing so much about her seemed unnecessary and it some cases distracting.  In the scenes about her - especially her dealing with her colleagues - I kept wanting to get back to the hospital.

Overall:  This was a fun medical thriller with an interesting spin. The characters are likable even when you want to shake them (well that mostly applies to Patience) and unusual. While there were a few flaws it definitely didn't effect my enjoyment of the book.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Yes, I'll be curious to see where this series goes.

Would I Recommend this Book?:  Yes, especially if you enjoy medical type thrillers.