Mother.GAMER.Writer

Originally Reviewed At: Mother/Gamer/WriterRating: 4 out of 5 ControllersReview Source: NetGalleyReviewer: ArielBlood and Bone by Don Hoesel was a great archaeological adventure that was reminiscent of the Indiana Jones franchise. The third in the Jack Hawthorne Adventure series, it was still easy to read and get through without reading the first two (although I will be picking those up as well). Jack Hawthorne and his wife, Esperanza (aka Espy) have retired from archaeology and have been focusing on raising their two boys, Alex and Jim. All of this changes when Jack’s friend Duckie calls him, warning him to flee. Years ago, Jack, Espy, and Espy’s brother Romero, buried the bones of biblical prophet Elisha in the deserts of Australia, never to be seen again. Now, Jack must recover the bones to keep him and his family alive. The plot of this novel was amazing, I love a good historical adventure, and Blood and Bone does the trick. The search of Elisha’s bones takes Jack and Espy to Australia, Russia, and France, and the novel never gets dull at any point. If the two aren’t being chased by any of the three organizations that are after them, they are piecing together clues to take them one step closer to their goal. The clues were really fascinating to me, but it did make the novel a little hard to follow at times because I wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened. However, I love watching people figure clues such as these out, and once Jack and Espy figured out the clues, it was easy to go back and see how they pieced it all together. Jack and Espy are a wonderful couple, and they kept me entertained throughout the entire novel. Jack is definitely more of the daredevil, the risk taker, the one more likely to throw caution to the wind, whereas Espy is more rational and keeps Jack in check. This does not make her any less enthusiastic to go on their adventure, however. There are multiple moments where Jack either has an idea, or gets them into a mess, and Espy proceeds to start a string of Spanish that Jack doesn’t understand, but knows she would never say in front of the boys. And Espy is the one who speaks multiple languages and is able to help the two of them navigate through the country by gaining the locals’ trust. There are about three different organizations after Jack and Espy throughout the novel, and while this definitely adds to the intensity of the novel, I got to the point where I started to wonder who WASN’T after them. The only other gripe I really had with the novel was I felt that the ending was really anti-climactic. I was left with a couple of questions that weren’t resolved, which always bothers me. Overall, Blood and Bone gets 4 out of 5 controllers. Despite the unsatisfying ending, it was a phenomenal read, and an exciting adventure that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. I definitely look forward to reading more works by Hoesel.