The Bone Garden

出版者:Ballantine Books

作者:Gerritsen, Tess

页数:368

价格:25.95

装帧:HRD

isbn号码:9780345497604

具体描述

Unknown bones， untold secrets， and unsolved crimes from the distant past cast ominous shadows on the present in the dazzling new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil–human， female， and， according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles， scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder. But whoever this nameless woman was， and whatever befell her， is knowledge lost to another time. . . . Boston， 1830: In order to pay for his education， Norris Marshall， a talented but penniless student at Boston Medical College， has joined the ranks of local “resurrectionists”–those who plunder graveyards and harvest the dead for sale on the black market. Yet even this ghoulish commerce pales beside the shocking murder of a nurse found mutilated on the university hospital grounds. And when a distinguished doctor meets the same grisly fate， Norris finds that trafficking in the illicit cadaver trade has made him a prime suspect. To prove his innocence， Norris must track down the only witness to have glimpsed the killer: Rose Connolly， a beautiful seamstress from the Boston slums who fears she may be the next victim. Joined by a sardonic， keenly intelligent young man named Oliver Wendell Holmes， Norris and Rose comb the city–from its grim cemeteries and autopsy suites to its glittering mansions and centers of Brahmin power–on the trail of a maniacal fiend who lurks where least expected . . . and who waits for his next lethal opportunity. With unflagging suspense and pitch-perfect period detail， The Bone Garden deftly interweaves the thrilling narratives of its nineteenth- and twenty-first century protagonists， tracing the dark mystery at its heart across time and place to a finale as ingeniously conceived as it is shocking. Bold， bloody， and brilliant， this is Tess Gerritsen’s finest achievement to date."An old mystery is crossed with a modern story in the latest from Gerritsen (The Mephisto Club， 2006， etc.).Julia Hamill， newly divorced and still smarting， purchases an old house outside Boston. Determined to dig a garden， she instead finds the bones of a long-dead woman–the apparent victim of murder–which starts her on a journey to ferret out the story behind her death. Julia connects with Henry， a no-nonsense 89-year-old with boxes of documents that once belonged to the now-deceased previous owner of Julia’s home. The two discover a mystery dating back to the 1830s. At the heart of it is a baby named Meggie， born to the beautiful but doomed Irish chambermaid， Aurnia. Married to a man who cares nothing for her， Aurnia lays dying in a maternity ward with her sister， Rose， at her side. Rose， a spirited 17-year-old， takes Meggie to protect her from Aurnia’s husband， but soon finds herself the target of a bizarre manhunt. Someone is after the child–and Rose， as well， because she witnessed a horrifying murder. The body count piles up as Rose struggles to remain free of those who would take Meggie from her. Meanwhile， a young medical student becomes the chief suspect of the West End Reaper killings when he stumbles onto another terrible homicide. Although he fights the prospect， eventually he and Rose join forces to solve the murders and protect the baby at the heart of the mysterious deaths. Readers with delicate stomachs may find Gerritsen’s graphic descriptions of corpse dissection hard to take， but the story， which digs up a dark Boston of times long past， entices readers to keep turning pages long after their bedtimes." - Kirkus Reviews (starred)

用户评价

这本书的语言风格充满了古典的韵味，但又不失现代的锐利。它读起来不像是在阅读一本当代小说，更像是在翻阅一部被时间沉淀过的史诗。作者的词汇选择极其考究，句子结构复杂却富有音乐性，每一个段落都仿佛经过了精心的雕琢，如同打磨光滑的宝石，折射出多重光芒。我发现自己经常需要停下来，不是因为不理解情节，而是因为某一个词组的并置产生的奇妙化学反应，让我不得不回味再三。这种对语言本身的美学追求，使得阅读过程成为一种近乎冥想的体验。虽然对于习惯了快节奏、直白叙事的读者来说，开头可能会略显缓慢，但一旦你适应了这种优雅的节奏，你就会发现，这种对文字的尊重，极大地提升了主题的厚重感和情感的层次感。它证明了，即便是探讨当下困境，依然可以通过最精炼、最具艺术性的语言来实现深刻的表达。

真正让我感到久久不能忘怀的，是书中对“记忆的不可靠性”这一母题的探讨。作者没有简单地将记忆描绘成一个忠实的记录者，而是将其塑造成一个高度个人化、充满偏见甚至带有恶意的叙述者。随着故事的推进，我们不得不去质疑我们所接收到的信息，主角自己也在不断地修正或推翻自己对过往事件的认知。这种“双重叙事”的张力制造了极强的悬念和智力上的挑战。你不再是被动地接受故事，而是主动地参与到“真相”的重建过程中。这种需要读者投入心力的阅读方式，虽然增加了门槛，但也极大地增强了代入感和对最终揭示的渴求。它不仅仅是在讲一个故事，更是在探讨我们作为人类，如何通过碎片化的、有缺陷的经验来构建自我认同的这个永恒难题。每一次重读，似乎都能发现新的裂缝和新的解释角度。

初读之下，我对于作者构建的那个虚构世界的精细程度感到震撼。这不是那种随随便便勾勒几笔背景的敷衍之作，而是有着严谨的内部逻辑和一套自洽的运行规则。从社会阶层到信仰体系，从历史的断裂到日常的琐碎习俗，每一个细节都经过了深思熟虑的打磨。这种扎实的世界构建为故事的戏剧张力提供了坚实的基础，使得后来的冲突和人物行为都显得无比真实可信。不同于一些过度依赖宏大场面来吸引读者的作品，这部书的魅力恰恰在于那些微小、但至关重要的文化印记。例如，他们如何称呼特定的季节，如何处理死亡的仪式，这些看似边缘的元素，却深刻地定义了角色的价值观和行为模式。我花了不少时间在脑海中描摹那些特定的场景，试图去理解那个世界运作的“潜规则”。对于热爱深度沉浸式阅读体验的读者来说，这无疑是一场盛宴，它邀请你不仅仅是观看，更是居住在故事的维度之内。

这部作品的叙事节奏把握得极其精准，仿佛是精心编排的一部交响乐，在恰到好处的地方蓄势、爆发，又在适当的时刻回归到宁静的沉思之中。作者对于人物内心世界的挖掘，达到了令人惊叹的深度，他们不仅仅是情节的载体，更是复杂人性光谱的生动展现。我尤其欣赏其中对于“选择的悖论”这一主题的探讨，每一个关键的转折点都伴随着沉重的代价，让读者在跟随主角迷失与挣扎的过程中，不断反思自身在相似困境下的可能反应。书籍的结构设计也十分巧妙，采用了多线索叙事，将看似分散的片段最终汇聚成一幅宏大而清晰的图景，这种“抽丝剥茧”的过程带给人极大的阅读满足感。更不用提的是，那些环境的描写，简直是活生生的，你几乎能闻到空气中弥漫的气味，感受到光影在物体表面投下的温度。那种氛围感是如此强烈，以至于在放下书本后，那种挥之不去的意境还会持续萦绕在心头很久。这是一次真正深入灵魂的旅程，远超出了普通故事的范畴，它要求读者全神贯注，但回报是极其丰厚的。

这本书的配乐——如果非要用一个比喻来说明——那绝对是低沉、悠扬的大提琴与突兀、尖锐的打击乐的完美融合。它的情绪张力构建得极为高明。很多时候，叙事似乎都处于一种表面上的平静之下，但你总能感觉到地壳深处潜藏的震动。作者很少使用直白的“愤怒”、“恐惧”之类的词汇来描述角色的情绪，而是通过环境的变化、对话的停顿、甚至是物体放置的位置来暗示暗流涌动。这种“留白”的艺术，让读者必须调动自己的情感储备去填补那些未言明的空白。这种内敛的爆发力比任何歇斯底里的场面都更具穿透力。它让你在阅读时全程保持一种神经紧绷的状态，不是因为害怕突发事件，而是因为你害怕错过那个转瞬即逝、却能点亮整个场景的细微暗示。这是一部真正懂得如何“暗示”力量的作品，它相信读者的智商和共情能力。