Release Day Review ~ Bone To Pick by T.A. Moore

Release Day Review ~ Bone To Pick by T.A. Moore

Title: Bone to Pick

Author: TA Moore

Release Date: August 14, 2017

Category: Mystery/Suspense

Pages: 240

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Cloister Witte is a man with a dark past and a cute dog. He’s happy to talk about the dog all day, but after growing up in the shadow of a missing brother, a deadbeat dad, and a criminal stepfather, he’d rather leave the past back in Montana. These days he’s a K-9 officer in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and pays a tithe to his ghosts by doing what no one was able to do for his brother—find the missing and bring them home.

He’s good at solving difficult mysteries. The dog is even better.

This time the missing person is a ten-year-old boy who walked into the woods in the middle of the night and didn’t come back. With the antagonistic help of distractingly handsome FBI agent Javi Merlo, it quickly becomes clear that Drew Hartley didn’t run away. He was taken, and the evidence implies he’s not the kidnapper’s first victim. As the search intensifies, old grudges and tragedies are pulled into the light of day. But with each clue they uncover, it looks less and less likely that Drew will be found alive.

*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*

Bone to Pick is a mystery involving a missing child. What was originally thought to be just a singular case turns into a serial killer case as the FBI and Police follow the clues to find the missing boy. This is not a romance. It does involve sex between two men who hate each other. FBI agent Javi is called to work the missing boy case. Javi is one of the biggest jerks (the politest term I could think of) I've read in a book. He's a condescending snob and rude with a superiority complex. In his own mind, he's better and smarter than everyone else. And, after reading this case, it's definitely only in his own mind.

Javi has to work the case with the local police department and K9 officer Cloister, who doesn't come close to meeting Javi's standards. Cloister is too stupid, ugly, dog loving, redneck and white trash to meet Javi's standards. Cloister didn't seem like a bad guy, at least I didn't hate him. He was smart and thought outside of the box. He has a passion for finding missing children and with the little shared about his childhood, his passion and determination were understandable. Cloister was the reason this case came to a conclusion, along with several others along the way. Not that he received credit from anyone for the work he's done. I enjoyed Cloister's relationship with his K9 partner. What I didn't like about Cloister was his willingness to allow someone like Javi to use him.

I thought the mystery with all the twists, turns and clues was well done. I think the serial killer was pretty obvious but I overlooked him for a while because I allowed Javi and Cloister to distract me. Once I decided to ignore that part, I quickly realized who the killer was.

There was no relationship at the end of this story, so there was no HEA there. There was a conclusion to the case, which seemed to be wrapped up. I'm not sure if this is a standalone book or if another book will follow. For me, there is nothing that could be done to redeem Javi and make him a likable character. In fact, there was a point that I was rooting for the serial killer.

For the mystery part of this book, I'd definitely rate it 4 stars. It was well done, interesting and kept me turning the page. But, for the whole story combined, I'd give it 3.5 stars.