Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America

Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America
by Eliot Pattison

Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America
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Book Summary Information

Author: Eliot Pattison
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-01-01
ISBN: 1582434646
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Counterpoint

Book Reviews of Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America

Book Review: A riveting tale from beginning to end.
Summary: 5 Stars

This colonial America mystery, Bone Rattler, is a riveting read from beginning to end. Eliot Pattison weaves a powerful story of the battle between European superpower forces, France and England, and their Native American counterparts, especially the Iroquois and Huron, in a struggle for dominance; one to dominate the new land and take possession by force or guile; the other to retain a traditional, at times sacred or profane, way of life. These two worlds clash inevitably on a disenfranchised class, the conscripted Scots Highlanders who were broken at Culloden Moor. And therein lies a powerful tale.

Bone Rattler is plot driven by a murder mystery: why are men dying mysteriously aboard the transport ship to America, and again upon reaching New York? And this is interesting as mysteries go, trying to untangle tantalizing clues, like bread crumbs left on the forest trail. But soon this becomes overwhelmed by a more powerful story, of Clan McCallum and the Highlander conscripts pitted against the English crown and armies, and the Ramsey Company. But then it goes deeper, into the forest lore of the Native Indians, further reflected in the ancient lore of the Highlanders, who find connecting lines where the two are not so different. And now the story is driven by this conflict between the Old World and the New, on many levels. Pattison captures this conflict masterfully, all woven into the murder mystery at bottom of this whole tale. At times reading it, I felt as if I were reading a stream of consciousness, something of Joyce, even a love story; but at other times I was thrown fully into the North American forest, where I could almost smell the loam and distant campfire. Eliot must know the woods, because the sense of the forest is like being there. A great read.

I cannot give this book anything less than five star. It was a fabulous read, difficult to put down. And since this was my first introduction to Eliot's work, I cannot wait to read another. Well done!

Summary of Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America

In a novel rich in historical detail, acclaimed author Eliot Pattison reconsiders the founding of America and explores how disenfranchised people of any age and place struggle to find justice, how conflicting cultures can be reconciled through compassion and tolerance, and ultimately how the natural world has its own morality.
Aboard a British convict ship bound for the New World, protagonist Duncan McCallum witnesses a series of murders and apparent suicides among his fellow Scottish prisoners. A strange trail of clues leads Duncan into the New World and eventually thrusts him into the bloody maw of the French and Indian War. Duncan is indentured to the British Lord Ramsey, whose estate in the uncharted New York woodlands is a Heart of Darkness where multiple warring factions are engaged in physical, psychological, and spiritual battle.
Exploring a frontier world shrouded in danger and defying death in a wilderness populated by European settlers, Indian shamans, and mysterious scalping parties, Duncan, the exiled chief of his near-extinct Scottish clan, finds that sometimes justice cannot be reached unless the cultures and spirits of those involved are appeased.

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