Uneasy Relations

Gideon Oliver Mysteries Series, Book 15

By: Aaron Elkins

Narrated by: Joel Richards

Buried ceremoniously, high in a cave on the Rock of Gibraltar, lies the skeleton of a human woman, clutching the skeleton of a part-human, part-Neanderthal child. Fascinated, Professor Oliver jumps at the chance to visit the site. But two deaths, possibly murders, have rocked Gibraltar. As Oliver tries to piece things together, he's about to fall for some deadly tricks. After all, unlike the Gibraltar Boy, he's only human.

©2008 Aaron Elkins (P)2019 Tantor

More Gideon Oliver fun

Another foreign trek for Gideon and Julie Oliver, this time to Gibraltar. This is the usual mix of foul crimes, intriguing personalities, and witty asides...always a winning combination. One of the things I especially like about this series is the "you are there" sense of place. Elkins gives me the distinct feeling that I have actually visited the sites about which he writes. In fact, the location becomes a vital aspect of each novel, almost a character in. Read it as a stand-alone or in its proper position in the series. It reads well either way.

Why only a four for the performance? Because there were occasions when I had difficulty sorting out the characters. Not a bad performance at all; just not all that great.

Intriguing mystery set in Gibraltar

I've read most of Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver "the bone dective" books and find them all intriguing. Oh, the things you can discover from a pile of old bones.

The reason I picked up UNEASY RELATIONS again is because it is set in Gibraltar, a place I visited last month. Wow, the places Elkins described came alive, from the cable car to the top, the Barbarie Apes, the view of the knife-sharp top edge of the massive rock, to the stalactite filled St Michael's cave where Gideon gave a lecture. Even the airport runway that he and DCI Fausto had to drive across to check out evidence in another town. (I even read scenes to my husband.)

Anyway, at the once-in-five-years symposium of archeologists & paleontologists, Gideon finds himself a near victim of several murder attempts. (Someone else isn't so lucky.) Could it be about the paper he's about to give on fraud? Was it a question about the Neanderthal bones discovered in Gibraltar?
Gideon pieces it together finally, with help from his lovely wife and the smooth dressing Detective Chief Inspector. But it's a shock!

I love Elkins's hero - so intelligent he sometimes misses the ordinary. But give him a set of bones and no one can catch him.

FIVE stars

An excellent narrator is the icing on the top.