Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America by Eliot Pattison

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This was the Free Friday selection from B&N 3-11-11, and it is no longer free.

Several reviewers on the goodreads.com site mentioned they kept waiting for it to get better and they thought it did when the book was halfway finished. I was still disappointed by the end of the book. We were all intrigued by the premise: a Highland Scotsman must serve his British criminal sentence in the colonies and his sentence is commuted to seven years indenture as a tutor to the children of Lord Ramsey in Edentown, New York. Several readers thought it got better as more of the mystery was explained, and I continued to question to the very end of the book why Duncan McCallum would continue his actions instead of seeking out the settlements of Scotsmen in the Carolinas.

Instead of recommending this book, I recommend historical narratives by Allan W. Eckert such as The Wilderness Empire.



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