Sayers is a local cop. Matt Kauffman is a successful business executive in New York. Bobby, who suffered from abuse as a child besides his adventure in the icy pond, has had the most interesting “career path.” He’s now a psychotic serial killer, murdering people who have a “bad aura” around them. That’s no spoiler; the author details Bobby’s most recent killing in the prologue.

Bobby’s three classmates reunite at the funeral of Matt’s brother (Bobby doesn’t attend) and agree to get together that night at Ray’s house to eat, drink, play video games, and rehash old times. The reunion doesn’t quite go as planned. Ray and Eddie pass out and wake up the next morning, claiming not to know anything that occurred since they passed out. Matt is gone, but he turns up hours later in his car, strangled to death and dumped in the same pond Bobby fell into as a child.

The first half of All the Silent Bones, until Matt’s murder, is primarily a character study of the four boyhood friends. The author shifts the point of view from chapter to chapter among the characters, allowing their life stories over the intervening 40 years to unfold in non-chronological bits and pieces. These results can be challenging to follow at times, especially for readers trying to keep track of all the spouses, former spouses, children, and other relatives of the main characters. Furthermore, the author presents some chapters from the perspectives of secondary and even tertiary characters, each with their own set of acquaintances. While Bobby’s character arc is easy to follow (especially since the author includes some records of Bobby’s therapy sessions), the other three former chums come across as far more ordinary men with a laundry list of typical middle-age problems. None of their stories were compelling, and as a result, I found it difficult for the book to hold my attention.

The book’s pace changed dramatically, and my interest was piqued after Matt’s murder. The rest of All the Silent Bones became an excellent dual mystery in which police try to solve the murders of Matt and the man Bobby killed in the book’s prologue. That victim was a small-time hood who abused his girlfriend, who was Matt’s niece. So, the question arose whether the two murders were connected. Bobby is the most obvious suspect in Matt’s murder (at least for readers), but evidence arises that casts some doubt on that theory.

All the Silent Bones is a classic fair play mystery in the best tradition of authors like Agatha Christie, but with a contemporary feel because of the nature of the characters and the author’s style. Funaro reveals all the clues along the way readers will need to figure out who killed Matt. However, the author’s insistence on fair play explains the book’s complexity. Some clues are carefully concealed in what would otherwise seem to be throwaway bits of information. But if the author didn’t hide those clues among other throwaway bits of information that ultimately went nowhere, the mystery would be easy to solve. Gregory Funaro isn’t at Agatha Christie’s level of maintaining reader interest while dispensing multiple red herrings. However, once I realized what the author had done, I was far more understanding and forgiving of the relatively slow-moving first half. The ultimate payoff came about 50 pages from the book’s end when the author completely stunned me with an unexpected revelation.

Besides the mystery aspects of the book, the characters themselves became more interesting. The murders and subsequent investigation became cathartic events for the surviving innocent characters, and I was pleased that the author provided some details about their eventual fates. They became quite likable by the end of the book. I also felt the author (a Rhode Island native) provided an excellent overview of life in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Cranston (a Providence suburb that’s the second largest city in RI). While I’ve read plenty of novels set in Boston and its Massachusetts environs, well-written stories set in Rhode Island are relatively few and quite welcome.

All the Silent Bones requires patience by readers who may get bored or confused by the book’s first half. The ultimate payoff is worth it. The second half could use a bit of tighter editing as well. (Funaro suffers from the Dr. Evil syndrome of having the villain explain every detail of their actions.) The book proves to be one of the best mysteries I’ve read for a while and, ultimately, a good character study as well. I won’t remain silent; I recommend All the Silent Bones.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through BookSirens. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.