the name because of its similarity to the Egyptian capital. But I was unaware of its long and often unsavory history, which forms the backdrop for the novel. (Co-author Jeff Biggers is an acclaimed journalist and an expert on this part of the United States.) Cairo was the site of lynchings, race riots, and a Ku Klux Klan revival in the early days of the 20th century and again in the 1960s. Partly because of the racial unrest, the population has dwindled to near-ghost-town proportions of 2,000 people today.

It’s against this backdrop that Disturbing the Bones is set. A group of archaeologists are excavating a significant find of primitive early American artifacts and human remains near Cairo. Among the thousand-year-old skeletons, they find one considerably more recent, that of Florence Jenkins, a black journalist who disappeared while on assignment in Cairo in 1978 to cover the unrest. Her son, Randall Jenkins, remembered his mother’s disappearance and has since become a Chicago police detective. He goes to Cairo to investigate. There, he meets Dr. Molly Moore, the archaeologist in charge of the expedition. She also has a family connection to the disappearance, as does the book’s third central character, retired General William Alexander, the wealthy defense contractor who sponsored the dig. (Cairo is in Alexander County, whose namesake has no relation to the fictional Alexander’s family.)

Disturbing the Bones starts out as a fascinating historical mystery about an area of the United States that’s itself a mystery to most readers. The authors incorporate historical details about Cairo seamlessly into the narrative. The families of the fictional main characters blend in with real-life events from decades earlier. Randall maneuvers around the inter-agency hurdles (the FBI soon becomes involved in the case) and learns more details about the events surrounding his mother’s disappearance. I expected Disturbing the Bones to become a well-written “ghost of the past” historical mystery.

Then, one-quarter of the way into the book, its scope expanded significantly and abruptly. While Randall is investigating his mother’s murder, a nuclear accident takes place in Siberia, killing thousands. I had as hard a time processing this transition as readers of this review probably did reading my last sentence. The accident leads to the election of a new president a few weeks later who is committed to nuclear disarmament. Under pressure from the new president, the world leaders soon schedule a disarmament conference in Chicago (a convenient plot development). Thanks to the international focus on the summit and the possible resulting security issues, the investigation into Florence Jenkins’ murder falls entirely off the map—except for Randall.

Within a few chapters, Disturbing the Bones shifts from a historical murder mystery to a political action thriller. The authors don’t completely forget the events back in Cairo, and the book’s focus returns there repeatedly as the book progresses. But when the Russian ambassador to the summit conference is murdered on a Chicago street, subsequent events there become much more critical in the eyes of the world. Experienced genre readers will probably guess many of the book’s later events and how the storylines eventually intersect. Still, they will be swept along among the various shootouts and firefights that take place.

Andrew Davis knows how effective movie thrillers are constructed, and Disturbing the Bones has all the elements. The two leads, Randall Jenkins and Molly Moore, are fully developed and likable. The book provides enough of their backgrounds to show how they are wrestling with the demons of their families’ past. Co-author Jeff Biggers contributes the region’s history, which the authors insert seamlessly into the novel. The book never bogs down in lengthy history-lesson information dumps. The details of the period provide background so that the historical material makes sense. They also encourage readers like me to learn more about Cairo’s complex history, which would make a great story by itself.

Disturbing the Bones is the rare novel that succeeds in two disparate genres. The transition between historical mystery and political thriller is rough initially. Also, the story has a couple of highly convenient coincidences for the protagonists. However, overall, it’s a page-turner with suspense building until the end. Also, the story’s political background is especially appropriate for the political climate of the 2020s. I’m guessing that Andrew Davis is probably working on the details of this book’s film rights because it has the makings of the rare thriller that’s not a rehash of many other movies. As for the book, I can confidently predict that Disturbing the Bones will disturb the sleep patterns of those who wind up staying up late at night to finish it.

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