Title: A Bounty of Bone
Author: P.G. Lengsfelder
Series: The Eunis Trilogy Book #2
Publisher: Woodsmoke Publishing
Genre: Mystery Thriller, Action Adventure
First Publication: 2022
Language: English
Book Summary: A Bounty of Bone by P.G. Lengsfelder
A haunting tale, inspired by real events, driven by timeless legends . . .
After years of abuse for her albinism and macabre face, Eunis believes she’s finally turned her life around and shed the superstitious beliefs that tormented her as a child. Now on the precipice of a successful television career, she’s offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel as part of a global TV crew investigating the surreal weather in South Africa’s isolated Land of the Silver Mist.
There’s just one problem: Eunis and her adopted New York family are abruptly informed of the abduction of their young niece, Kyra, who’s been taken for her albino body parts in remote Tanzania. The family pleads with Eunis to find her, their last and only hope of finding Kyra alive.
Eunis tries to temper the family’s expectations. But when she’s separated from her TV crew, she journeys thousands of miles and finds herself alone in the shadow of Tanzania’s untamed Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a massive 2.5-million-year-old volcanic cauldron, inhabited by the world’s highest density of wild dogs, lions, and hyena.
Closing in on the truth, can Eunis survive the chilling local superstitions and nightmarish forceshunting for body parts that look like her own?
Book Review: A Bounty of Bone by P.G. Lengsfelder
There are moments when reading a book makes you feel like you’re right there with the characters, sharing their lives and experiences, having tea and biscuits with them, and cheering them on as they go through their trials and tribulations. And when you realise that you’ve reached the final page, the last phrase, you’re left with a strange feeling because you know it’s time for you to say your goodbye to the characters. A Bounty of Bone, written by PG Lengsfelder, is an example of one of these types of works.
In the first book of the trilogy, Beautiful to the Bone, we were introduced to Eunis Kindsvatter, an albino girl with a grotesque brown birthmark staining her left cheek from eye to chin. She experiences unpredictable hypersensitivity to people and places. Even before clouds form, she can smell the moisture in the air and anticipate a storm by its aroma, and she can hear its thunder before the sky strikes white. She is able to sense the wind before it caresses a tree. A Bounty of Bone opens with thirty-nine-year-old Eunis trying to get a job at Weather One TV with the assistance of Gordon Mingle, her high school friend and a meteorologist.
Soon after, she learns that her friend Ruthie Bluestone’s twenty-year-old niece, Kyra Nafasi, has been kidnapped somewhere in Tanzania. When Kyra was on her way home from school one evening, she was kidnapped by unknown individuals. Four days later, a fatally injured Kyra was discovered propped up against an alley wall with both hands severed. She had first been transported to a doctor’s residence, but later she was relocated to another unknown location. No one could be certain of her whereabouts. In Jamaica, Ruthie’s sister hadn’t heard anything about Kyra in days, and they were becoming worried. There is no way to find out if Kyra is still in danger, whether she is receiving the appropriate treatment, or if she is still alive.
Through her cleverness, Eunis, along with the TV Producer and on-screen talent, will be traveling to Africa for an assignment. Ruthie approaches Eunis with a request, asking for her assistance in locating Kyra. As Eunis travels throughout Tanzania in search of Kyra, she stumbles into an environmental conspiracy, further endangering her safety.
Eunis is a wonderful character whose maturation is a fundamental part of the series. Her backstory and ongoing character development provide the reader with a rich understanding of the issues that she faces as a child with a physical trait that distinguishes her from others. It was impossible not to care about Eunis and admire her strength of character to endure the bullying and ridicule she experienced because of how she looked as the result of being born with albinism. She encountered way more than her fair share of cruel people in her lifetime. There are other extraordinary characters who embody what unconditional love is, what friendship truly means. It is a story of fate, of faith, and of friendship, and how all of these things make us who we are, not how we look. These characters are introduced as Eunis embarks on a journey to find Kyra.
A Bounty of Bone runs the gamut of emotions; tender and terrifying, heart-breaking and hopeful. This book does a wonderful job of exploring a number of important themes, including acceptance, loss, and loneliness. PG Lengsfelder delivers a vivid, descriptive, and well-written story here with some unforgettable characters. The tale is narrated in the first person from the point of view of Eunis, a young lady who is exceptional for her many unique qualities. The most compelling aspect of this book is Eunis’ journey as she works through her own problems while also looking for Kyra.
To sum it all up, it was heart-wrenching, hopeful, and a compelling, fast-paced thriller book with an ending that I found to be totally satisfying and shocking. Mr. Lengsfelder tells the story with a brisk writing style using short chapters. It is a beautiful book that can be finished in a short amount of time and manages to tap into every emotion. My imagination and senses were very much engaged. It makes some very poignant points about faith, love, and forgiveness. If you are in the mood for a book that is very different from your normal read, I recommend you give PG Lengsfelder’s A Bounty of Bone a go.
