In Blood
and Bone, Austin S. Camacho’s fourth novel in his Hannibal Jones
series, the Washington PI takes on a missing person case.
The novel is a
sort of family saga. When he is hired to find, Jacob Mortimer, the estranged
son of a Black millionaire Harlan and father of 18 year old Kyle, Hannibal has
to work against time. Kyle needs a bone marrow that only Jacob can provide, or
he will die in a few weeks. Abandoning his wife Camille and new born son 18
years ago, Jacob disappeared with a woman called Barbie and some of his
father’s valuable coins.
In what starts out as a routine missing
person case, Hannibal soon finds himself tangling with gangsters in New Jersey,
helping solve a murder, and preventing a scheme to defraud Harlan Mortimer of
some of his millions. His
search for Jacob takes him from Washington DC to Baltimore, New Jersey, Texas,
Virginia, and finally Mexico. Along the way, he discovers a young woman in
Baltimore who is also looking for Jacob. In New Jersey and Virginia, he tangles
with a two mobster brothers. In Texas and Mexico, his journey ends in a
confrontation with some very bad people.
Camacho opens the
novel in his usual violent style, which is also the beginning of the subplot.
Hannibal beats two henchmen guarding the pimp Floyd in the Tip Top club so he
can negotiate the release of an 18 year whore named Jewel who wants to get out
of the business. Jewel will later get the evil eye and Hannibal the silent
treatment from Cindy when she sees Jewel standing in Hannibal’s kitchen.
Camacho’s inventiveness
is again on display, and he doesn’t waste words on pointless descriptions. He
keeps the pace moving and sustains the suspense until the very end. The subplot
involving finding Jewel’s mother seems at first as though it is merely there as
relief from the violent action of the main plot but Camacho skillfully weaves
it into the central plot while showing the evolving relationship between Hannibal
and his girl friend Cindy.
