Cut to the Bone

New York Times bestselling author Jefferson Bass delivers the long-awaited prequel to his chilling series—revealing the origins of the Body Farm
One of Suspense Magazine's Best Books of 2013
In the summer of 1992, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee senator Al Gore begin their long-shot bid for the White House. On a sweltering hillside in Knoxville, Dr. Bill Brockton, the ambitious young head of the University of Tennessee's anthropology department, launches a unique—some say macabre—research facility. Brockton is determined to revolutionize forensics to help solve homicides. But his plans are derailed by a chilling murder that leaves the scientist reeling from déjà vu. Followed by another. Then another: bodies that bear eerie resemblances to cases from Brockton's past. The police chalk up the first corpse to coincidence. But as the body count rises, the victims' injuries grow more distinctive—a spiral of death that bodes ill for Brockton himself. If the killer isn't found quickly, the death toll could be staggering. And the next victims could include Brockton . . . and everyone he holds dear.

Jefferson Bass is the writing team of Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass. Dr. Bass, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, is the creator of the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility, widely known as the Body Farm. He is the author or coauthor of more than two hundred scientific publications, as well as a critically acclaimed memoir about his career at the Body Farm, Death's Acre. Dr. Bass is also a dedicated teacher, honored as U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Jon Jefferson is a veteran journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. His writings have been published in the New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, and Popular Science and broadcast on National Public Radio. The coauthor of Death's Acre, he is also the writer and producer of two highly rated National Geographic documentaries about the Body Farm.