"People are rarely who they seem."

This book was honestly a blur for me.. I felt like there was so much going on and some unnecessary characters that led to some instances of confusion about who was who although they may appear more in future books? It was definitely fast paced though and jumped right into the action in the first couple pages which got me hooked right away. I also kept going back and forth on who the killer was throughout the book which kept me turning pages to try and uncover more clues! I enjoyed the psychiatrist aspect as well and the glimpse into the often misunderstood worlds of psychosis and drug addiction. Overall, a pretty good medical thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review - pub date 8/11.

I have never read anything by Carrie Rubin before, but will definitely be reading more by her. This book snared me from the first page and was well paced and I liked the characters. It reminded me of the Robin Cook books, medical based thrillers. Its nice to find a lead who is not a hero type, but a hard done by guy. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes thrillers. Can't wait for the next one to see where the story goes, especially with the cliff hanger at the end.

This is the second book in the series. I haven't read the first book but didn't feel like I missed anything by reading this book first. I might go back and read the first in the series as I enjoyed this book.
I did find the storyline a little far fetched however it was engrossing and the kind of book that you don't want to stop reading.

Working in health care for over three decades, part of with an orthopedic surgeon, I was immediately drawn to this book. Ben Oris, an orthopedic surgeon survives a plane crash en route to a humanitarian mission with his team. They all return to work. Then Ben finds a severed limb of one of his patients because of an implant number on the limb and bite marks.. Then more start showing up and Ben suspects a member of his team. With the help of his friend Laurette, an Epidemiologist, and her Psychiatrist friend Derek, they race against the clock to try to figure out the killer and save someone close to one of the team. I really enjoyed this book and related to all of the hospital storyline. Great psychological medical thriller. My own negative comment is the why of the killer.

After reading the Bone Curse a fantastic five star read I was really hoping for more of the same. A slow burner, I wanted to know more about the killer who I found had no depth and so repetitive. I love the the main character Oris and his interaction with those he loves and cares for. But poor old Oris must be the unluckiest surgery resident in the world. As a medical thriller a good read but it could have been so much more.
Thanks to Indigo Dot Press and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review

I was excited to have the opportunity to read this book as I like medical thrillers and I am familiar with orthopaedic surgery so right up my street.
I found the book a reasonable read, I liked the 2 interwoven threads of the plot, there was plenty going on. for a medical thriller it wasn’t full of jargon and technical terms. It had a bit of in house humour too. I liked the snippet of the psychic with the mind reading. It also gave us psychosis and murder.
I found the tension built up well towards the ending. It was quite emotional too.
I definitely like the character of Ben, the relationship with his landlady is sweet.
I think we could have heard more from the killers point of view especially during the killings to add some grit and a bit more depth. when we heard from the killer the first 2 times I felt they were shallow and repetitive.
I felt that some of the descriptions were over done such as the office furnishings and I didn’t need the other psychoses describing.
Thanks to netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

Benjamin Oris just can’t catch a break. The second-year orthopedic surgery resident in Philadelphia has his life back on track three and half years after a horrific experience with a gruesome disease and a Vodou Priest. Suddenly, severed limbs are showing up belonging to former hospital patients. The first one is found by Ben and his baby mama, Sophia while they are on a hike with their young son. As more limbs are found Ben comes under suspicion with the police.

The clock is ticking as Ben frantically tries to find out what is happening. Sophia is scheduled for knee surgery and will not be talked out of it. Does it have something to do with his group of co-workers whose plane crashed while on a humanitarian mission in Alaska last month and spent five days without food? Why has one of his good friends been acting so strangely? To assist him, his old friend Laurette comes to town bringing her co-worker Derek, a forensic psychiatrist who has an alarming theory.

This book was suspenseful, action packed and chilling, all the things that make for a great thriller. The only thing I could find fault with were the lengthy medical descriptions that make little sense to me but are easy to skip over. Thanks to NetGalley and the published for the opportunity to read this book. I gave it four stars.

The Bone Hunger by Carrie Rubin is a disturbing medical thriller with too many characters and graphic descriptions. Ms. Rubin's fans will be sure to enjoy the story. Just not to my liking.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

A macabre and unnerving medical thriller! I had to take deep breaths as I finished The Bone Hunger, wow!

Benjamin Oris is a second-year orthopaedic surgeon resident at Montgomery Hospital in Philadelphia. He is the only member of the elective reconstructive surgery orthopaedic team that wasn’t part of a humanitarian mission four weeks earlier. There was a plane crash and the other members survived five days in the Alaskan snow without food.

Benjamin shares custody of his toddler son with Sophia, there is no romance between them but there is a close friendship .

A severed limb belonging to one of Ben’s recent knee replacement patients who died due to medical reasons is discovered in the park during a hike wth Sophia and his son. In the end the police put it down to a hospital prank but a few weeks later another limb with an implant is found in another park, this time belonging to a missing patient and based on evidence has been murdered. There is a psychotic murderer on the loose connected to the hospital and as the murders suddenly start to escalate Ben becomes a prime suspect.

Ben risks his career as his tries to uncover which of his co-workers is responsible, each of them appear to be suffering emotionally in one way or another from the effects of the plane crash and not being their usual selves.

With the help of Derek a forensic psychiatrist who has a shocking theory, Ben & Derek get close to discovering the truth but will it cost them their lives?

This was a spine-tingling mystery thriller that I found unique, disturbing and cleverly plotted. It did manage to tug on my emotions towards the end.


I wish to thank Netgalley & Indigo Dot Press for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in return for an honest review

Carrie Ruben brings Benjamin Oris back in another gripping medical thriller that, once again, will boggle the mind and put armchair detectives following the breadcrumbs when former patients begin showing up, their replacement limbs hacked off. As if the second year surgery resident hasn’t lived through enough, now he is the prime suspect for the heinous crimes.

Just when Benjamin’s life seems to be back on track, he is plunged into a career-risking fight to uncover unbelievable horrors in the surgical suite. Who is the real monster? What so the implants have in common? Is someone framing Benjamin or has he become an unwitting pawn in a game of ego, wealth and deceit?

Amazing character development, brutal, yet mesmerizing scenes, a nail-biting hunt for the truth, the clock is ticking for Benjamin and the patients who have placed their lives in the hands of the medical masters.

THE BONE HUNGER is appropriately gruesome, wickedly twisted and will haunt readers after that last page is turned. Are the nightmares of the medical world as dog-eat-dog as we laymen could believe? Carrie Ruben has set the table for a feast of intrigue and you will want to devour every course in this cleverly dark and fast-paced series!

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Carrie Rubin! This is my honest and voluntary review.

In this medical thriller, the second in a series, Ben Oris finds his world in disarray when the cut-off limbs of his patients start showing up in Philadelphia parks. With a wild premise like that, we’re off and running.

I found this to be a thoroughly engaging read. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn’t find there to be too many characters. In fact, the handful that were introduced made for a nice suspect pool, because half the fun in the novel is trying to figure out who the killer is. I enjoy getting to know characters, because it makes me more interested in their fates, so I found this to be a nice blend of storytelling and character development. Good description too. I will read more in the series. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was really excited in the first chapter where we jumped straight into the action but sadly it dropped that pace fairly quickly when it went back to 2 weeks earlier and felt more like I was reading an episode of greys anatomy. There was just too much to not care about and I got very bored very quickly and it didn’t hold my attention. I think there were to many unnecessarily introduced characters so I didn’t feel like I knew anything about anyone in the book.

The real nail in the coffin for me DNFing this book was the main character having inherited a chocolate shop from his father who was called Willy. It just felt like a joke at that point

I havent read a medical mystery in years. I really enjoyed this. Though a little too much description of minor characters some times (maybe they'll be in book three?) All in all, I liked the writing. Kept going back and forth on the killer and I loved that. Highly recommend.

Oh my gosh I enjoyed this book. Had trouble putting it down. Everything comes together in the end, but I was kept guessing throughout. Ben’s a great character, and he’s got a nice supporting cast around him. I like medical settings so I found the surgery and hospital scenes well depicted, but I also liked that it went beyond that. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy. Now I’ll have to go read the first one in the series!

My review in three words: Too Much Information.

It's a DNF for me.

Hidden somewhere between all the unnecessary information there is a story. I think it's even a good story. However, I cannot stand books where half of the story consists of biographies of people we only see once in the story. I do not need to know, when someone enters a building, how old the receptionist is, how many children he or she has, what colour hair, or what they had for breakfast. Too Much Information.
I also found the story about the plane crash with the whole medical team rather ridiculous - not to talk about the constant praying before, during and after surgery. It's ok if people want to pray but this was again Too Much Information.
Last but not least the background of the main character. Either you tell just enough to the readers to get to know a character better, or your let his or her actions speak. This book is all tell and no action. Despite all the talking the main character stays flat. And here too: Too Much Information.

Thanks to Netgalley for this digital reading copy. The description was much better than the book itself ;-)

The first book was great and this one was no exception. It did start out a little slow but picked up once it caught back up to the present time. Benjamin has definitely grown since the first book, though he is still stubborn about anything supernatural. But he is more open to it now than what he was after the ordeal in the first book. The plot was very suspenseful and it kept me guessing until the very end who the killer was. The surprise/twist right at the end was also well done. It was definitely something I didn't see coming at all. I can't wait to find out how it will affect the next book.

The plot:

Three and half years after a bizarre incident nearly derailed his life, Benjamin Oris is back on track as a second-year orthopedic surgery resident. With a son he adores, a circle of supportive family and friends, and a great shot at winning the Conley Research Grant, his future looks bright. But when the severed limbs of his former patients start turning up in Philadelphia parks, everything he’s worked for threatens to collapse.

Covered in bite marks and bearing recent surgical implants, the hacked-off limbs heighten the anxiety among his already traumatized coworkers, many of whom survived a plane crash in Alaska the month before. Could someone they know be a killer?

I thought this book was just okay. It seemed like it was trying to be too many genres at once-a medical thriller, a romance, a mystery, and I thought it made the plot clunky, slow, and all over the place.

The Bone Hunger is the second book in the Benjamin Oris medical thriller series written by Carrie Rubin. I followed the author's blog a few years ago and picked up a copy of the book to read on a trip to Italy. If you read my review of that book, you'll learn that something that happens to the main character happened to me while in Italy, and I was convinced I had a curse put on me. Fast forward a few years... this one is released (or will be soon, yes... I got lucky enough to find an early copy), and since I can't travel right now, I opted to read the book in my apartment. Luckily, I didn't experience the same thing this time around as I would not want to find missing human limbs in the park! But I would definitely recommend you read this book; it is fantastic.

To catch you up... Ben has a young son with a woman he met in the last book. They are not together, but they are very close. As a result of what happened in the previous mystery, her knee needs to be repaired. Just so happens that it's a doctor Ben works for who will do the surgery, but it's also the same doctor who has several patients that have been brutally murdered. Less than 10 people were part of the surgical team, and it's clear one of them has gone a little off the deep end after a plane crash earlier in the year. But can Ben save the mother of his son in time?

I don't often read medical thrillers, and the only other one I do regularly read is the Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta series, which is much more technical and detailed, sometimes too much so. Rubin's books are perfectly balanced because she explains enough to keep you connected but also not too much that you're inundated with trying to understand the medical pieces and losing track of the clues and red herrings. As a mystery, it's well plotted and ripe with moments of clarity and confusion. Between characters with expected attitudes and others with shocking ones, there are lots to sink your teeth into here... you will bounce back and forth with guessing the villain's identity, and when it comes together in the end, you might kick yourself for missing some things.

The setting is described strongly. I can see the hospital, recognize the city of Philadelphia, and connect with the various rooms and backgrounds. I easily followed the chase scenes, found myself drawn to Ben's generosity and love for his family and friends. His dad is amazing, and his mom is quite a pip - by the way, she's in a coma the entire book! This is a great series... I like that I root for him, and in the end, there is a shocker apart from the mystery that left me breathless and worried. I can't wait to find out where the series goes next! Easily 4.5 stars and one to put on your reading lists this summer.

Thank you netgalley, author and publisher for providing me with this book.
I dnfed this book at 126 pages. I couldn't carry on and the main reason for that was a) slow writing b) the story kept shifting off the track.
I found myself getting easily distracted from this book because it didn't focus on the main plot. It was predictable as far as i read it. This could be just me. If someone likes to read a book that has more to it than just thriller? I would recommend this to them. The starting was really promising but the writing was slow and i found myself skimming through the pages which is a sign for me to dnf the book.
Since i dnfed it i wouldn't upload this review on my blog or my Instagram. I am rating it 2 stars because it did capture my attention and it did have a promising start.

I am not someone that usually goes for medical thrillers and the cover duped me which is super smart and I think there will be a lot more readers pulling them book of the shelves because of the cover and then being surprised when they get passed the first chapter and seeing that this isn’t just a normal medical thriller. I am glad that I was duped because I would have never picked it out.