January 23, 2006
Readers who manage to put the hyperbolic and misleading subtitle aside will find this an enjoyable if unremarkable addition to the ceaseless, CSI
-inspired forensic subgenre of true crime. Mann, deputy director of the federal Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, studied with masters of the field, including the legendary Body Farm founder, Bill Bass. The 20 chapters do a nice job of presenting the essence of forensic anthropology, although there is little that will be new to anyone who has read a similarly themed book (and Bass recently penned his own memoir, a better place for a newcomer to start). Mann's skill and dedication are unquestioned—he pieced together the smashed bones of one of the victims of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer—and his role in helping to identify soldiers' remains is admirable, but many of his case studies are similar, and a number end inconclusively (belying the book's title). The author might have done better to present fewer war stories, but to look at each in greater depth.