Bones

A repetitive, self-indulgent style and confounding shifts in perspective mar Thompson's ( East Is West of Here ) otherwise credible thriller, centering around Freddy Bascomb, a painter and divorced mother of two who sketches murder victims, or ``bones,'' for the Seattle police. When her father, an alcoholic former reporter, is murdered and his brain removed from the body, Freddy realizes that a madman is on the loose. She hopes her PD connections will speed the investigation, though her feelings toward her father are as ambivalent as those she has for her mother, who is remarried to a younger man. Although the police compile a lengthy list of suspects--including Freddy's ex-husband, her father's longtime friend Sandy and even Freddy's fledgling romantic interest, a forensic anthropologist--Freddy is forced to rely on her own resources and the help of a few friends to thwart the danger stalking her and her family. The grisly resolution will come as a genuine surprise to readers who stay the course. BOMC alternate selection. (Mar.)