Jeff Biggers's Blog

Check out the trailer for the forthcoming novel, DISTURBING THE BONES by celebrated filmmaker Andrew Davis!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6nz8...

Enter to win a free copy of our forthcoming novel, DISTURBING THE BONES! And thanks for passing the word. Info here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Disturbing the Bones
Andrew Davis and Jeff Biggers. Melville House, $29.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-68589-145-9

"Global peace struggles collide with intimate family drama in this thrillingly cinematic collaboration between The Fugitive director Davis and journalist Biggers (In Sardinia). During an archaeological dig in Alexander County, Ill., in which ambitious young scientist Molly Moore uncovers ancient villages dating back to 6,000 BCE, her drones and remote sensing equipment also unearth the bones of Florence Jenkins, a civil rights reporter who went missing in 1978. The discovery catches the attention of Florence’s son, Chicago homicide detective Randall Jenkins, who’s long wondered what happened to his mother. Ignoring warnings from federal officials, Molly and Randall try to piece together Florence’s fate. Meanwhile, a breakthrough defense program operates out of nearby Fort Defiance with hopes of giving the U.S. clear dominance over Russia. A misstep in that program causes a nuclear disaster in Siberia, further heating up the impending U.S. presidential election and increasing pressure on an upcoming peace summit in Chicago. Eventually, Molly and Randall’s investigation intersects with the ever-worsening political mess, ratcheting up the stakes until the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. Intense, vivid action and the intricate interweaving of the two main plot threads elevate this above standard-issue disaster thrillers. By the time the breathless denouement rolls around, readers may find they’ve been up all night. "--Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

“From a Mississippi riverside archaeological dig revealing an unexpected atrocity to the back streets of Chicago, a knife-edged investigation that morphs into a political thriller about a world on the brink. An ingenious page turner.” —Michael Mann, film director and New York Times bestselling author of Heat 2

“Fans will find everything in this story they expect from the creator of The Fugitive –a high-voltage thriller, an amazing range of characters, and an astonishing conclusion.” —Sara Paretsky, New York Times bestselling author of the V. I. Warshawski novels

“Suspenseful and action-packed, Disturbing the Bones combines all the elements that has made the movies of Andrew Davis so compelling, with the thoughtful perspective and insights that can only be found in a novel.” —Louis Sachar, New York Times bestselling author of Holes

“An exceptionally edge-of-your-seat murder mystery connected to modern day Cold War global politics. With echoes of current domestic political intrigue, the tale hooks the reader from the beginning and never lets up until the very end.” —Ron Stallworth, New York Times Bestselling Author of Black Klansman

”An ingenious thriller that doesn’t miss a beat.” —Robert Baer, New York Times bestselling author

“Andrew Davis is a cinematic master, and Jeff Biggers is a brilliant scribe of wild places. Together, they have created a thriller that will keep you up all night.” —Luis Urrea, New York Times bestselling author of Good Night, Irene

“Disturbing the Bones is a great thriller, but also a beautiful evocation of why one human–a complicated set of bones–is worth as much as all humans, in the world of loyalty and honor.”—Susan Straight, bestselling author of Mecca and In the Country of Women

Happy to announce my forthcoming novel, DISTURBING THE BONES, coauthored by celebrated filmmaker Andrew Davis, director of classics like The Fugitive, Perfect Murder, Holes and Under Siege.

Thanks for checking it out. Info here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

"Andrew Davis is a cinematic master, and Jeff Biggers is a brilliant scribe of wild places. Together, they have created a thriller that will keep you up all night."
--Luis Urrea, NY Times bestselling author of Good Night, Irene.

A propulsive debut political thriller set in the aftermath of a global nuclear weapons crisis -- from the acclaimed filmmaker of The Fugitive and an award-winning journalist

A plot to disrupt a global peace summit in Chicago collides with a civil rights case breakthrough at a mysterious archaeological site

Chicago detective Randall Jenkins has not been back home to the historic Civil Rights hotspot of Cairo, Illinois since the disappearance of his mother, a well-known journalist, several decades ago.

That all changes the day Dr. Molly Moore, an ambitious young archaeologist in the national spotlight for her groundbreaking high-tech discoveries, uncovers a set of strange bones at a huge 12,000-year-old site at a highway construction project. With retired military general and contractor William Alexander breathing down her neck to cover up the dig, Molly and Randall soon find themselves in the middle of a wild military conspiracy.

The detective and archaeologist’s entwined family mysteries suddenly thrust them into the central position as the only people who can ensure the safety of the ongoing Chicago global peace summit. They must take on the rogue general who views any disarmament agreement as a clear and present danger to the United States. The fate of global peace and the lives of Molly and Randall hang in the balance.

Book Review in Non-Fiction, History, Travel
In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy

A worthy corrective to the island’s unfairly tarnished reputation.

The book is a successful and well-written blend of history, travel, art, literature, and culture, and it is probably no accident that it’s called In Sardinia, as Biggers extols Bruce Chatwin and his famous In Patagonia. “Instead of following a linear script of his journey across Argentina, Chatwin’s work followed the literary digressions of a wanderer, reflecting the restlessness of his own curiosity and the lives of those he met, especially immigrants,” he writes. “Chatwin described it as somewhere between ‘the narrative of an actual journey and a symbolic one.’”

Full review here: https://www.washingtonindependentrevi...

"Mr. Biggers is an enthusiastic and erudite guide. Seeking out the past in local lore and in Sardinia’s long and overlooked literary tradition, he returns the island to the center of our imaginative map of the Mediterranean. He finds a kindred spirit in Andrea Loddo, an “experimental archaeologist” and performance artist who has taught himself to smelt Bronze Age-style figurines. D.H. Lawrence would have appreciated this neo-Neolithic endeavor, with its promise of “the rebirth of the Nuragic culture.” In the flying sparks from Mr. Loddo’s hammer, Mr. Biggers detects a “cultural revival” that may yet return Sardinia to the Sardinians."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-sardi...

Jeff Biggers’s In Sardinia is a story about becoming enchanted by an Italian island—its history, customs, literature, art, ancient archaeological sites, and heroes and legends too.

Biggers regards Sardinia as one of Italy’s most complex and beguiling regions. Years after his first visit, it continues to hold him. But on his first introduction to the island, he and his family were greeted by a furious mistral; their boat landed on its rocky coast, where the boulders appeared to be sculpted by the gale-force winds.

Curious and willing to be surprised, Biggers (a journalist, historian, and travel writer) ventured along Sardinia’s back roads, encountering places that tourists never see. On one such excursion, the grandson of one of the island’s poet laureates was so eager to show Biggers where Antioco Casula had lived that he abandoned his lunch. The book is alive with such encounters, covering the island’s artists, poets, writers, artisans, shepherds, and innkeepers and the stories they told.

Capturing Sardinia as a rugged, demanding land of astounding natural beauty, Biggers notes that its history is one of family loyalty, secrets, passion, and vengeance. Bronze Age Sardinia was a vital trade partner that possessed rich resources—its silver mines even supplied King Solomon’s legendary city. Biggers traces the island’s strong, vibrant culture (older than the ancient civilizations of Rome, Greece, and Etruria) to show how it withstood all attempts to eradicate it. Today, the whole land is called an “open museum,” with thousands of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, Stonehenge-evocative dolmens, burial tombs, and towers dotting the landscape.

In Sardinia is a delightful travelogue that unearths magical stories from beneath island stones.

Foreword Magazine
Reviewed by Kristine Morris
May / June 2023

https://www.forewordreviews.com/revie...

In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy.
By Jeff Biggers
May 2023. 336p. Melville, $27.99 (9781685890261). 914.59
April 1,2023

What are the stories of Sardinia, and who shall tell them? That question is at the heart of this
admiring ode to the Mediterranean Italian island situated to the west of Italy between France and Algeria and Tunisia. When the author and his family stayed there in 2017, and during later visits, they found a vibrant debate swirling over Sardinia’s cultural and historical significance. Archaeological discoveries such as thousands of nuraghi (ancient megalithic structures found nowhere else) established the island as a Bronze Age cradle of civilization. Biggers’ accounts, which meander between topics including language, famous Sardinians, his tours of various sites and cities, art, and the ways Sardinian culture is expressed today, are presented as a form of storytelling instead of as a tourist guide or extensive history. He captures moments in history from the time of Cicero through the island’s role in post-Revolution France’s ambitions and all the
way to WWII, when the Allies planted a false story about invading the island. A fine mix of
geography and history that offers a vigorous riposte to the various misunderstandings heaped upon Sardinia.

In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy
Jeff Biggers

Kirkus Reviews: "Neither holiday postcard nor dry ancient history, this is a fascinating journey around Sardinia."


This book is neither conventional history nor tourist guide. The author wants readers to experience this exploration of the people, terrain, and many-layered civilization of Sardinia as an expansive s'arrogliu, or “storytelling gathering,” about the region. Biggers and his family moved to Alghero, a port city in northwest Sardinia, in 2017, then journeyed all over the island in the ensuing five years. His recounting of Sardinia's history as the Mediterranean's "most vigorous place of intersection between societies” includes invasions and colonization over 2,000 years.

The author pays special attention to prehistory, as Sardinia's ancient monuments—Neolithic dolmens, menhir stone formations, Bronze Age towers—create an "endless museum" of artifacts and ruins, but he does not ignore the island's traditional arts and culture. Nearly every page of this dense volume is packed with art, literature, and song. Excerpts from oral and written texts set the scene for each chapter, and 35 pages of bibliographic notes further fill out the context.

Biggers is especially good at describing the wealth of Sardinian literature and its notable figures, such as novelist Grazia Deledda, the first Italian woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature, in 1926. He also describes the long tradition of political and underground Sardinian literature, a "language of resistance" in the face of Italy's fascist-era prohibitions. Sardinian shares a lexicon with Latin but has its own Indigenous roots, flowering in 75 dialects. Artists still use traditional techniques for contemporary expression, helping shape Sardinian identity and providing its villages "a narrative of viability" in the age of globalization. The inhabitants of this mostly rural, low-density island have had to push back against a centuries long reputation for banditry, barbarism, and peril. The author’s rich, detailed chronicle of his family's years long exploration serves as a compelling guide and a new appreciation of an overlooked island.

Neither holiday postcard nor dry ancient history, this is a fascinating journey around Sardinia.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...