Brill
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Excellent Kathy Reichs offering. Easy to read, fast paced, sharp funny dialogue. The fact that the storyline was set in Charlotte and not Quebec was a breath of fresh air too. The constant acronyms Reichs has a penchant for using in the past books get a bit wearing at times. Not in this one, however. I'm a bit behind in the series so I'm looking forward to getting round to reading the next one.
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Great Book - Easy Read
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This is the first Kathy Reich book I have read and I got it on the basis of the Bones TV series. The character in the book is not really like that of the TV series, but don't let that put you off. First off all I like the style the Author writes, there are no long and boring sections where an author just rabbles with long descriptive passages on various items. It is written in a style where Temperence is telling the story as it happens to her. Chapters are short and each chapter tends to end on a cliff hanger.
I borrowed this book from our local library, took it away on holiday and read it completely in 4 days. My normal reading matter is Terry Prattchet and they normally take me a couple of months to get through so you can tell how engrossing it was.
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Bare Narrative Suffers
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Dr Brennan returns once more in `Bare Bones'. This time she is about to go on holiday; that is until three new cases come across her desk. One is to identify the two bodies found in a crashed plane, another is investigating a bag of bones found buried and the final case is that of a small child found burned. With all this workload Temp has no time to herself and her love life. If that was not bad enough its seems that one of her cases has ruffled a few feathers and she is getting threatening emails, can Dr Brennan solve all the cases?
`Bare Bones' was a decent enough mystery thriller that had an interesting central story, but a few narrative flaws that undermined it for me. The idea of three cases interlinking is a good one and it was impressive how Reich was able to keep you guessing as to which case was causing the threats. As usual Dr Brennan is a great character and her relationship with her friends and family really give the book further depth. These elements were excellent, but unfortunately a couple of things undermined them. Firstly the use of coincidence in the book, on more than one occasion a suspect or clue is found almost randomly with no attempt by Reichs to validate it. Secondly, the use of ominous warnings at the end of the chapters was a little over the top. Too many uses of - `I would soon find out' and the likes was detrimental to the story. Despite this `Bare Bones' remained a fun and easy read with Reichs' style giving a little more intelligence and depth than your average crime book.
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The Bones of a Bear and People too
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Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan, back from Guatemala, is ready for a romantic vacation with Canadian cop boyfriend Andrew Ryan, but like in any good thriller, things just keep getting in the way. A child is found dead.
"As I was packaging what remained of the dead baby, the man I would kill was burning pavement north toward Charlotte."
With an opening sentence like that, how can you not be sucked in from the get go? Then a couple lines later:
"I felt a deep sadness as I tucked the tiny bundle of bones into its container, fastened the lid, and wrote a file number across the plastic. So little to examine. Such a short life."
How can you not cry along with Tempe? And we're not even off the first page yet.
The child is the grandfather of Gideon Banks, a retired janitor who had worked with Tempe for almost twenty years. Tempe has to tell the man his granddaughter has been burned to death in an over and that his teenage daughter is missing. Heart wrenching.
Then a small plane crashes, pilot and co-pilot burned to a crisp. Then, at a barbecue, Tempe's dog unearths a bag of bones. Bear bones it turns out (bear bones - Bare Bones, get it). But a couple more bags are found and some human bones are in one of them.
There goes Tempe's vacation, bad for Temp, but good for you, because you get to read all about what happens next, with drug smugglers, rare animal smugglers and a whole cast of characters too numerous to mention. Yes, at times it's hard to keep everybody straight in this five star thriller, sometimes you might find yourself going back and rereading, but it's worth it, because this is one heck of a book, a must read for Tempe fans.
Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
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Bare-ly worth reading
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An encouraging opening, but by the time you're halfway through, you start to wish the Tempe was the victim!
Not MIss Reich's best.
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