Mystery & Crime, Fiction Subjects

Bare Bones (Temperance Brennan Series #6)

Name: Bare Bones (Temperance Brennan Series #6)
Author: Kathy Reichs
ISBN: 9780743453004

by Kathy Reichs

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Overview

"Fans of TV's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation should be in heaven" (People) stepping into the world of forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, star of Kathy Reichs' electrifyingly authentic bestsellers.

She works with the dead, but she works for the living.

"Down time" is not a phrase in Tempe Brennan's vocabulary. A string of disturbing cases has put her vacation plans on hold; instead, she heads to the lab to analyze charred remains from a suspicious fire, and a mysterious black residue from a small plane crash. But most troubling of all are the bones. . . . Tempe's daughter's new boyfriend invites them to a picnic — a pig pickin' — in the North Carolina countryside, where a cache of bones turns up. But are they animal or human? X-rays and DNA may link the crimes, but they can't reveal who is closing in on Tempe and her daughter — and how far they will go to keep her from uncovering the truth.

Synopsis

"It's a summer of sizzling heat in Charlotte where Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for the North Carolina medical examiner, looks forward to her first vacation in years. A romantic vacation. She's almost out the door when the bones start appearing." "A newborn's charred remains turn up in a woodstove. The mother, Tamela Banks, hardly more than a child herself, has disappeared. Did she kill her infant, or is an innocent teenager also about to become a victim?" "A small plane crashes in a North Carolina cornfield on a sunny afternoon. Both pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition. Was it pilot error? Something more sinister? And what is the mysterious black substance covering the bodies?" "Most puzzling of all are the bones discovered at a remote farm outside Charlotte. What has Tempe's dog, Boyd, unearthed? The remains seem to be of animal origin, but Tempe is shocked when she gets them to her lab." "With help from a special detective friend. Tempe must investigate a poignant and terrifying case that comes at the worst possible moment. Daughter Katy has a new boyfriend who Tempe fears may have something to hide. And important personal decisions face Tempe. Is it time for emotional commitment? Will she have the chance to find out?" Everything must wait on the bones. What story do they tell? Why are the X rays and DNA so perplexing? Who is trying to keep Tempe from the answers? Someone is following her. Someone is following Katy. That someone must be stopped before it's too late.

Sunday Tribune

Scalpel-sharp....Suspense-filled.

About the Author, Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs burst onto the fiction scene in the late 1990s with her first novel, Déjà Dead, a thriller rooted in an expert knowledge of science and medicine and powered by a strong female protagonist, Temperance Brennan. Since then, Reichs has been a regular feature on bestseller lists and is often mentioned in the same breath as the chief of the autopsy whodunit, Patricia Cornwell.

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Editorials

The New York Times

… the science is fascinating, and every minute in the morgue with Tempe is golden. — Marilyn Stasio

Sunday Tribune

Scalpel-sharp....Suspense-filled.

Publishers Weekly

Feisty forensic anthropologist Temperance (Tempe) Brennan is supposed to be on vacation, but body parts keep turning up. At the start of her sixth adventure, she's awaiting the arrival of her current flame, Quebecois sleuth Andrew Ryan, so she can head for the beach near her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. Before he shows up, she's called in to use her world-class forensics skills when a local janitor's infant granddaughter is found dead and charred in an oven. Then some strange, decomposing remains (" `Human?' `I'm not sure' ") are discovered by Brennan's dog during a barbecue at a local lakeside resort. Ryan finally arrives, but Brennan's vacation is indefinitely put on hold when a small plane crashes nearby. Two people are dead, and her expertise is required yet again ("The skull had suffered massive communitive fracturing on impact. The fire had done the rest"). Brennan eventually realizes that all three cases are linked to a drug-smuggling ring that also dabbles in poaching exotic animals. As she pursues her investigations, she is forced to work with "Skinny" Slidell, a redneck cop who rubs her the wrong way, but tension is defused by the presence of Ryan, who gamely gives up his vacation to pitch in. He matches Brennan quip for quip, and Tempe's dog, Boyd, provides extra comic relief. Reichs has built a reputation on cut-to-the-chase writing and swift plotting, and this latest effort delivers everything her fans have come to expect. (July 1) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

At last, Reichs fans who have waited patiently for the next entry in her Tempe Brennan series will be rewarded. In this sixth novel (following Grave Secrets) Tempe has returned home from Guatemala and is finally preparing for the romantic vacation that never was with Canadian cutie Andrew Ryan when a baby is found incinerated in a wood stove, two victims of a plane crash are burned to an unidentifiable crisp, and a pile of bones dug up by Tempe's dog is discovered to include portions of a human hand. With the trip put on hold, Tempe and Ryan sort through the evidence that draws them closer to solving the crimes. Like Brennan, Reichs is a forensic anthropologist practicing both in North Carolina and Quebec. Her intimate knowledge of forensics and crime scene investigations makes for an honest rendition of a thrilling tale. Though often compared to Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, Tempe Brennan stands alone above other characters in the genre. Highly recommended for all popular fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/03.]-Nanci Milone Hill, Lucius Beebe Memorial Lib., Wakefield, MA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Returning from Guatemala (Grave Secrets, 2002) to home turf in North Carolina, globetrotting forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan juggles three cases that will require analyzing a lot more than bare bones. The first case is the most straightforward and heart-rending: the search for Tamela Banks, daughter of a retired colleague at UNC-Charlotte, who left behind a woodstove stoked with the bones of her newborn infant. Eager to escape the depression such discoveries bring on, Tempe accompanies her daughter Katy to a barbecue that's interrupted by a bizarre second discovery-the decapitated remains of six bears neatly buried in a pair of plastic bags-and news of a third that provokes even fewer tears: a mountainside plane crash whose two corpses have to share attention with some neatly packaged cocaine found in the woods nearby, some mysterious black powder on the underside of their ruined Cessna, and the occasional feather from an exotic bird. Though all three investigations, which a closing note broadly suggests are based on real-life cases, have their moments, hard-working Reichs overreaches herself when she insists on linking them all, together with the disappearance five years ago of a pair of Federal Wildlife Service officers. The results are fascinating, grueling, and ultimately exhausting. Solid, overplotted work from an author so determined to emerge from Patricia Cornwell's long shadow that she's willing to try every trick in the coroner's book. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh/William Morris