Product Description

It's the second-to-last day of archaeological field school. Dr. Temperance Brennan's students are working on a site of prehistoric graves on Dewees, a barrier island north of Charleston, South Carolina, when a decomposing body is uncovered in a shallow grave off a lonely beach...The skeleton is articulated, the bone fresh and the vertebrae still connected by soft-tissue; the remains are encased in rotted fabric and topped by wisps of pale, blond hair - a recent burial, and a case Tempe must take. Dental remains and skeletal gender and race indicators suggest that the deceased is a middle-aged white male - but who was he? Why was he buried in a clandestine grave? And what does the unusual vertical hairline fracture of the sixth cervical vertebrae signify? While Tempe is trying to piece together the evidence, her personal life is thrown into turmoil. When a bullet - intended, perhaps, for her - puts Tempe's estranged husband Pete in hospital, her unexpectedly emotional response complicates her on-off relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan...But before long, another body is discovered - and Tempe finds herself drawn deeper into a shocking and chilling investigation, set to challenge her entire view of humanity. ..

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2365 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It must be harder and harder for Kathy Reichs to keep each new novel as forceful and dramatic as the one before--not that delicate effects (which are not Reichs’ thing!) are particularly easy, but there is a danger in a certain fatigue setting in for the reader when an author puts them so comprehensively through the ringer with each novel as Reichs does. Break No Bones is proof positive that the author still knows how to cannily ring the changes on theme of her earlier work--this one is every bit as unsettling as Bare Bones or Grave Secrets, but the path Reichs takes to our pulse rate is somewhat different.

Dr Temperance Brennan is working with her students at an archaeological field school on an Island near Charleston , South Carolina. A decomposing corpse is discovered in a shallow grave, showing evidence (connected vertebra, etc.,) that the body has not been dead for long. While engaged in this mystery, Tempe’s own life encounters real havoc when a bullet, possibly meant for her, hospitalises her estranged husband Peter; and her new relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan is in trouble. But, as so often before, cracking a mystery may cost her her life.

All of this is handled with the assurance that we have come to expect from Reichs, but there are new things here: Reichs' sense of structure has always been strongly linear, but the extra looseness of the narrative pays dividends in disorienting the reader. Set pieces, too, are more integrated, though with all the usual capacity to raise hairs on the back of the neck. When so many authors are repeating themselves to ever-diminishing effect, it’s good to see Reichs is clearly not content to rest on her laurels.

--Barry Forshaw

From the Publisher
The latest gripping thriller from world-class forensic anthropologist, Kathy Reichs, bestselling author of Monday Mourning and Cross Bones

From the Inside Flap
It’s the second-to-last day of archaeological field school. Dr Temperance Brennan’s students are working on a site of prehistoric graves on Dewees, a barrier island north of Charleston, South Carolina, when a decomposing body is uncovered in a shallow grave off a lonely beach…

The skeleton is articulated, the bone fresh and the vertebrae still connected by soft-tissue; the remains are encased in rotted fabric and topped by wisps of pale, blond hair – a recent burial, and a case Tempe must take.

Dental remains and skeletal gender and race indicators suggest that the deceased is a middle-aged white male – but who was he? Why was he buried in a clandestine grave? And what does the unusual fracture of the sixth cervical vertebrae signify?

While Tempe is trying to piece together the evidence, her personal life is thrown into turmoil. When a bullet – intended, perhaps, for her – puts Tempe’s estranged husband Pete in hospital, her unexpectedly emotional response complicates her relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan…

But before long, another body is discovered – and Tempe finds herself drawn deeper into a shocking and chilling investigation, set to challenge her entire view of humanity…

Customer Reviews

A Facinating Tale of Forensic Genius
I have never read any of Reich's work before and have to say this has sat on the shelf for over a year waiting its turn to be read.

I was intrigued from the start with her natty way of narration and the way she describes the persons mood after they have spoken. She writes in an almost scientific commentary of her lead character's adventures.

The lead character, Tempe Brennan specialises in postmortem study of bones to determine causes of death and what has lead up to that death. In this particular case, she is called to assist an ailing friend who is County Pathologist in a fairly remote part of Southern Carolina, whilst actually supervising an archaeological dig. She discovers a body that doesn't appear to be ancient Native American as would be expected on this dig. The mystery increases around the death of this person and whom it may be and very soon she is unofficially taking the role of assistant to the County Pathologist, who has to be taken into hospital. More bodies turn up and the plot thickens, as they appear to have been killed in the same way but are apparently totally unconnected at the same time.

Tempe feels the investigation is somehow linked to a charitable clinic run by an evangelical church whom her estranged husband (a lawyer)is also investigating simultaneously. He ends up in South Carolina as part of his investigations and they assist one another to solve the case, which turns more and more sinister at every turn.

A gripping and very analytical story that would please anyone interested in the more scientific side to murder investigation.

More of the same from Reichs.
In this book Reichs' central character, Temperance Brennan (the character that the Fox tv character "Bones" is based on, without the forensic sidekicks and more explanation of bones), is on an archaeological dig when a recently decomposed corpse is found. Because of her skills in that area, she's asked to investigate the corpse.

Just when she's finished with the first, two more bodies (in a similar state of disrepair) turn up, so Brennan makes a holiday out of it and stays round to examine the bones (bit of luck she was there wasn't it).

At the same time, Brennan's sort of ex- turns up to investigate nefarious goings on in a church and her "current beau" turns up to help ask the potential murder suspects all the sort of police style questions you'd expect from this sort of thriller (he's a policeman -I'm told they're good at that sort of thing).

The book wasn't bad, but I have 3 sort of grumbles with it. Firstly, she's written 10 books now (this is the 9th). The general "dead body found, only she can deal with it, she goes off half cocked and boyfriend reigns her in before they find the killer" premise is getting a little old and probably needs spicing up.

Secondly, I'm a science junkie, but even I find all the explanation of bones a little dull on occasions.

Finally, she tends to drop a 2 or 3 sort of synopses of "the story so far" into the story (usually in the form of a conversation between Brennan and someone she's working with). They act as a sort of reminder of what's going on to the reader. I know nothing about writing, and a writer might tell me that this sort of thing happens a lot, but with Reichs, it's really obvious and clunky. It's almost as if she expects the reader to put the book down for a week or two and then come back to it. This last point is a minor irritation I know, but now I've spotted it in her books, I see it everywhere there.

All this having been said, it's fair to say that this is the sort of book that people who liked Patricia Cornwall (before she got all messy and confused with Kay Scarpetta) might like.

Personal Life Complications of a Complex Investigation Filled with Inane One-Liners
If you've ever had one of those frustration dreams where you cannot keep up with all the tasks in sight, Break No Bones will remind you of one of those dreams. Temperance Brennan has agreed to teach an archeology field school at the last minute after no other substitute can be found. While there, she excavates Native American burial mounds and has an unpleasant time with the developer who wants to build on the mounds. But the end is in sight when a student rushes up to say that there's a body there that was buried later than the rest. What she finds causes Dr. Brennan to call the local coroner, an old friend, Emma Rousseau. Before she knows what's hit her, Temperance finds herself doing the forensics on the all-too-recent body. Before long, bodies are showing up as fast as she can investigate them . . . and she finds herself in the middle of a complex investigation.

How else is her life complicated? Her estranged husband, Pete, arrives on an investigation of his own into the finances of a local ministry and a missing woman. Her current love, Ryan, decides to make an unscheduled stop and the tension is deep among the three.

Emma is having some personal challenges and Temperance is kept busy helping out on that end as well.

As you might expect with a novel written by a forensic anthropologist, the crime scene investigation and autopsy aspects of the novel are impeccable. They are thoughtful, subtle and rewarding. That part of the book is five-star.

The plot itself is messier than it needs to be for a good murder mystery. A lot of the red herrings don't really lead you away from the conclusion, which is pretty obvious.

The relationships among Temperance, Pete and Ryan are very simplistically developed. The writing isn't very interesting or very rewarding on that front.

To "brighten" up her prose, Dr. Reichs decides to add bon mots (a la Robert Parker) . . . but for me, these attempts at humor fell flat. They were awkward rather than advancing the characters or the plot.

If you haven't read any of Dr. Reichs' books before, I suggest you skip this one and Deja Dead instead. If you are a fan of the series, do read this book but realize that it's not up to her usual standard.