Product Description

It's one of the hottest summers on record and forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan is looking forward to a long-overdue vacation. But it's not to be...First, the bones of a newborn baby are found in a wood stover; the mother, hardly more than a child herself, has disappeared. Next, a Cessna flies into a rock face. The bodies of the pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition, and covered in an unknown substance. And then a cache of bones is found in a remote corner of the county. But what happened there, and who will be the next victim? The answers lie hidden depp within the bones - if only Tempe can decipher them in time...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9216 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Bare Bones Kathy Reichs leads her heroine, Temperance Brennan, into one of her scariest, most gruesome adventures yet. As fans of this popular series already know, Tempe is a forensic anthropologist: an expert in the human form (especially bones) who helps solve crimes. A dead baby is only the first in a series of grisly remains, both human and animal, that Tempe must sort through and decode. Meanwhile, as several seemingly unrelated cases begin to intertwine, her sleuthing puts her in the crosshairs of a very nasty stalker who hides behind an e-mail alias.

Reichs knows how to keep the narrative ball rolling with a canny mix of plot developments, character delineation and scientific detail, all relayed via Tempe's smart, breezy, sarcastic voice. In fact, Bare Bones has a few too many characters and plot lines for Reichs--or most readers--to keep perfect track of. But it's a fun ride anyway, enlivened by some steamy romantic scenes and some fascinating, appalling facts about the illicit trade in endangered wildlife, including the information that bears' gall bladders fetch more money per ounce than cocaine. Bare Bones is a crisp, enjoyable read that cements Kathy Reichs' standing as the best forensic-thriller writer at work today. --Nicholas H Allison, Amazon.com

Review
' Inevitably compared with Patricia Cornwell, Reichs is actually in a different league' Joan Smith, Sunday Times

Independent on Sunday
‘Deep in Patricia Cornwell territory, I think she outdoes the queen of slice ‘em and dice ‘em fiction… Terrific’

Customer Reviews

Not dry old bones at all.
Bare Bones is another brilliant insight into the world of forensic science. Kathy Reichs once again uses her knowledge to create an intriguing mystery involving the deaths of a newborn baby, smugglers and even wild animals. What the reader learns from these stories would normally only be learnt in a college lecture room, yet she writes in a way that is easy to read and understand. The interesting facts elevate the books to a much higher plane than ordinary crime novels. This story also involves the developing romance between Tempe Brennan and Andrew Ryan. I cannot wait to read the next book to see what happens next.

Not really her best, but still adequate
The remains of a new-born baby are discovered in a wood stove. Bones are discovered in two plastic bags in a wood, and further investigation finds more bones in a farmhouse nearby. A small plane crashes on a North Carolina hillside and bursts into flames. A mysterious black substance is found on the bodies of the pilot and passenger and the burnt-out interior. These events bring forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan into a whirlpool of mystery that will eventually end with her taking a life.

It’s good. It’s not great. It’s certainly not Fatal Voyage or Death du Jour, but is more like the quality of Deadly Decisions. Tempe remains the wonderfully human character that she always has been, and there are some magical moments between her and daughter Katie that are guaranteed to please readers, as well as a very welcome return from Andrew Ryan, who, even though fictional, simply sizzles on the page. However, aside from that, there isn’t a great deal in the way of further character development, even though it is interesting to see a novel with Tempe firmly entrenched in the city of Charlotte for the first time in the series. And it’s a series that, what with all the possible locations and directions it can take, certainly remains fresh and promises to do so for quite a while yet.

Reichs’ dialogue, as always, is brilliantly snappy, acute, and amusing, even if there is a little much of it, and there’s plenty of great detail to make this an incredibly good and authentic thriller on the forensics front. Reichs’ writing style is quirky and somewhat eccentric, but only because she’s such a wonderful first-person writer, really getting into the head of her main character (maybe because, I suspect, there is a great deal of the writer herself supplanted into the protagonist) and making the writing seem curiously human. However, Bare Bones (as well as being a little too short to be fully developed) ultimately suffers from something that a couple of her books have done: She gets bogged down in bones. Or, rather, the reader does. There are rather too many sets of bones and crimes and villains, and as a result it’s very easy for the reader to get them all muddled in their mind. There are too many criminals mixed up in the goings on, and to be honest by the end it’s a job to keep up with who killed which person where and how and why they did it. But, with a little careful checking of your facts, this can still remain a mostly satisfying and hugely suspenseful pageturner of a thriller.

To be honest, the quality of Reichs’ novels seems to be entirely subjective…every year, each new book runs the entire gamut of reader opinion, with some thinking it her best, others her worst, and everything else in between. This book will probably get a very similar reaction, so the most sensible thing to do is to try it out for yourself and see.

Bare Bones need more flesh.
As an avid reader of Reichs books I bought this one as soon as published but was not as impressed as previous ones. There are lots of story threads surrounded by snippets of details.KR has managed to cram so much in to this book that I felt although a great read I personally would have liked to have a bit more depth to all the strands...some of the strands such as the Email stalker could have made a book on their own. However as expected all the loose ends are tied up but I felt cheated that I had not really got in to the book as I can do with some others.