Product Description

When a careless plumber accidentally knocks through a wall, he is horrified by what he uncovers. Called to the scene is forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan. Fighting her claustrophobia, and the unmistakeable sweet, fetid odour of rotting flesh, Tempe descends the precariously steep, makeshift wooden steps. What awaits her below is a ritualistic display: slain chickens and a goat - and a skull, ghostly pale, rests on a pedestal, the lower jaw missing, the empty orbits starring back at her. The forehead is darkened by an irregular stain the exact red-brown of dried blood, and lined with remnants of desiccated tissue. Two cauldrons stand nearby, beads and antlers suspended overhead. Age, race and sex indicators confirm the skull as that of a young, black female - but how did she die, and when? Then, just as Tempe is working to determine the post-mortem interval, another body is uncovered. The corpse is headless, the torso is carved with Satanic symbols. Could there be a connection? Must Tempe face the sickening possibility that Devil-worshippers are sacrificing human victims?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
Several troubling cases await forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Bones to Ashes, 2007, etc.) back home in Charlotte, N.C.Tempe Brennan's personal life is in tatters. Her love, a Montreal cop called Ryan, has gone back to his lover in hopes of stabilizing their troubled daughter; Tempe's ex is about to marry a much younger woman; and her daughter Katy is utterly bored with her job. A call to examine a skull found in a hidden floor space plunges Tempe into a case that may involve ritual murder. The skull and some kettles containing bones and various fetishes suggesting Santer'a or some other alternative religion may tie in with two headless bodies, one found floating in a river and another marked with Satanic symbols. Furious when a local politician uses the cases as an excuse to whip up hostility against little-understood religions, Tempe is far from convinced that the Wiccan who is arrested is guilty. When Rinaldi, one of the detectives she's working with, is killed in a drive-by, Tempe falls off the wagon but soldiers on, mortified, until she finally makes the connections between the crimes that lead to a close call with death and a startling conclusion.Not Reichs's best, but a meticulously laid-out case that offers a deeper look into her heroine's personal life. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
When a careless plumber accidentally knocks through a wall, he is horrified by what he uncovers. Called to the scene is forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan. Fighting her claustrophobia, and the unmistakeable sweet, fetid odour of rotting flesh, Tempe descends the precariously steep, makeshift wooden steps. What awaits her below is a ritualistic display: slain chickens and a goat - and a skull, ghostly pale, rests on a pedestal, the lower jaw missing, the empty orbits starring back at her. The forehead is darkened by an irregular stain the exact red-brown of dried blood, and lined with remnants of desiccated tissue. Two cauldrons stand nearby, beads and antlers suspended overhead. Age, race and sex indicators confirm the skull as that of a young, black female - but how did she die, and when? Then, just as Tempe is working to determine the post-mortem interval, another body is uncovered. The corpse is headless, the torso is carved with Satanic symbols. Could there be a connection? Must Tempe face the sickening possibility that Devil-worshippers are sacrificing human victims?

About the Author
Kathy Reichs is forensic anthropologist for the Offices of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratorie de Sciences Judiciaires et de M 'decine L 'gale for the province of Quebec. She divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Customer Reviews

Not as good as it used to be....
I've read and enjoyed all of Kathy Reichs' other novels, and I have to say that I was shocked by how poor an effort "Devil Bones" was. The characterization was spare at best, the plot was unimaginative and could have been lifted straight from any of her other books (it probably was, come to think of it). Tedious little forensic science lectures do little to lift this unimaginative book. I shan't be buying one of these again in a hurry ....

Please drop the monotonous tirade of scientific terms.
This book 'would' of been good if only Reichs had stopped putting in mind numbing explanations about different dietys, and in-depth explanations about this and that. If I wanted to read a book on pathology, I would buy a science book.

Come... come now Dr Reichs, entertain us with gore and a bit of romance, NOT something I expect to be reading sat in a science class. Im not a stupid person, but even 'I' had to look up some words in her books.

I don't know what it is, but it seems like Reichs has to prove she's better than the likes of Cornwell, with her flashy inserts. Well... NEWS FLASH Dr Reichs, your losing the plot on these books big time.

Disappointing
I was truly looking forward to Devil Bones, but it does not seem to me to be as good as the other Brennan books. I got the feeling that it had been put together more as a precis than a full blown novel. It was still enjoyable, but the story felt rushed as though the author was just writing to fill in a gap. I only hope that the next book will return to the format I have enjoyed before, with the characters returning to a full bodied existence. Please Kathy Reichs go back to giving us that at least.