ThrowBack Thrusday

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Spider Bones - Kathy Reichs

Title: Spider Bones

Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Detroit, MI : Wheeler Pub., 2010.
ISBN: 9781439102398
Copyright: 2010Pages: 306

Quick Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Why I Read It: I’ve read the rest of hers and wanted to continue the series.

Where I Obtained the Book: Got it at my local library.

Synopsis: Kathy Reichs #1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones returns with the thirteenth riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan. John Lowery was declared dead in 1968 the victim of a Huey crash in Vietnam, his body buried long ago in North Carolina. Four decades later, Temperance Brennan is called to the scene of a drowning in Hemmingford, Quebec. The victim appears to have died while in the midst of a bizarre sexual practice. The corpse is later identified as John Lowery. But how could Lowery have died twice, and how did an American soldier end up in Canada? Tempe sets off for the answer, exhuming Lowery's grave in North Carolina and taking the remains to Hawaii for reanalysis to the headquarters of JPAC, the U.S. military's Joint POW/ MIA Accounting Command, which strives to recover Americans who have died in past conflicts. In Hawaii, Tempe is joined by her colleague and ex-lover Detective Andrew Ryan (how is he?) and by her daughter, who is recovering from her own tragic loss. Soon another set of remains is located, with Lowery's dog tags tangled among them. Three bodies all identified as Lowery. And then Tempe is contacted by Hadley Perry, Honolulu's flamboyant medical examiner, who needs help identifying the remains of an adolescent boy found offshore. Was he the victim of a shark attack? Or something much more sinister? A complex and riveting tale of deceit and murder unfolds in this, the thirteenth thrilling novel in Reichs's cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series (The New York Times Book Review).

Review: It pushed the story ahead and I enjoyed it much more than her last book. Temperance’s relationship with Andrew is still iffy, but they spend more time together. This part of the plot seemed contrived, I can’t see me just jetting off to Hawaii because a friend is there. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to. (Anyone out there need a visit in their tropical paradise?) We got to know her daughter a bit better. Jargon heavy, but she explained most of it for the dummies like me out there.

These books are nothing like the TV show ‘Bones’ but the show is based on some of the characters. I enjoy her writing and I always learn something interesting about the world of forensic work. The twists and turns in her stories are good, and she somehow survives some hair rising events each book.

Author Biography: Kathleen Joan "Kathy" Reichs was born in 1950 and is a native of Chicago. In 1971 she graduated from American University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology, and in 1972 she earned a Master of Arts in physical anthropology from Northwestern University. Reichs received her Ph.D. in physical anthropology from Northwestern University in 1975. She works as a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale in Quebec and has taught at Northern Illinois University, University of Pittsburgh, Concordia University, McGill University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her work as a forensic anthropologist is internationally recognized, as she has traveled to Rwanda to testify at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, helped in an exhumation in the area of the highlands of southwest Guatemala, done forensic work at Ground Zero in New York, and so forth.