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Loading... Devil Bones (2008)by Kathy Reichs
 BrookeAshley | May 19, 2013 |  Amazon preorder  romsfuulynn | Apr 28, 2013 | Devil Bones Published 2008 by Scribner In a house under renovation, a plumber uncovers a cellar no one knew about, and makes a rather grisly discovery — a decapitated chicken, animal bones, and cauldrons containing beads, feathers, and other relics of religious ceremonies. In the center of the shrine is the skull of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, on a nearby lakeshore, the headless body of a teenage boy is found by a man walking his dog. Led by a preacher turned politician, citizen vigilantes blame devil worshippers and Wiccans and begin a witch hunt, intent on seeking revenge. Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan — “five-five, feisty, and forty-plus” — is called in to investigate, and a complex and gripping tale unfolds in this deadly mix of voodoo, Santería, and devil worship. virgil69 | Apr 28, 2013 | If this was the first Reichs book I read, I don't know that I'd read any more. Nothing about it was memorable or unique enough to set it apart from other mystery books. There was a bit less of the smart/stupid Brennan than the last book, less of textbook explanation of various sciences, fewer rhetorical questions, but still too many for me. The other annoying bit about the writing was the "telling" not "showing" of action and emotion. The only example that comes to mind at the moment is "radiated like heat" -- why include the last two words when radiated already implies the heat? And all the telling regarding Tempe's emotions with Andrew Ryan. Made for boring scenes between them. Stop with the recollection of what happened and keep the action in the present! Even the "climactic ending" when, shocker, Tempe is kidnapped and 'almost' dies but Ryan bursts in at the exact right moment -- gee, didn't see that coming. If the library had more good books on CD, I wouldn't be compelled to read this formulaic stuff. (  ) LDVoorberg | Apr 7, 2013 | GOOD book! Another great read by Kathy Reichs! (  ) kcoleman428 | Apr 3, 2013 |
 The twists are tragic and a frightening commentary on current society. Top-notch as always!  As in Reichs' earlier novels, the plotting is sound, the suspense is intense but broken just often enough by dark humor, and the forensic education is graduate level. Reichs says she is not retiring Brennan any time soon, which is good news for readers of mystery fiction.  Though the alcoholic Tempe goes on a captivating bender, the mystery itself is all too predictable. And Reichs' moral — ''Americans have become a nation afraid'' — is spelled out so clearly it's almost condescending.
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0743294386, Hardcover)Amazon.com Exclusive: Jeffery Deaver on Devil Bones Jeffery Deaver is the bestselling author of The Broken Window, The Sleeping Doll, The Cold Moon, The Blue Nowhere, The Bone Collector, The Empty Chair, The Devil's Teardrop, and fifteen other suspense novels. His book A Maiden's Grave was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel The Bone Collector was made into a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington. He lives in North Carolina.
Devil Bones, set in the U S of A, opens with a grisly discovery that offers a very different take on This Old House. Tempe is pulled from staid academia to investigate the troubling and mystifying scene, which involves cauldrons, ceremonial religious artifacts and, most troubling, the severed head of a teenage girl. Another torso is located nearby, and the story is off and running. Tempe and Charlotte police department detective Erskine "Skinny" Slidell, follow leads that take them through the seamier and the chicer sides of North Carolina's largest city--the worlds of Santeria, voodoo, the Wiccan religion (any witches out there: I'm not lumping them together!), and male prostitution. Our heroine also locks horns with a crusading minister turned politician, and there's a reporter who manages to show up at all the wrong moments. Reichs juggles the questions of who done it (and who's gonna get done next) until the very end with consummate skill. In series books, readers treat characters as friends and follow those storylines as ardently as the ones involving murder and mayhem. Not content to keep things simmering on low boil, Reichs dunks her protagonist into a pressure cooker, with plenty of turmoil stirred up by a former lover, a--possibly--current one and, most significantly for this reader, yet another ghost of life past, about which I'll say no more here. Trouble on campus also surfaces for Professor Brennan, with whom we experience one of the most harrowing moments in the book: a meeting of professors and department heads (university politics as weapon of mass destruction). Oh, and we can't forget some brief appearances by the ex, who is behaving just like, well, an ex. It might have been my imagination but I believe too that I saw the bones, if you will, of a possible subplot involving Tempe's daughter, Katy, who's working in the public defender's office. I'm looking forward to seeing Reich confirm or deny this in the next installment. In Devil Bones we get plenty of what we've come to expect in a Reichs novel: engrossing details on forensic anthropology and anatomical science. Her mastery, and love, of those subjects, which Reichs herself practices (in both Montreal and Charlotte, by the way), is evident in her writing. We're also treated to plenty of esoterica about non-mainstream religions and history (I mean, I live in North Carolina and didn't know Charlotte was named for a seventeen-year-old German duchess). The author deftly negotiates that fine line between using such information to enhance the experience of reading a novel and padding prose. She gives us what we need to know--to enrich plot, character or atmosphere--and then gets back to the story. And speaking of which: As an author writing in the same genre, I was impressed with Reichs's ability to keep the roller coaster on track and speeding along, page after page. She's a true master of cliff hangers--a neglected skill in a field where far too many lazy authors end chapters with people leaving rooms, falling asleep or offering hand-tipping foreshadowings of what's to come. I call this the question-mark factor and when writing my thriller I actually tally up the number of scenes that end in a compelling, unresolved issue that drives the reader forward. Reichs has question marks aplenty. My one complaint: I read the novel in one sitting. But I'm hoping that while poor Tempe may want a break after everything that happens to her in Devil Bones, author Reichs isn't giving her any rest and is hard at work on number 12. --Jeffery Deaver (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Apr 2011 06:44:12 -0400) "In a house under renovation, a plumber uncovers a cellar no one knew about, and makes a rather grisly discovery - a decapitated chicken, animal bones, and cauldrons containing beads, feathers, and other relics of religious ceremonies. In the center of the shrine, there is the skull of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, on a nearby lakeshore, the headless body of a teenage boy is found by a man walking his dog." "Nothing is clear - neither when the deaths occurred, nor where. Was the skull brought to the cellar or was the girl murdered there? Why is the boy's body remarkably well preserved? Led by a preacher turned politician, citizen vigilantes blame devil worshippers and Wiccans. They begin a witch hunt, intent on seeking revenge." "Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan - "five-five, feisty, and forty-plus" - is called in to investigate, and a complex and gripping tale unfolds in this, Kathy Reichs's eleventh taut, always surprising, scientifically fascinating mystery."--BOOK JACKET.… (more) |
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It's always a pleasure to see a new installment in the saga of Temperence Brennan, the forensic anthropologist who plies her trade in both Charlotte, North Carolina, and Montreal. 
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I was annoyed with the level of "catch up" Reichs did - I can understand wanting a new reader to be able to pick up any Bones book and understand the players, but by the 11th book in the series, I really don't need to spend pages on what Tempe's job is, who her co-workers are, a detailed chronology of her dating life, etc. I've spent a lot of time with you, Kathy and Tempe. Just hit me with the story.
I was also disappointed that a pivotal conversation between Tempe and Andrew Ryan was reduced to Tempe relating it after the fact in a few sentences. After spending 10 books being invested in the on-again, off-again relationship, it was so odd that Reichs didn't flesh it out and let us in on it.
The introduction of a new potential date for Tempe also confirmed what I thought all along - Reichs can't (won't?) write more than one type of love interest. I'd always thought Pete and Ryan were identical, characterized mainly by their witty, combative personalities. Now Charlie, a man Tempe knows from their high school days, tries to date her, and lo and behold, he's exactly the same as the other two!
I've resigned myself to the fact that these books are rather formulaic, and that they'll always end with Tempe in mortal danger, which leads to her missing out on how the police put the final pieces together - the final chapter is always an after-the-fact recounting of the final clues, which always makes the ending feel rushed. I've also stopped gritting my teeth at the melodramatic, foreshadowy chapter endings and Tempe's habit of getting preachy when discussing a topic that clearly matters to the author. Because really, despite all these flaws, Tempe Brennan is a good protagonist to spend time with, and Reichs always has an entertaining mystery thanks to her day job as a forensic anthropologist.
I'm exasperated I already finished the new book in one sitting, but at least the new season of Bones starts in three days. (