Bones to Ashes

My favourite Reichs books are always the ones set in Canada so I was glad this one saw Temperance back in Montreal. I keep hoping that Tempe and Ryan will make a go of it and I figure they have a better chance when they are in Canada away from Tempe's ex-husband Pete. Of course, that's just a minor subplot in the book and if that's all there was I wouldn't be keeping reading them. In this book, Ryan is investigating some disappearances and murders of young girls, some of which are cold cases but some of which are recent. Of course, Tempe is involved in the forensics. In addition, another cold case officer tells Tempe about a skeleton of a young girl that a police officer in rural Quebec has had for years in his office and Tempe tries to show more identify this skeleton. This leads Tempe to remember her childhood friend, Evangeline. Evangeline and her sister spent the summers at the same beach as Tempe and her sister. Evangeline's home was in the Acadian area of New Brunswick. For four years Tempe and Evangeline were close friends, spending all their summers together and writing voluminous letters to each other for the rest of the year. Then, suddenly, Evangeline and her sister disappeared one summer and Tempe could never find out where she was or what happened to her. Tempe, the adult forensic scientist, is afraid this small skeleton might be Evangeline. The investigation takes Tempe and her sister, Harry, to New Brunswick as well as Montreal so there is lots of Canadian content to satisfy me.

This book seemed a little shorter than some of Reichs' other works but that didn't mean I wasn't satisfied with it. The cases are all wrapped up and there was lots of interesting forensic detail. Harry is a pretty interesting character and she adds a little extra fillip to this book. I found out something I had never known about Canadian history although I won't mention it here because it would spoil part of the book. All in all, a very satisfying read. show less

I had my doubts for most of this book, as it seems the Brennan-Ryan relationship is back to on-again off-again, but Kathy Reichs redeemed herself with the solution. Lots of interesting and informative stuff on the way.

Ahh...What could be cozier than murder, mayhem, and mixed signals of the romantic nature. Another stunner from Ms. Reichs. I love these books nearly as much as I loved the series based off them. The pacing is always fabulous. So fabulous in fact, I stayed up into the wee hours three times just to finish it.
I read these books in whatever order I can get my hands on and it doesn't hurt the story flow one iota. Someday I will reread them in order. That day is not any time soon. trigger warnings for prostitution and child sex trafficking.

I disagree with other reviewers about the appeal of Tempe's childhood side story, and it felt it added immensely to the intrigue. (Spoiler alert:) It also helps to explain her irrational tenacity about pursuing the wrong perpetrator.
Yes, some of the characters aren't fully drawn and all loose ends aren't tied up. That's not a bad thing, that's realism.
A couple plot issues bothered me, though they are forgivable. And as always, Reichs gives us a glimpse of places we don't know.

Tempe is back in Montreal and working on a number of cases. When the skeleton of a young woman is found in Acadia, Tempe wonders if it isn't the skeleton of her friend Evangeline who disappeared from North Carolina when Tempe was twelve. She'd tried to track her down many times over the years with no success.

Meanwhile, her off-and-on again boyfriend Ryan is investigating a series of cold cases; young girls disappearing over a number of years. It is possible that the skeleton Tempe is working on is one of his missing girls.

The investigation leads to Acadia and Toronto and areas in between. The suspects include a shady Acadian businessman and an equally shady photographer. The team is led into the world of porn films as they pursue their show more leads.

Tempe's sister Harry is visiting and gets involved with Tempe in the search for their childhood friends.

The story was fast-paced and filled with interesting medical information. I enjoyed the characters and found the plot intriguing. show less

I'm not sure if I've become more critical since the last [a:Kathy Reichs|26372|Kathy Reichs|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1201288896p2/26372.jpg] book I read, or if this book is simply less stellar. I certainly enjoyed many parts of it, and overall it was an interesting forensic investigation, but it has a few significant weaknesses.

My main complaint is that [a:Reichs|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1199863358p2/656983.jpg] is inconsistent with her target audience. There's enough science in the book to suggest the reader is intelligent and interested in the scientific details and explanations -- a fair assumption, given the genre and 'gimmick' of the main character. I can appreciate the explanations, even show more if it seems hokey that every time Brennan talks to another expert for test results, they give her a crash course on their specialty. (In real life, do they do that? Does the anthropologist really care?) Okay, so the reader has a few brains. Then why the heck does Reichs summarize the case so often? Once or twice in the first quarter of the book makes sense, but it seemed to happen more often here. My annoyance came particularly from Brennan's relentless rhetorical questions every time she had a moment to herself: "What happened to those girls? Who was the female skeleton? Where was Harry?" on and on. The supposed smart reader already knows that these are questions and is asking them on their own; there's no need for Brennan to reiterate them. The reader knows they'll be answered by the end of the book. Stop filling pages with them! These questions suggest the reader is not intelligent -- well, which type of reader is the publisher expecting?!

The expected intelligence of the reader is inconsistent, but so in Dr. Brennan's intelligence. She's supposed to be this amazing bone specialist and is often quite brilliant at her job. Often she makes excellent connections between clues, of the type you expect the heroine in a murder-mystery to make. Yet other times she is really dense and silly. It takes way too long to notice Basterage's slip-up, for example. It's hard to like a character that maddens you sometimes.

Ryan is a fairly flat character here -- yes, there is something going on under his surface, but it's never given much voice and he does not seem to have much more of a role in this book than 'cop'. Harry is more useful to Brennan's investigation than Ryan.

I read another review about this book on Goodreads, and that person (I forget who) said the tv version of Brennan -- Bones -- is a better character. I agree 100%. Ryan is better, too. show less

Sadly, the copy of Bones to Ashes I checked out was abridged. The Acadian history was interesting. The story of the missing girls was horrifying. I'm glad that Tempe berated herself for not thinking of the disease found in some bones because it wasn't that hard to guess. Nor was the revelation about her long-ago friend.

On the other hand, I was not expecting one of the things learned about the main villain of the book. Glad to see the change in Tempe's relationship with her husband, Pete. Ryan was annoying. Harry, Tempe's younger sister, had me worried.

So, when is Tempe going to show signs of brain damage from all those blows to the head? She's knocked out again in this book. Honestly, she should start wearing a hard hat or a football show more helmet whenever she's investigating a case.

Nice that both Tempe's cat and bird got to have bit parts. show less