#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a new riveting novel featuring her vastly popular character, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who must use all her tradecraft to discover the identity of a faceless corpse, its connection to a decade-old missing child case, and why the dead man had her cellphone number.
It's sweltering in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance Brennan, still recovering from neurosurgery following an aneurysm, is battling nightmares, migraines, and what she thinks might be hallucinations when she receives a series of mysterious text messages, each containing a new picture of a corpse that is missing its face and hands. Immediately, she's anxious to know who the dead man is, and why the images were sent to her.
An identified corpse soon turns up, only partly answering her questions.
To win answers to the others, including the man's identity, she must go rogue, working mostly outside the system. That's because Tempe's new boss holds a fierce grudge against her and is determined to keep her out of the case. Tempe bulls forward anyway, even as she begins questioning her instincts. But the clues she discovers are disturbing and confusing. Was the faceless man a spy? A trafficker? A target for assassination by the government? And why was he carrying the name of a child missing for almost a decade?
With help from a number of law enforcement associates including her Montreal beau Andrew Ryan and the always-ready-with-a-smart-quip, ex-homicide investigator Skinny Slidell, and utilizing new cutting-edge forensic methods, Tempe draws closer to the astonishing truth.
But the more she uncovers, the darker and more twisted the picture becomes...
A Conspiracy of Bones is the 19th Temperance Brennan novel by Kathy Reichs. Released 17th March by Simon & Schuster on their Scribner imprint, it's 352 pages and available in all formats.
This has been, and continues to be, one of my favorite modern series. Despite the 'Hollywood-ization' of many other series, Dr. Brennan remains scrappy, dispassionate, intelligent, non-glamorous, and (mostly) ethical. The author is capable, delivering a tightly wrought and technically masterful book. This installment is excitingly twisty and revolves around the main characters sorting out conspiracy theory, shady governmental programs, cold case missing kids, and a faceless corpse, along with office politics and academia and some sotto voce current events political commentary (with which I personally strongly agree, but which will likely infuriate the Trump lovers in the room).
Although there's a lot of history and backstory covered in the last 18 books, the author is adept enough that this one could be read as a standalone for readers who are not already fans. The entire series is well worth a read, and I recommend them highly especially to fans of modern police/medical procedurals.
Four stars. Consistently top notch books.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
