Saturday, October 10, 2009

Jenn's Review: 206 Bones


Summary: There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can read in them stories of brief or long lives and use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. 206 Bones opens with Tempe regaining consciousness and discovering that she is in some kind of very small, very dark, very cold enclosed space. She is bound, hands to feet. Who wants Tempe dead, or at least out of the way, and why? Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct...

Tempe and Lieutenant Ryan had accompanied the recently discovered remains of a missing heiress from Montreal to the Chicago morgue. Suddenly, Tempe was accused of mishandling the autopsy -- and the case. Someone made an incriminating phone call. Within hours, the one man with information about the call was dead. Back in Montreal, the corpse of a second elderly woman was found in the woods, and then a third.

Review: While I found this installment enjoyable, I would not say that this is one of Reichs most clever books. There are two mysteries intertwined playing out, finding the killer, and/or discovering her abductor. Not to spoil the mystery for anyone else, I'll just say I identified guilty parties early on in this book and was just waiting for Reichs to layout motivation.

There was also not an abundance of romance going on for Tempe because, well, she's closed herself off (pun intended!). But Reichs started building bridges for Tempe, so that was good.

Not so much thrill in this thriller, but a good dose of Tempe. For me, it read almost like an episode of Bones, which is not Reichs's usual style... anyone else feel this way?

Final Take: 3.5/5

1 comment:

Julie said...

A lot of people had your same reaction to the book. I'll still read it though.