Bones Are Forever: (Temperance Brennan 15)

I have read all of Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan books and really enjoy them - well most of them, a couple have not been to my taste exactly - so I had Bones Are Forever on preorder and eagerly set about reading it when it arrived and I have to say that initially was really disturbed by it.The novel begins as Temperance Brennan and her colleagues in Montreal recover the body of a dead baby that has been stuffed behind a vanity unit. As they examine the apartment, they discover more babies hidden. The most disturbing part is that there is clear evidence that these babies have been killed on purpose and concealed. The hunt is then on for their mother, a hunt that will take Tempe and former lover Detective Andrew Ryan to Edmonton and desolate Yellowknife, where they will discover that the babies are merely collateral damage in a higher-stakes game.So the baby part really upset me - I know this was the designed response, but I did have to put the book down for a few days as my imagination did terrible things to me where those babies were concerned. After that, when the story moves away from the babies, Bones Are Forever is much more like the previous Tempe adventures; action, peril and Tempe managing to always fall down on her face!I love the Brennan books as they have the right amount of scientific method, without it getting in the way of the plot. Tempe uses a range of forensic techniques to get to the truth and they are all written in an interesting - although I'm sure simplified - way. I can't claim to be scientifically gifted, but I have looked up a great deal of the techniques from the books, just to see if they're real and I have actually learned something *it's a miracle*.Although, as I said, I was a bit upset by some of the subject matter here, it shouldn't be shied away from as it does happen, so it's certainly not put me off joining Tempe on her next adventure!

I hate to write this, I really do, but Reichs' Brennan books are just getting all the same now. At some point in the plot, usually near the end, Tempe will be grabbed by the bad guys but will get away/be saved (usually by Ryan). Early on, she will have at least one accident causing her physical injury - if it were real, she would be scarred horribly! There will be increasing amounts of technical and scientific detail that most of us (a) don't care about and (b) don't understand. The latter is what started killing off my interest in Cornwell's Scarpetta novels, by the way.The only saving grace is that Brennan is NOT Bones. That's just a money-spinning travesty that Reichs should be ashamed of, IMHO. How you could create a character like the book Brennan and turn her into the TV Bones is just beyond me. I can't think she needs the money that badly. The (early) novels as they stand would make excellent films or mini-series rather than the US tosh.I do like Tempe and would like to see her with Ryan. The current on/off (but mostly off, except when it's on) status is getting very wearing. Either get it on or get it gone.Another bonus for me is that the cat Birdie continues to be safe!I hope she doesn't go down the same sad road Patricia Cornwell has gone because it will then be one series fewer for me to read. I'll buy the next one but if the plot is basically the same, it'll be my last.

Reading the Temperance Brennan series is like going to a master class in how this kind of genre of book, should be written.In this latest edition the forensic anthropologist is back in Montreal, and back on the case with the gorgeous Detective Ryan at his sexiest. She, Ryan and an old flame are tracking the killer of multiple babies, which leads Brennan to danger and new areas.It doesn't get better than this. Kathy Reichs produces such well rounded stories. They are intelligent and insightful with a little romance, a little danger and huge amounts of background information, which makes you feels as the reader that you are being allowed to walk around with her characters. Even the peripheral characterisations in her novels, such as her daughter, and her cat 'Birdie' are developed in each new adventure. She keeps the reader constantly updated, without boring new readers to the series with back stories from previous novels.Her skill is in allowing the reader to witness every smell and taste she experiences through Temperance, you really are looking through her eyes. I have read half of this book in one day and am now trying to pace myself as I know I will miss it, when I am done.When I first 'discovered this series it was already ten books in so I was very excited, because I could read as fast as I wanted to my hearts content. Now though I wait with baited breath for the next release.I have since visited Montreal, Canada as a result of the interesting and inviting descriptions from these novels, and I can not wait to visit Charlotte, North Carolina.

I am a real Kathy Reichs fan and have read all her Temperance Brennan thrillers. I am never disappointed even though some in this excellent series are not quite as excellent as others.Bones are Forever, in my mind, ranks amongst the best of them, and this time Tempe has to leave her "comfort" zones and usual stomping grounds of either Quebec or Charlotte for the hostile gold mining region of the North Western Territories of Canada.It all begins with the discovery of one baby's body, then another and yet another. The trail takes Tempe - and her ex, detective Andrew Ryan - to the almost frozen north.The community of Yellowknife is close-knit, everyone knows everyone else but no one knows nowt about the missing mother of the dead infants.As usual, there is a strong sense of reality through Reichs' research into the area's history that is mingled with humour and witty lines while the investigation is carried out and the culprit identified. Tempe not only helps to uncover the perpetrator/s but needs to borrow post mortem equipment (limited as it is) when an exhumation is deemed necessary.Also, as usual, there is the underlying chemistry between Tempe and Ryan which always makes me hope all is not lost. I loved this and I can't imagine a time when Reichs retires Tempe. My life of reading would not be the same again without another saga to look forward to.

Kathy Reichs has managed to keep the pace and quality of her novels very consistent until now. However, this really disappoints - the plot is pretty predictable and rather contorted. I also think that Tempe is becoming an increasingly unlikely character pushing herself more and more beyond the likely role of a forensic anthropologist. Frankly, she comes over as rather silly, irrational and headstrong rather than professional. I also find her relationship with Ryan increasingly baffling - it would be far more believable and interesting if they moved towards a more committed relationship.What I do congratulate Kathy Reichs on is presenting the science extraordinarily well and in a manner which is both understandable and does not interrupt the flow of the novel. Also, whatever else, Tempe is not arrogant or self-opionated. In all these facets, Reichs does far better than Patricia Cornwell does with Kay Scarpetta.