Customer Reviews

Bare Bones : A Novel

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is another of Kathy Reichs painstakingly plotted stories about Dr. Temperance Brennan, who like the author, manages to be a forensic anthropologist practicing in both Montreal and Charlotte, North Carolina. This time Brennan is in Charlotte, coping with a burnt newborn infant, an unusual plane crash, bones in the privy, and a whole host of other misadventures that spell trouble no matter how you arrange them. To make things more complicated, Brennan is spending time with Andrew Ryan, a detective with the Montreal police. And lest I forget, Katy, her daughter is in love, and Temperance isn't sure if it's her intuition or mother hen instincts, but she is not completely sure of the suitor.

Typical of Reichs, she gradually weaves these disparate threads together into a tightly linked whole, climaxing in an ending which isn't completely surprising, but which takes the reader through a bit of a rollercoaster rider on the way to the conclusion. Also typical of the writer, there are countless tiny forensic details to distract, baffle, and, eventually, illuminate the reader. Of course, people who read forensic mystery stories dote on details, and Temperance Brennan seems to have a library full of unusual information

This story has a bit more action in it than is the norm for Reichs. It is so complicated that Brennan is perpetually changing scenes and crimes. The effect is to make the story interesting, although just a mite too hard to follow. The advancing love interest gives the tale an interesting spin. Her feelings for Ryan have never been particularly secret, but they come pretty much out of the closet in this story. I can't say that I personally enjoy all of Tempe's admiration for her handsome lover, but the relationship never becomes the driving force behind the story, as it has with other authors..

Reichs has always been compared to Pat Cornwell, and, despite obvious differences, appeals equally to the same audiences. Cornwell's fault was that she fell into the trap of making her character into the plot to the exclusion of the real plot. So far, Reichs has managed to avoid that pitfall while still managing to make Temperance Brennan into a real person. Hopefully she will keep this up, and we won't have to cope with the litany of woes that followed Kay Scarpetta.

I found Bare Bones to be a quick and easy summer read. Enough action and plot to keep me decently interested and some interesting information along the way.

My two major sticking points, and minor one, are the incessant product placement (Diet Coke, Sam Adams, Diet Coke, Fig Newtons, Diet Coke, Heineken, Diet Coke... did I mention Diet Coke?) and the chapter-long environmentalist soap box that is the final chapter. Yes, poaching is bad. Using endangered species for profit is bad. We got that in the main body of the story, Reichs should have rethought the overkill (pun intended).

Also, a lot of readers have mentioned how whiny Tempe is and I must concur. Yet another comparison that can be made between Tempe and Scarpetta (of Pat Cornwell's novels). Not as bad in Bare Bones, but it was definitely there. And Ryan's cowboy act has GOT to GO.

Despite my criticisms, Bare Bones is a pretty fun read, with interesting characters and some nice witty moments. Reichs knows her stuff, and if sometimes it comes off a little textbook-ish (as one reviewer complained) it's only because she wishes more people really knew the real work that anthropologists and law enforcement officers do -- not just what's on TV. I'm looking forward to settling in with another Reichs novel soon.

Like others, I found too many characters, sub-plots, and confusing detail to be able to get engrossed. I suspect the author did too, as she twice resorted to having her characters review the situation thus far, on one occasion, having Tempe write a character and event list - a device I found clumsy. Disappointingly she also seemed to end several chapters with a line that set the scene for an exciting big "event" to apparently immediately follow - that didn't. Well, not until later, by then too late, and a bit disappointing. The author also over uses the "eye rolling" lines - they are in almost every other chapter. Finally, the end rant was overkill (excuse the pun). As another reviewer suggested, it would have been better confined to an epilogue. I did however, very much like her descriptions of the dog, Boyd/Hooch, I thought those very funny, well observed, and uncontrived. Full of worthy aspirations, sorry to say I found this book quite a disappointing addition to an otherwise first class, enjoyable series.

Series in this genre always seem to decline over time. The plots become more extreme, and the resolutions become more abrupt. The hero or heroine always seems to be stalked by the villain, creating an increasingly odd strain of the stories' verisimilitude. Reichs hasn't quite descended to the level that some of her peers have reached, but you can see the path she's on.

The book's flaws overshadow the novel forensic conundrum of the book: what events could possibly account for this strange mixture of human and animal bones that have been discovered? The basic ideas for a clever mystery were present, so you can still take away hope from that Reichs may yet be able to assemble a novel as good as her first.

The biggest problem with the book is that the last two chapters move too quickly and suddenly to resolution. The final chapter resorts to particularly hackish mechanisms for explaining the details of the story for anybody who still cared.

Furthermore, Reichs is going to have to work out a new trick for raising the level of menace in her books without resorting to having a villain stalk Brennan. At the very least, couldn't we have enjoyed our schadenfreude by having that annoying Boyd (the dog) become a hapless victim of circumstances? Maybe Brennan's personal risk could at least be incidental to her proximity to potential victims. It's not our job to solve this problem for the author, but she clearly needs some new tricks for building the suspense.

Finally, I suggest that the series has one other pitfall. After reading several of the Tempe Brennan books, it's clear to me that Charlotte (as it's protrayed) simply isn't as interesting as Montreal. Since this book is set entirely in and around the heroine's Southern home, the setting doesn't help to enhance the story as well as it has in others of Reichs' books.

Bare bones gets bogged down with too many characters and subplots. After a while, it was difficult to focus on who was doing what and why. Deja Dead, her first novel, was so intense and focused, that it is difficult to comprehend how the author has come to "lose the scent." She is a good and craftful writer,who just needs to reel her story in.

"Bare Bones" is the new novel by Kathy Reichs and it is number six in the Temperance Brennan series. Dr. Tempe Brennan is a forensic anthropologist and part-time sleuth whose knowledge of human and animal remains helps her solve difficult cases.

This time around, Tempe becomes embroiled in a complicated investigation that includes a possible infanticide, illegal trafficking in endangered species and drug running. As a sidebar, Tempe's romance with Andrew Ryan, the hunky Canadian detective whom she has coveted in the past, is finally heating up. Tempe is as nervous as a schoolgirl about the future of this relationship.

On every level, "Bare Bones" is unsuccessful. The cast of characters is lengthy and confusing, and the plot meanders along pointlessly throughout much of the book. It took perseverance for me to wade through this tedious novel, and by the time I got to the end, I was well beyond caring who did what to whom.

To make matters worse, Reichs's dialogue is too often preachy or cutesy. She also has an unfortunate habit of overusing italics and exclamation points to indicate that Tempe is stressed out or in danger. I recommend that you skip "Bare Bones," since it is far less entertaining than the previous five novels in this series.

The remains of a new-born baby are discovered in a wood stove. Bones are discovered in two plastic bags in a wood, and further investigation finds more bones in a farmhouse nearby. A small plane crashes on a North Carolina hillside and bursts into flames. A mysterious black substance is found on the bodies of the pilot and passenger and the burnt-out interior. These events bring forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan into a whirlpool of mystery that will eventually end with her taking a life.

It's good. It's not great. It's certainly not Fatal Voyage or Death du Jour, but is more like the quality of Deadly Decisions. Tempe remains the wonderfully human character that she always has been, and there are some magical moments between her and daughter Katie that are guaranteed to please readers, as well as a very welcome return from Andrew Ryan, who, even though fictional, simply sizzles on the page. However, aside from that, there isn't a great deal in the way of further character development, even though it is interesting to see a novel with Tempe firmly entrenched in the city of Charlotte for the first time in the series. And it's a series that, what with all the possible locations and directions it can take, certainly remains fresh and promises to do so for quite a while yet.

Reichs' dialogue, as always, is brilliantly snappy, acute, and amusing, even if there is a little much of it, and there's plenty of great detail to make this an incredibly good and authentic thriller on the forensics front. Reichs' writing style is quirky and somewhat eccentric, but only because she's such a wonderful first-person writer, really getting into the head of her main character (maybe because, I suspect, there is a great deal of the writer herself supplanted into the protagonist) and making the writing seem curiously human. However, Bare Bones (as well as being a little too short to be fully developed) ultimately suffers from something that a couple of her books have done: She gets bogged down in bones. Or, rather, the reader does. There are rather too many sets of bones and crimes and villains, and as a result it's very easy for the reader to get them all muddled in their mind. There are too many criminals mixed up in the goings on, and to be honest by the end it's a job to keep up with who killed which person where and how and why they did it. But, with a little careful checking of your facts, this can still remain a mostly satisfying and hugely suspenseful pageturner of a thriller.

To be honest, the quality of Reichs' novels seems to be entirely subjective...every year, each new book runs the entire gamut of reader opinion, with some thinking it her best, others her worst, and everything else in between. This book will probably get a very similar reaction, so the most sensible thing to do is to try it out for yourself and see.

Although I have enjoyed the plots and the science in Ms. Reich's storys, I find Temperance Brennan to be a very unpleasant character. She is rude, impatient,condescending and demanding. She is also a terrible mother, giving her daughter scraps of her time after she has done what she wants to do in terms of her career and her romances. I find myself wondering if Ms Reichs has modeled her character after herself. In her ego inflated world the main character can be as obnoxious as she wants to be, yet she is still highly respected by her colleagues and sought after by a very eligibly man who apparently could have any woman he wants. I don't see this as being likely in real life.
Please Ms. Reichs make Tempe more likeable, give her some manners and some patience and understanding with her fellow man. After all she is supposed to be so compassionate and caring about those who have died, how about a little of that compassion for the living.

I love Kathy Reichs and her books. I love the main character Tempe Brennan and the situations she gets in. Bare Bones is about bear poaching, drugs, a headless body and a baby's charred remains found in a stove.

This book began well and had me hooked right up until the end. The way it ended stunned me - it happened so quickly and was almost an anticlimax. Then Tempe goes off on this long rant, with statistics and figures, about people who poach and/or smuggle animals that are used for medicinal purposes or because they are rare. The rant should have been left out - it was totally out of character for Tempe and I get the distinct feeling this was more of an issue to Reichs. She should have written that part as an afterword.
Other than that, I loved this book and can't wait for the next one. I hope Reichs cuts down on the preaching and ratchets up the action!

Forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan, is back in another grisly, multiple death novel. In short order a newborn is found in a wood-burning stove, animal and human bones in a plastic bag are found in the woods while Tempe is at a pig-pull party, bones are found in a farm outhouse, and a plane crashes into a mountain bursting into flames. Tempe is involved in all the deaths and amazingly connects them all. Reichs ties it all up with a nice big red bow for the reader at the end, but not before throwing in a nice obvious red herring.

I loved Reich's previous novels. I didn't dislike this one even though it is not up to her previous work. I expect more from Reichs than this book delivered. The main problem was each of the many deaths came complete with its own set of characters. I kept having to flip backwards to figure out who people were. There are just too many characters to keep track of. If I'd had known, I would have written down the character and the relationship to the story as I read along. To be fair, I usually read books within a day or two, but read this one over a week. On the plus side, Reichs tried to explore the relationships between Tempe and her college-age daughter and between Tempe and Quebec detective, Andrew Ryan. It made Tempe more of a full-fleshed, human character with a real life. I just wish more time had been spent on that instead of the barrage of death.