Customer Reviews

Break No Bones

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

While Kathy Reichs' work bears undeniable similarities to Patricia Cornwell's, it is quite clear that Reichs has managed to find a balance between the private life of Tempe Brennan and Brennan's career as a forensic anthropologist serving in Quebec and North Carolina. Which means that the reader spends less time thinking about the heroine's propensity for dysfunctional relationships and more time enjoying a plot in which forensic detection plays a major role. Indeed, Brennan's relationships aren't particularly dysfunctional, just complicated. Which is a relief sometimes.

When an instructor heads for greener pastures, Tempe is asked to teach a field school in South Carolina. It's a very dull dig that has earned the antagonism of the builder who is impatient to develop the area. But other than that, the burial site is interesting, but not remarkable. Until, that is, one of the bodies found turns out to be much more recent. Her arms slightly twisted by an old friend, the archeologist consents to handle the case, which presents several unusual features, but no real clues. But the body count begins to mount, and the mysterious deaths point to something more than normally sinister.

On the personal side, Tempe's life is equally tempestuous. She had planned to have Ryan, her lover, show up to enjoy some time in the Carolinas, but the sudden appearance of her ex-husband complicates matters by no small amount. Ryan has realized that Tempe is avoiding any real commitment and Tempe discovers that her feelings for her ex-husband Pete are conflicted. When Pete is shot Tempe becomes completely distracted by her reaction. So not only is the trio going through a rough period, but Tempe comes dangerously close to missing the trail of a deadly killer.

As I've already said, Reich's seems to have found the balance point between emotional involvement and the very vine forensic detective work required for a book like this to be a forensic detective novel. This is a pleasant relief at a time where writers in popular fiction seem to prefer having their heroines go over the deep end rather than suffering the agonies of actually advancing the plot. As long as Reichs can keep this up I will remain a dedicated fan.

Little did Temperance Brennan realize when she led a student archaelogy class on an ancient Native American dig on an island off Charlesston, SC, that she was going to unearth more recent remains. Bugs, shells and the smell of death. Then another body is found, this one hanging headless in the woods. But both bodies bear the same strange marks.Tempe's asked by the coroner, a sick friend, to assist a county sheriff, a hard-boiled good ole boy no doubt last seen sweating Paul Neuman in "Cool Hand Luke." Convincing this sheriff that these cases are murder and that there are likely more bodies to be found will be no small task.

Enter Andrew Ryan and Tempe's estranged husband Pete, who are all bunking together in a friend's beach house. No three-way here. Just taunting, teasing and a desperate need for Valium.

But this is no Tempe-in-trouble-Ryan-to-the-rescue formulaic treatment. Ryan plays a bit role, actually more of a foil for Pete than a white knight for Tempe. And it's a nice twist.

For Tempe's got her hands full uncovering a pattern of crimes so horrific Anderson Cooper would slobber all over himself.

This is a return to Kathy Reichs at her best. The plotting is intricate and thorough, the pace whirlwind and the style less clipped than her last two books. And the characters are better developed. From Tempe herself; to Emma, her sick friend; to the county sheriff, and especially Pete, these characters are full and real. Even the dog is a well rounded character. I, for one, am celebrating that Kathy Reichs is back. Keep it up Kathy; you're best in class.

I had kind of given up on Kathy Reichs after her first few books. Although I liked the forensic element in the novels, I tended to find her writing formulaic and a little bit reductive in terms of characters. I decided to give her books another go after becoming addicted to the television show Bones.

There were some pleasant surprises for me in Break No Bones. Reichs has clearly developed her feel for character since the first two books. I didn't love the oh-too-cute two men in one house routine, but still-- Tempe and her beaus are well-rounded and there was a lot of even believable dialogue.

The plot left me a little bit cold. It irritated me a little bit that even though Reichs has a main character who has an excuse to be digging up bodies she still needed to have her accidentally find a corpse. It doesn't stretch likelihood so much as rip it to shreds.

Anyhow, it was not too bad. Recommended if you like forensic mysteries but simply cannot stomach any more Scarpetta.

I have always enjoyed being on vacation and reading a novel set in my vacation destination. So it was only natural that I devoured Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs, written about the low country of Charleston, South Carolina.

Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist who sidelights as a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She takes a group of students to Dewees Island for a two week field course. Their goal is to excavate several Indian burial mounds before the area is to be developed. In the course of their digging, they uncover remains that were buried within the last five years. Brennan is friends with the Charleston County coroner, Emma Rousseau, but Rousseau reveals that she's very ill and asks for Brennan's assistance with the autopsy. Brenna finds disturbing marks on the skeleton. Several unrelated remains are later discovered in other locations with the same marks, and Brennan starts looking for the common denominator.

Reichs is knowledgeable about the low country. Charleston is a very charming city, but not without some warts. She knows not only the Holy City, but also, the surrounding areas--which she makes liberal use of in Break No Bones. Reichs also provides an interesting personal triangle. Brennan has started an affair with Canadian Inspector Andrew Ryan in previous books, despite the fact that she is not yet divorced from her handsome but unfaithful husband, Peter. But the circumstances in Break No Bones will make Brennan question her choices.

One of the things I like most about Reichs' writing is her knowledge of forensic anthropology. In Break No Bones, Brennan gives the reason for her career choice. "In my view, death in anonymity is the ultimate insult to human dignity....While I cannot make the dead alive again, I can reunite victims with their names, and give those left behind some measure of closure." Sometimes, she can also find the cause of death. Although those are the words of Temperance Brennan, they're obviously the beliefs of Kathy Reichs.

Now that I've read many of Reichs' later books in this series, it's time to go back and start at the beginning.

But I just couldn't. I have read every book Dr. Reichs has ever written, starting with the fabulous Deja Dead. Somewhere mid-series, Reichs developed a sort of noir Mickey Spillane type of rat-a-tat prose, with hopeless bon mots, rapid-fire one-liners and unbelievable quips, sort of like Joe Friday on speed. I have mentioned this before in earlier reviews.

But finally, in Break No Bones, the Clever Patter outweighs the plot to such an extent that I found myself hopelessly confused, more than once, about just what was going on. I never really engaged in the mystery, caught up as I was in the endless, endless groaners (e.g., "Is he talking?" "Like a teenager on a cell phone.") By the last few chapters, I had no interest in who did what to whom or who was the real perp. I just wanted the book to end.

As for Temperance's personal life, all of a sudden, her estranged (and I could swear, divorced) husband Pete is a major figure in her life...and she shares a beach cottage with him AND her lover Ryan, and she and Ryan share a bedroom? Excuse me? What planet are we from?

All I can say is I respect and admire Kathy Reichs to such an extent that I find it painful to give one of her books a bad review. I will keep reading the series because of that admiration. But this one was simply over the top.

I am a Kathy Reichs fan but was very disappointed in Break No Bones. The story was improbable on many levels (frolicking with Ryan while Pete lies in the hospital, etc). The characters were flat, there was little tension in the story line, and the ending felt like the author was rushing to meet an editor's deadline. If you really need your Reichs fix, wait for the paperback or go to the library--not worth the money for the hardcover.

I realize this isn't a popular opinion...but I will never read another Kathy Reichs book because of this one. Temperance Brennan is an extremely self-centered and humorless heroine. I could'nt figure out how this women had any friends. Plus her working with the olice like she does is unreasonable. No way would she get to do the things she did. I know, I know...its fiction...but I really want the plot to make sense. Sorry fans!

I love Kathy Reichs' writing! I have read and re-read all of books. There are two I would list as not my favorites. I did not like Deadly Decisions, and I did not like Break No Bones. For some reason I felt nothing for the characters in Break no Bones. I thought tense situations were resolved to clean and conveniently. There was not enough conflict between characters like I am used to. I felt no sexual tension between Andrew and Tempe. I want the fresh and hot writing from her past books. I must confess....I will be first in line to buy her next book...I can't resist knowing what Tempe will get herself into next time.

"Break No Bones" is the latest in Kathy Reich's popular Temperance Brennan forensics crime series. Mind you, even at Temperance's debut, "Deja Dead," Reichs was appropriately hailed as an author who would find her space in the already populated pantheon of literary forensics stars. Reichs deserves to be there, on the basis of that first book alone. She now has a popular Fox television show, "Bones," featuring a lead character called "Temperance Brennan." To be sure, Reichs has the background for it, forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina,and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciare et de Medicine Legale for the Canadian province of Quebec: one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. On the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Also a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Reichs, a Chicago girl, didn't take too big a reach in creating Temperance Brennan, headquartered in Quebec and North Carolina. She's a sturdy creation, a woman with her own cat and her own problems. She's rather charming, not overwhelmingly egotistical, as the female forensics specialist of another well-known female writer has become. In the book at hand, Tempe has her personal problems: an old friend of hers is dying, and both her estranged husband Pete, and her current boyfriend Ryan, of the Montreal Police Department, have showed up on her doorstep, or rather the doorstep of the friend at whose house she's staying, at the same time.

Generally, Tempe shuttles between the two charming venues, Montreal and North Carolina. This entry in the series, however, is set in Charleston, South Carolina, not too big a leap from North Carolina; it's a famously beautiful low country town, with a long history, lovely houses, islands and beaches, and appetizing fresh seafood. We open on Tempe on one of the islands: she's been roped into leading an archaeology class digging up an Indian burial ground. Her students soon discover a fresher corpse than should be there, and more fresher corpses start showing up: Tempe pitches in, of course.

Reichs is a graceful, nimble writer, and her forensics material, while sometimes grim, is always to-the-point, fresh, and most interesting. (I finished the book at a sitting). At one point she explains," In the presence of moisture, the hydrogenation and hydrolysis of body fat can lead to the formation of matter containing fatty acids and glycerol. This greasy, sometimes waxy substance is known as adipocere, or grave wax. Once formed, grave wax can hang around a long time, forming a cast of the fatty tissues. I'd seen corpses in which adipocere preserved the body and facial features, while putrefaction turned the insides to soup."

I've fairly recently had the privilege of seeing Reichs speak at a Wilmington, North Carolina Library mystery weekend -- well of course, working in North Carolina as she sometimes does, she'd know her way to this lovely, historic beach town. The woman seemed as charming, open, fresh, and unaffected as her writing.

Unfortunately, this book's mystery plot itself is not as fresh as Reichs' forensics work: in fact, I'd have to characterize it as weak. So the meat of this book is in the journey, not the arrival. How faithfully do you watch "Bones?"

I picked up this book out of desperation at the local library. I have, frankly, never quite understood the fascination with Kathy Reichs and her books. The only reason I picked this one up is because I live in Montreal and its fun to read about my own city through the eyes of Americans. Unfortunately, that backfired here as this book is not based in Montreal.

The storyline is basic enough with Tempe being yet again "at the wrong place at the wrong time". What I have a huge problem with is the writing style and the pacing. Reichs writing often manages to make me cringe. While her main character is okay, the author insists on giving her dialogue that is downright corny and silly at times.

One of my friends once mentioned to me that Tempe never actually solves any of the crimes, she just seems to stumble into the solution. I have not read many of Reichs books, but the ones (all 3 of them) that I did read demonstrated this fact. What I did like about this book is that there is an interesting mixture of the main character's personal life mixed in with her professsional.

As for the plotline - yeah, its okay. This book is a harmless beach read - all I can say is I am glad that I did not have to fork over any money for it.