Devil Bones: A Novel (Temperance Brennan Novels) (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: cauldron skull, violent john, Jimmy Klapec, Asa Finney, Lake Wylie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon.com Exclusive: Jeffery Deaver on Devil Bones
Jeffery Deaver is the bestselling author of The Broken Window, The Sleeping Doll, The Cold Moon, The Blue Nowhere, The Bone Collector, The Empty Chair, The Devil's Teardrop, and fifteen other suspense novels. His book A Maiden's Grave was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel The Bone Collector was made into a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington. He lives in North Carolina.

It's always a pleasure to see a new installment in the saga of Temperence Brennan, the forensic anthropologist who plies her trade in both Charlotte, North Carolina, and Montreal.

Devil Bones, set in the U S of A, opens with a grisly discovery that offers a very different take on This Old House. Tempe is pulled from staid academia to investigate the troubling and mystifying scene, which involves cauldrons, ceremonial religious artifacts and, most troubling, the severed head of a teenage girl.

Another torso is located nearby, and the story is off and running.

Tempe and Charlotte police department detective Erskine "Skinny" Slidell, follow leads that take them through the seamier and the chicer sides of North Carolina's largest city--the worlds of Santeria, voodoo, the Wiccan religion (any witches out there: I'm not lumping them together!), and male prostitution. Our heroine also locks horns with a crusading minister turned politician, and there's a reporter who manages to show up at all the wrong moments.

Reichs juggles the questions of who done it (and who's gonna get done next) until the very end with consummate skill. In series books, readers treat characters as friends and follow those storylines as ardently as the ones involving murder and mayhem. Not content to keep things simmering on low boil, Reichs dunks her protagonist into a pressure cooker, with plenty of turmoil stirred up by a former lover, a--possibly--current one and, most significantly for this reader, yet another ghost of life past, about which I'll say no more here. Trouble on campus also surfaces for Professor Brennan, with whom we experience one of the most harrowing moments in the book: a meeting of professors and department heads (university politics as weapon of mass destruction). Oh, and we can't forget some brief appearances by the ex, who is behaving just like, well, an ex.

It might have been my imagination but I believe too that I saw the bones, if you will, of a possible subplot involving Tempe's daughter, Katy, who's working in the public defender's office. I'm looking forward to seeing Reich confirm or deny this in the next installment.

In Devil Bones we get plenty of what we've come to expect in a Reichs novel: engrossing details on forensic anthropology and anatomical science. Her mastery, and love, of those subjects, which Reichs herself practices (in both Montreal and Charlotte, by the way), is evident in her writing. We're also treated to plenty of esoterica about non-mainstream religions and history (I mean, I live in North Carolina and didn't know Charlotte was named for a seventeen-year-old German duchess). The author deftly negotiates that fine line between using such information to enhance the experience of reading a novel and padding prose. She gives us what we need to know--to enrich plot, character or atmosphere--and then gets back to the story.

And speaking of which: As an author writing in the same genre, I was impressed with Reichs's ability to keep the roller coaster on track and speeding along, page after page. She's a true master of cliff hangers--a neglected skill in a field where far too many lazy authors end chapters with people leaving rooms, falling asleep or offering hand-tipping foreshadowings of what's to come. I call this the question-mark factor and when writing my thriller I actually tally up the number of scenes that end in a compelling, unresolved issue that drives the reader forward.

Reichs has question marks aplenty.

My one complaint: I read the novel in one sitting. But I'm hoping that while poor Tempe may want a break after everything that happens to her in Devil Bones, author Reichs isn't giving her any rest and is hard at work on number 12.

--Jeffery Deaver

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From Publishers Weekly

Dr. Temperance Brennan's quest to identify two corpses pits her against citizen vigilantes intent on a witch-hunt in bestseller Reichs's exciting 11th thriller to feature the forensic anthropologist (after 2007's Bones to Ashes). While working in Charlotte, N.C., Brennan investigates remains unearthed during a housing renovation and discovers disturbing clues possibly pointing to voodoo or Santeria. She must determine if the bones, including the skull of a teenage girl, are linked to an unidentified headless torso found in a nearby lake. Intent on using the deaths as the cornerstone of his crusade against immorality, fundamentalist preacher turned politician Boyce Lingo claims that the bodies bear the mark of devil worshippers. With the help of Det. Erskine Skinny Slidell, Brennan unearths a tangled web of dirty politics, religious persecution and male prostitution. Reichs, whose work inspired the hit TV series Bones, once again expertly blends science and complex character development. (Aug.) ""
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Printing edition (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743294386
• ISBN-13: 978-0743294386
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #141,591 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 11 in The Temperance Brennan Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deftly Plotted Mystery, Lots of Pagan Religion, Jammed with Medical Details, and No Romantic Movement, September 4, 2008

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

If you are a long-time fan of this series, I've written this review for you. You can skip this book if you want to. In terms of series continuity, I'm sure Dr. Reichs will be able to put in two sentences near the start of the next book to handle what happens in this one.

If you haven't read any books in the series, don't start with this one. Start with Deja Dead, a much better book.

If you like mysteries that are hard to solve as a reader, you will like Devil Bones much better than most readers. That's also true if you are fascinated by pagan religions and cannot get enough information about dead bodies.

On the other hand, if you want an entertaining story that's an easy read, you will probably think this is a two-star book. The book also features an easy-to-hate politician who makes the story less appealing. If you like to see Dr. Tempe Brennan's love life get somewhere, this book is pretty close to a zero.

Let's face it. We all have bad days. Tempe seems to be having one throughout this book. That also makes the book more of a downer than it had to be.

Tempe is called out when an apparent root cellar turns out to contain a human skull, associated with what looks like some sort of pagan religious rite. Tracking down the rest of that body becomes the focus of much of the story in Devil Bones. Soon thereafter, a body is dumped that displays satanic signs. Are the two events connected? How?

The investigation has many unexpected twists and turns, most of which wouldn't have happened if Tempe had been a little sharper in assessing one of the clues. If you are quicker than Tempe, you'll unravel the mystery faster than she did. But you'll probably miss the real criminal until all is revealed unless you have ESP.

I learned way too much about pagan religions and medical details from this book, but I liked the mystery being difficult to solve. So I rounded up from two stars to three.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "We...fear things we don't understand.", August 31, 2008

By	E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Temperance Brennan, the forty-plus forensic anthropologist, explores alternative religions in "Devil Bones," the latest Kathy Reichs thriller. An employee of the state of North Carolina, Tempe is under contract to Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. She examines "the burned, decomposed, mummified, mutilated, dismembered, and skeletal." This time around, she has a great deal on her plate. First, she is called to a "chamber of horrors" containing human and animal remains and various objects, including cauldrons, statues, candles, and dolls pierced with miniature swords. Was this the site of some sort of satanic ritual? Next, a dog walker finds a headless body near a lake. The victim's torso had been carved up with various markings that might also point to a ritualistic killing. These findings set off a firestorm, fueled by hysterical media coverage and the ranting of a grandstanding politician named Boyce Lingo, who decries "murderous devil worshippers" allowed to go unpunished. Tempe is livid not only about the leaks, but about Lingo's wild speculation and baseless accusations.

Tempe, who teams up with Erskine "Skinny" Slidell, an unkempt but hard-working and insightful homicide detective, is destined for much grief as she tries to make sense of these seemingly unrelated cases. Not only are they bashed by Lingo and disreputable reporters, but they are also frustrated by contradictory evidence, a lack of credible witnesses, and leads that go nowhere. In addition, Tempe's personal life is in turmoil, as she struggles to come to terms with her alcoholism, her ex's engagement, and her mixed feelings for Andrew Ryan, the Montreal detective who stole her heart and then proceeded to break it.

In "Devil Bones," Reichs imparts a great deal of geographical, sociological, and historical lore about Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, plus a great deal of information about maggots, putrefaction, and skeletal remains. The author's didacticism can be grating at times, although hard-core forensic junkies will most likely be fascinated by Reichs' detailed and exhaustive explanations. The plot is carefully constructed, albeit dizzying in its complexity. One of the book's main themes is the ubiquity in our country of such ideologies as Santeria, voodo, and Wicca. Are the practitioners of these unconventional belief systems harmless individuals who should be allowed to practice their faith in peace, or do they pose a threat to the population at large?

Although "Devil Bones" is exciting and suspenseful, it is far from realistic. In an interview, Reichs admits that it is rare for a forensic anthropologist to go into the field along with detectives to question witnesses and work cases from an investigative angle. Although the mysteries are involving enough, the story's most appealing angle is its focus on Tempe's midlife crisis. She cannot keep her opinions to herself, even when her boss orders her to be silent. She still has trouble avoiding alcohol and the oblivion it provides. In addition, she hates being alone, but is afraid to trust any man after the betrayals she has suffered. Anyone who has followed Tempe during her long and arduous journey will want to accompany her once again as she tries to solve some of the strangest puzzles she has ever encountered.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the Best of the Series, September 3, 2008

By	E. Durham (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have to come to expect so much more from the series than this book was able to offer. The historical background is dry and uninteresting, not the usual transfer of intriguing information by the author. It is not that the topic is not interesting to me as I am a practicing member of an earth-oriented religion. However the intellectual areas do not mesh with the interpersonal on a level I have come to expect from the author. The use of ending a paragraph negating all that was just written in terms of dire future events became annoying. Bringing an new romantic character and then not developing him at all was a letdown and the coming of Andrew Ryan into the storyline seem trite and contrived as if he was there as a useless appendage. His part was also never developed to satifaction. Lastly we have he ex-husband and dragging in all THAT involves with the half his age fiance' and again the developement was left undone. I think the book would have been better served to leave off so many personal demons, including the off the wagon drinking binge that happens and then is treated as if there were no physical effects and fewer mental ones. All in all it was an OK read, but not up to standards of the other Tempe Brennan novels.