Product Description

It's a summer of sizzling heat in Charlotte where Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for the North Carolina medical examiner, looks forward to her first vacation in years. A romantic vacation. She's almost out the door when the bones start appearing.

A newborn's charred remains turn up in a woodstove. A small plane crashes in a North Carolina cornfield on a sunny afternoon. Both pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition. And what is the mysterious black substance covering the bodies? Most puzzling of all are the bones discovered at a remote farm outside Charlotte. The remains seem to be of animal origin, but Tempe is shocked when she gets them to her lab.

With help from a special detective friend, Tempe must investigate a poignant and terrifying case that comes at the worst possible moment. Daughter Katy has a new boyfriend who Tempe fears may have something to hide. And important personal decisions face Tempe. Is it time for emotional commitment? Will she have the chance to find out?

Everything must wait on the bones. Why are the X rays and DNA so perplexing? Who is trying to keep Tempe from the answers? Someone is following her and Katy. That someone must be stopped before it's too late.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #896695 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.01" h x 6.38" w x 5.80" l, .48 pounds
• Binding: Audio CD

From Amazon.com

"As I was packaging what remained of the dead baby, the man I would kill was burning pavement north toward Charlotte."

With this opening sentence, Kathy Reichs serves notice that her heroine, Temperance Brennan, is in for one of her scariest, most gruesome adventures yet. As fans of this popular series already know, Tempe is a forensic anthropologist: an expert in the human form (especially bones) who helps solve crimes. The abovementioned infant is only the first in a series of grisly remains, both human and animal, that Tempe must sort through and decode. Meanwhile, as several seemingly unrelated cases begin to intertwine, her sleuthing puts her in the crosshairs of a very nasty stalker who hides behind an e-mail alias.

Reichs knows how to keep the narrative ball rolling with a canny mix of plot developments, character delineation, and scientific detail, all relayed in Tempe's smart, breezy, sarcastic voice. In fact, Bare Bones has a few too many characters and plot lines for Reichs--or most readers--to keep perfect track of. But it's a fun ride anyway, enlivened by some steamy romantic scenes and some fascinating, appalling information about the illicit trade in endangered wildlife (did you know that bears' gall bladders fetch more money per ounce than cocaine?). Bare Bones is a crisp, enjoyable read that cements Kathy Reichs's standing as the best forensic-thriller writer at work today. --Nicholas H. Allison

Books in Canada
This sixth novel in the Temperance Brennan series opens at a sprightly pace. In fact, so pacy are the early chapters, that when the author turns to introducing and developing her characters, the narrative slows considerably, like changing from fourth gear to first in one movement.
Set in North Carolina, this mystery includes many friends that Reich’s readers are familiar with: Andrew Ryan our heroine’s current flame, Katy her daughter, and of course her pet dog and cat, Boyd and Birdie, to whom Brennan often confides her most secret thoughts.
Not content with a single compelling mystery, Reichs involves us in drug smuggling, possible infanticide, the poaching of rare animals and the trafficking of their various body parts, a plane crash that causes the death of two people, a headless corpse and many disconnected human remains at a plethora of locations all seemingly without a common denominator. Assisted by an obnoxious detective, “Skinny” Slidell-whose use of folksy down south sayings and “witticisms” truly irritates at times-Brennan manages to pull all of these crimes and illegal activities together at great risk to her personal safety, and presents us with an interesting finale.
While this novel will make pleasant Sunday afternoon reading, some questions must be raised: For example, Brennan, after an encounter too brief, expresses grave concerns about her daughter’s new boyfriend, Palmer Cousins, for no reason other than that he is very good looking. We’re first subjected to these misgivings of a doting mother on page 27, but afterwards, we’re forced to wait until page 166 to hear of him again. In addition, I have yet to understand why Ryan, born in Nova Scotia, employed as a Police detective in Montreal, constantly talks like Hopalong Cassidy in a “B” western movie. Frankly it’s irritating! As is the use of too many abbreviations such as “mope”, “perp”, “vic” and “pax”-the latter apparently referring to “passenger” and I’ve thought for all these years that it meant “peace” in Latin! These things undermine Reich’s writing.
Despite these criticisms, Reichs is undoubtedly superior to her contemporaries when she tackles the forensic aspects of her cases. At these times, her style changes for the better, and she seems much more at ease. Both at the crime scenes and in the morgue, her vivid descriptions and explanations are excellent.
Reichs has filled this latest novel with so many situations, characters and locales that the plot is at times confusing. The author herself seems to be aware of this, and twice recapitulates the myriad of conundrums she, and we, are confronted with. For this the reader is most grateful.
If you were disappointed by Reich’s previous offering, Grave Secrets, you should be pleased with this latest improved effort.
Des McNally (Books in Canada)

From Publishers Weekly
Feisty forensic anthropologist Temperance (Tempe) Brennan is supposed to be on vacation, but body parts keep turning up. At the start of her sixth adventure, she's awaiting the arrival of her current flame, Quebecois sleuth Andrew Ryan, so she can head for the beach near her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. Before he shows up, she's called in to use her world-class forensics skills when a local janitor's infant granddaughter is found dead and charred in an oven. Then some strange, decomposing remains (" `Human?' `I'm not sure' ") are discovered by Brennan's dog during a barbecue at a local lakeside resort. Ryan finally arrives, but Brennan's vacation is indefinitely put on hold when a small plane crashes nearby. Two people are dead, and her expertise is required yet again ("The skull had suffered massive communitive fracturing on impact. The fire had done the rest"). Brennan eventually realizes that all three cases are linked to a drug-smuggling ring that also dabbles in poaching exotic animals. As she pursues her investigations, she is forced to work with "Skinny" Slidell, a redneck cop who rubs her the wrong way, but tension is defused by the presence of Ryan, who gamely gives up his vacation to pitch in. He matches Brennan quip for quip, and Tempe's dog, Boyd, provides extra comic relief. Reichs has built a reputation on cut-to-the-chase writing and swift plotting, and this latest effort delivers everything her fans have come to expect.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.