Rating: 
Summary: Coincidences weaken well-written story
Review: Dr. Tempe Brennan, forensic anthropologist, can't seem to get a break. She's counting the minutes to her long-awaited vacation with a possible new boyfriend, but she simply can't break away from her work. Her expertise is suddenly needed everywhere--first, to examine the charred bones of a newborn, who happens to be the grandchild of an old acquaintance. Then, it's the charred bodies of the pilot and passenger in a suspicious private plane crash. And even her irrepressible chow, Boyd, causes trouble by digging up a pile of suspicious bones. But it soon becomes apparent that these cases are intriguingly linked. The possible boyfriend, Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, takes the postponed vacation in stride. He helps Tempe investigate, fields nosy questions from Tempe's daughter, Katy, who is causing Tempe additional anxiety with a suspicious new boyfriend of her own. And Ryan bonds with Boyd, whom he insists on calling "Hooch." The stakes become higher than a canceled vacation when Tempe gets threatening phone calls and e-mails from a stalker who wants her to stop asking so many questions. But this only makes Tempe more determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Along the way she's forced to work with her least-favorite detective, Skinny Slidell, who is a smoking, junk-food-scarfing, sexist neanderthal. You just can't fault Ms. Reichs's forensic-science details. Tempe's investigative techniques are rendered with so much verisimilitude that the reader feels as if he's reading an actual case study of a true crime. Ms. Reich is very much in the same league as Patricia Cornwell in that respect. The bits and pieces of trivia picked up along the way are downright fascinating--everything from the nuances of DNA testing and bone identification to the smell of a 50-year-old privy on a sweltering summer day. I do have a beef about this book, however. There was too much coincidence. In addition to the three separate cases that all ended up being parts of the same case, there were numerous smaller coincidences that dulled the believability factor. Tempe just happened to be at some obscure picnic out in the middle of nowhere where her dog dug up bones related to her current cases? And she happens to spot a fugitive drug dealer, the probable father of the dead baby, at a restaurant? And as the name of a missing person comes to Tempe's attention as a possible connection to the case, someone accidentally stumbles across his body floating in a lake--where he's been for five years. How convenient that he picks now to surface. That said, I will continue to buy and read Ms. Reich's books. Even with coincidences, Bare Bones is still a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Barely Tolerable
Review: I was disappointed in this offering, possibly because Reichs has kept me so interested in the past. Bare Bones seems to be very heavily edited, it's choppy. There's not a lot of content in this book, and I am a big fan of Reich's indepth discussion of forensics. In a nutshell, I will give this series one more read, but if the next book is as boring as this one, I'll have to let it drop. Reichs can write much better.
Rating:
Summary: Bring Back the Old Temperance!
Review: Bring Back the Old Temperance! The sixth in Dr. Kathy Reichs' wonderful Temperance Brennan series is a good story, but like "Grave Secrets," Reichs has found a new tone, and it's driving me crazy. The mystery is still engaging, even though, in this outing, it's a bit confusing as there are many evil perps. But Temperance is still herself, a brilliant forensic anthropologist (like Dr. Reichs herself). And her love interest, whose romantic fate in Temperance's life was left very much up in the air in the last book, is satisfyingly back in her life (I won't say who so as not to spoil the surprise for readers). BUT...the aforementioned new tone, about which I complained in the last book, is now in hyperdrive. It consists of a fast-paced series of pulp fiction groaners that had me, by the middle of the book, ready to throw it into a wall. Examples: "I felt trapped, stuck in town like a moth on a pest strip." "Nice, eh? Kinda Green Acres Gone Trailer Park." Or...when referring to a man he cannot find, a cop associate of Temperance says, "I'm thinking about setting up a séance with his dead granny." Or..."To say she looked tense would be like saying Enron's accountants did some rounding up." And my favorite (NOT)..."I sat motionless, like a hunting trophy that's been stuffed and mounted." Dr. Brennan: stop! Yes, you were sometimes boring with your chapter-long lectures on the anthropology of bones. Yes, Temperance was sometimes too serious. But this is just awful, and not worthy of your very brilliant self. It got so I was tensely waiting for the next groaner (no more than a page away, usually) and forgetting the plot. Still, I liked the book and recommend it, although not with my usual enthusiasm for Reichs' work. I look forward to a slightly more temperate Temperance in the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Tempe Brennan is BACK!
Review: I have read several of Kathy Reichs' books featuring Tempe Brennan and was thoroughly enthralled with them. So, I expected Bare Bones to follow in this same pattern. After listening to the first tape, I was read to give up. These chapters contained lots of what I thought was unrelated information. What I found out by listening to the whole book was that this was, in my opinion, extraneous detail. The remains of a newborn was found in a wood stove and I thought the book was off and running in the "keeping a reader on the edge" style in which Ms. Reichs usually writes. Then came details about a bear bone find with more detail than I thought necessary to the rest of the book. Yet, it did have to do with the story line but the time spent reading about them was in such a large quantity that I was ready to not finish the book. I continued on though and was glad I did. After the first tape, the story continued the budding relationship between Andrew Ryan and Tempe and all the regular characters were there, Boyd, the dog; Katy, Tempe's daughter; and, of course, Birdie, the cat cannot be forgotten. A plane crashes in the mountains and burns causing the bodies to be unrecognizable. Bones are discovered at a Charlotte farm. With these happenings, a story begins that kept me interested in finishing the book. It tells a tale of what people will do to each other and for money. The reader needs to pay close attention to all the characters. They are all tied together but in such a way that if the reader loses track of who's who, confusion will set in. There are many more people to keep straight than normal in a book from Kathy Reichs. Once again, Tempe's abilities as a forensic anthropologist are needed to solve these puzzling and intertwined mysteries. The medical details are great and given in enough detail as to make the book interesting but not detailed enough to be gruesome. The ending has a twist that I did not see coming but tied the book all together which is what a great book is suppose to do. The very last chapter is given over to Andrew and Tempe's long awaited vacation together and gives promise to a more intense relationship for them in future books.
Rating:
Summary: Bare Bones: A Novel
Review: Stop already! How many characters and plot lines can you cram into one book, Kathy? Don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan of Tempe's forensic adventures and enjoy her more with every book. However, this is the first time I've not been able to keep the cast of characters straight in my mind. There should have been a "character map" on the first page! Please Kathy--do your readers a favor and keep it "leaner" next time.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Forensics Again!
Review: Ms. Reichs books are wonderful because they are full of forensic information. Her knowledge of anthropological forensics is extensive and she puts a lot of it in books, but in a way that is interesting for the layman. I liked this book better than her last one that was set in Guatemala. In this Tempe is doing her thing in Charlotte. We also get to see more of Ryan and Tempe's relationship with him does pick up a notch. The book starts out very strong with Tempe examining the burned bones of a newborn. From there we go to drug tafficking and the illegal sale of animal parts. There are a number of seemingly unrelated incidents (and bodies) that clutter up Tempe's table, but it turns out they are all related in one way or another. That's where I feel the book falls down somewhat because of the incredible coincidences that keep happening, and the ending is rushed and disjointed. Still it's an excellent read and there's lots of excitement and a little romance too.
Rating:
Summary: The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen
Review: Patricia WHO? I vowed never again to read Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series. Rumour has it she has a new one out? I don't know and I don't care. Kathy Reichs is the reigning Queen of the Coroner Crowd: she weaves a first-rate forensic story - without bashing the reader over the head with Cornwellian agenda. In the current caper, Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, is out to separate the bears from the boys. But what she'd really rather do is vacation with Ryan. From the killer opening sentence to the final "Bullwinkle in a body bag," it's a trip you won't want to miss. There is enough background information to start reading the series here, but, like Glenda told Dorothy in OZ: it's always best to start at the beginning. Caveat: Unless you are one of those readers who read the end first, Do Not Read the Acknowledgements at the beginning of the book until after The End. If you are an afficionado of the genre, they divulge too much of the upcoming plot. Reviewed by TundraVision
Rating: 
Summary: Fun Book
Review: Although the topics are not so much fun, the relationship developing here is. I really enjoyed the book.
Rating:
Summary: Bring Back the Old Temperance!
Review: The sixth in Dr. Kathy Reichs' wonderful Temperance Brennan series is a good story, but like "Grave Secrets," Reichs has found a new tone, and it's driving me crazy. The mystery is still engaging, even though, in this outing, it's a bit confusing as there are many evil perps. But Temperance is still herself, a brilliant forensic anthropologist (like Dr. Reichs herself). And her love interest, whose romantic fate in Temperance's life was left very much up in the air in the last book, is satisfyingly back in her life (I won't say who so as not to spoil the surprise for readers). BUT...the aforementioned new tone, about which I complained in the last book, is now in hyperdrive. It consists of a fast-paced series of pulp fiction groaners that had me, by the middle of the book, ready to throw it into a wall. Examples: "I felt trapped, stuck in town like a moth on a pest strip." Or..."Nice, eh? Kinda Green Acres Gone Trailer Park." Or..."To say she looked tense would be like saying Enron's accountants did some rounding up." And my favorite (NOT)..."I sat motionless, like a hunting trophy that's been stuffed and mounted." Dr. Brennan: stop! Yes, you were sometimes boring with your chapter-long lectures on the anthropology of bones. Yes, Temperance was sometimes too serious. But this is just awful, and not worthy of your very brilliant self. It got so I was tensely waiting for the next groaner (no more than a page away, usually) and forgetting the plot. Still, I liked the book and recommend it, although not with my usual enthusiasm for Reichs' work. I look forward to a slightly more temperate Temperance in the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Bare Bones
Review: I was eager to buy the new Kathy Reichs book and dive into it right away. It started out okay, but as the book progressed, there were too many characters in and out of the picture. This made the book seem disjointed somehow. It was not a smooth read. I sincerely hope this was an aberration on the part of Ms. Reichs and we can expect more of her wonderful books such as the first three she wrote. I am on page 155 and to be honest I don't care whether I finish it or not! The next Reichs book will be paperback for me. Save your money and get it from the library or wait for paperback. You won't be disappointed.
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