Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Brilliant storytelling
Tempe Brennan shuttles between Charlotte, North Caroline and Quebec serving as a forensic anthropologist as needed. Currently she is in Charlotte, informing someone she knows that his granddaughter was burned to death in a wood stove and the police want to question his daughter. After she performs that grim duty, she, her daughter and their dog attend a barbecue party.When the canine behaves like he did once before when he found a body, Tempe looks and finds bones. Her initial determination is that they are bear remains, which leaves her happy that no one was murdered and she and her Canadian boyfriend can go on a vacation. Just hours before she is to pick him up, she is called to the site of a plane crash where the bodies of two men were burned beyond recognition. While examining the bones for clues to the identity, Tempe relooks the bear remains and finds a human bone. This discovery leads to a series of events that force Tempe to either take a life or forfeit her own. Kathy Reichs gets better with each book she writes. Considering the stratospheric level she started at that is quite an accomplishment. Her protagonist has made life-altering decisions and acts upon them so that the character stays fresh. BARE BONES is a thriller that fans of Patricia Cornwell and Linda Fairstein will enjoy. The novel contains just enough forensic data to make the story line understandable but not enough to overwhelm the reader. It is easy to predict that this book will be a New York Times best seller. Harriet Klausner
Rating:  - More entertaining adventures for Tempe, more of the same¿
"Bare Bones" is the sixth novel in the Tempe Brennan series, and as such builds upon previous characters, past events, and past plots, but hey...if the formula works, don't mess with it. Brennan, like author Kathy Reichs, is a forensic anthropologist who works between North Carolina and the province of Québec identifying causes of death and IDs remains too badly mangled or maimed for local experts (including the occasional animal). In "Bare Bones" we find Tempe back from her expedition in Guatemala (the setting of her last novel "Grave Secrets") about to go on a much-needed and long-anticipated beach vacation with detective Andrew Ryan, a colleague from Montréal. However, a series of ominous events derails her leisure time: a newborn's charred remains found in a crack house, a downed drug plane, a cache of bear (and human) bones on a farm, and missing federal agents draw Tempe into another sinister web of deception, danger and death. A mysterious stalker, the Grim Reaper, threatens all that Tempe loves by leaving chilling snapshots as seen through the scope of a high-powered rifle. What has Tempe stumbled onto? This time around (and much to my consternation), Tempe spends no time in my beloved Québec. That was one of the draws that I loved so much in "Déjà Dead:" the vivid descriptions of "La Belle Province," the descriptions of local Montréal hangouts and restaurants, the charming québécois touches, all set Kathy Reichs apart. In "Bare Bones," however, Reichs grounds Tempe in the South. I loved the research about Melungeons (a subject of great interest to me). Melungeons (meaning "cursed" or "lost soul") live in the Appalachians and are believed to be descendants of Portuguese sailors, Roanoke survivors, First Nations, and possibly Turkish slaves among others), but overall the book seemed to cover less new ground than past outings. Similarly, the three plots are much less loosely connected than in previous novels. The budding romance between Tempe and Ryan was very deftly and gently carried out, although Ryan is not actually present for most of the novel. Tempe's Green Party rants at the end of the book seemed incongruous, more a political statement than in character for Tempe, but overall "Bare Bones" is another enjoyable read from Reichs. I only hope the next novel is set in Québec once more.
Rating: - Fascinating Suspenseful Mystery
In her sixth Temperance Brennan novel, art once again imitates life as Kathy Reichs writes about forensic anthropologist Brennan, who, like Reichs, is employed in North Carolina and Quebec. When Tempe goes to a picnic near Charlotte, North Carolina with her college-aged daughter Katy, Boyd, Tempe's estranged husband's dog, digs up skeletal remains. With the discovery of human bones amidst bear remains, Tempe's anticipated vacation with Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, comes to a sudden halt. With the beach trip on the back burner, Ryan joins Tempe, as she investigates the burned remains of the baby belonging to a drug dealer's girlfriend, a fiery plane crash, and more bear and human remains in a latrine pit near Boyd's initial skeletal discovery. While the various investigative sites seem unrelated, Tempe's intuition tells her that they are all somehow connected, as she comes across a complex weave of drug trafficking and illegal exporting of animal parts. Ms. Reichs' technical knowledge of forensic anthropology adds fascinating information to this novel chock full of murder, mystery, and a dash of romance. With so many twist and turns and death threats against Tempe, this novel is a sure winner with fans who want a no-holds barred suspenseful mystery.(thebestreviews.com)
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