39. Devil Bones

Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
Temperance Brennan series #11

Pages: 310
Finished: Feb. 18, 2009
First Published: Aug. 2008
Genre: crime, forensic thriller
Rating: 5/5

Reason for Reading: Next in the series. I received a review copy from the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada.

First sentence:

My name is Temperance Deassee Brennan.

Comments: Tempe has quite the case on her hands this time. A human skull has been found in an underground room in a basement and the room also contains a beheaded chicken, a goat skull and all sorts of strange paraphernalia. Tempe comes head to head with religions such as santaria, voodoo and devil worship. But nothing is as it seems. A headless body is found by the lake, a suspect is run over by a subway train and a fellow colleague is murdered. Plus, along the way a cold case is solved.

Reichs' last two books were pretty good but I feel that with Devil Bones she is back on track with the brilliance of her earlier books which made me such a fan in the first place. Absolutely riveting! I read the first 3/4 of the book in one sitting staying up to the wee hours of the morning and had to force myself to wait another day to finish it off. Great pacing, twists and turns that keep the plot rolling just as we think we've got it all figured out.

My only complaint would be that the whole background story of Tempe's personal and professional life (from the past 10 books) is reiterated bit by bit during the first several chapters. As one who has read all her books, I found it irritating but a new reader to the series would be filled in quickly and be able to jump in and read this first. But seriously folks, read these books in order! There is a whole personal story line that follows through the books that would take half the fun of this series away if you just read the books in any old order. Start with Deja Dead and you'll be hooked!