July 22nd, 2010
by candace
Rating: 
I know going into reading these books that there could be some gruesome stuff inside. I’m not really opposed to it because it’s part of our society, unfortunately. Most of the time it’s pretty far removed from me and I can’t really imagine either someone I know doing it or it happening to me or someone I know. I don’t know if we are conditioned that way because it’s easier to deal with or what, but this story was different.
Dr. Brennan has been haunted by the disappearance of her childhood friend all her life and when the remains of a girl fitting her description are found, Dr. Brennan becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her friend. The only problem is she has actual, present day, remains to analyze and this case she’s more interested in is not top priority. That’s not all that’s taking a back seat, her relationship with Detective Ryan is all but over as he has to make some pretty serious changes in order to give his daughter the stability she needs to thrive. (The unending sacrifice of parents…sigh). That part was pretty upsetting to me as the thought of not having Detective Ryan in the stories going forward is a big thumbs. I really like him.
Anyway, Dr. Brennan and Det. Ryan are working a case together regardless of what might happen in her personal life and since she’s having a hard time dealing with the feelings about her childhood friend that are resurfacing she calls her sister and she comes for a visit. Dr. Brennan’s sister is a mess and because of that is always getting into trouble. Luckily this time, she’s here to help and actually does lend some moral support as well as amateur detecting. Dr. Brennan finds out some shocking truths about her friend and also uncovers a horrendous crime ring. With the help of her sister, he boyfriend and a cold case worker she manages to solve more than one mystery and is finally able to put the past behind her.
The crimes in this book involve those against children. Maybe it’s because I have kids now that child trafficking, child slavery, and all around child abuse makes me sick. Literally makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t help but imagine that’s my daughter or my son they are talking about. The crimes in this book are not made up, they happen all the time to helpless children all over the world. Parents need to educate themselves on how to raise a child who would not fall victim to a molester and how to recognize the signs that someone is trying to harm your child. I liked this book because it talks about things that are considered taboo but I’m fairly certain the aim of the author was to bring awareness. Let’s not stick our heads in the mud and say it won’t happen to us, let’s do something to stop it.
Visit any of these sites and get involved some how.
www.sctnow.org
stopchildslavery.com
http://www.ecpat.net
Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
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July 9th, 2010
by candace
Rating:
I had taken a break from the world of forensic anthropology to explore the supernatural world of Bon Temps. On my desk there have been a stack of books that I have been slowly getting through. Two were by Kathy Reichs and since I knew I liked these books and they didn’t take long to read and would help me cross them off my list and get them off the desk I decided to read them. I can’t even remember which number in the series this book is but that’s ok. The truth is I started the other one first thinking it was the next in line and found myself completely confused when the characters referenced stuff that happened in the previous book that I couldn’t remember. Then I realized, I was reading them out of order. 75 pages into the other book I had to stop and start the other one. Luckily there wasn’t too much spoiled.
This book brings us back down south where Dr. Brennan is finishing up a class. She’s teaching students how to be “in the field” when they discover a body. That’s not really surprising because that’s what they are looking for, evidence of an old burial ground before the site can be cleared for development. The weird thing is, this body is not old. Not as old as it should be. Then, as they tends to happen, bodies start piling up everywhere. Dr. Brennan finds herself playing coroner as well as her other duties because her friend the coroner is very sick. She does what she can to find out how these seemingly unrelated dead bodies are actually related, because they always are!
This book is a test of will for Tempe. Sick friend, an unhappy land developer, an uncooperative Sheriff, an annoying ex-husband barging in, papers to grade, bodies to examine, murders to solve, and a love life to manage. This book has the works. I’m finding that the actual murder solving part isn’t as interesting as the interpersonal relationships have become. Life between Andrew Ryan and Dr. Brennan is getting strained due to their other responsibilities, he just found out he has a troubled teen who needs him, and she seems to be pulled back into her other life; neither of which makes for a good way to continue a relationship.
The murder gets solved, they save the day, and a bad guy goes to jail. It’s kind of a creepy story about treating people like livestock. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t my favorite part of the book? I liked her being back in South Carolina, it makes her life seem more real when the stories are from both places she calls home.
What did you think?
Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
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March 2nd, 2010
by candace
Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
Rating:
I really liked this book. The cover boasts this book as a spirited rival to The Da Vinci Code. I doubted it but I was intrigued. We all know my love for the Temperance Brennan series and this one did not disappoint. It starts off like all of the other books. There’s a body that needs some help and they turn to Dr. Brennan to determine whether or not it was a suicide or murder. She determines that it is a murder, enter the super stud Detective Ryan. He catches the case and they work together to find out what is going on.
What they discover is a strange set of bones dating back to the first century. How do bones like this just show up? Who do they belong to? Why are they so important? Dr. Brennan calls on her friend Jake Drum the noteworthy archeologist for answers. What he discovers is even more bizarre than they could have imagined. Could these remains have come from the famed Masada site? Why are they not in a museum? How did they get out of Israel? Who was this guy?
There is so much controversy surrounding these bones and everyone wants them. Would they be willing to kill for them? Apparently. Ryan and Brennan travel to Israel to return the bones and get to the bottom of everything. They are hoping to catch a murderer but what they find when they get there is even more strange. Another set of ancient bones buried in a family tomb. Could this be the family tomb of Jesus? Family tomb? Did Jesus have a family? What can all of this mean?
I found this book to be extremely interesting. I learned a lot about recovering remains and the orthodox Jewish views of digging up the bones of anyone, the history of Masada and so much more. It was a highly exciting book and really a completely different perspective than Dan Brown’s book but just as interesting.
What did you think?
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February 22nd, 2010
by candace
Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs
Rating:
This is the 7th book in the Temperance Brennan series. This book is pretty much the same as the first 6. Murders need to be solved and Dr. Brennan finds herself in the middle of something bigger than she thought. The thing about murder is there are so many different ways a person can die and so many different reasons why a person would kill another person. The combinations are virtually endless, which is really not a reassuring thing when you think about it. Most of these stories come from the experiences Kathy Reichs has had as a forensic anthropologist. So it’s not like you can pass this off the author’s imagination, there is some amount of truth in this.
I really like how each book has a different case or cases to figure out but at the same time the characters are still moving forward and we can see their development. These characters seem more real than other characters I’ve read in a series before. (And I we all know I’m big in to series.) Dr. Brennan is a recovering alcoholic and because of the horrors she sees in her job is confronted with that desire to use alcohol as an escape frequently. We can see how she struggles to keep ahold of herself when things turn ugly, not just at work but in her personal life too.
These books are fast reads and entertaining. What did you think?
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October 18th, 2009
by candace
Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs
Rating: 
*****SPOILERS*******
All I have to say is FINALLY!!! For those of you who read these books and have been dying for Andrew Ryan and Temperance Brennan to get together aren’t you so happy? The back and forth between the was killing me in all these books and then in the last book when she had to decide between him and the sexy Guatemalan, I was like NOOOOO!!!! And you don’t know who she picks until like the 100th page! Kathy Reichs was getting sworn at in my house! She was right though, I don’t know if I would have read all of these books so fast if it wasn’t for them.
Anyway, the story: Dr. Brennan is getting ready to go on vacation! We don’t know who with because it’s a secret! She has some last minute work to do, identifying the remains her ex-husband’s dog, Boyd has found a a family picnic that her daughter dragged her to and unfortunately is not able to pick up her guest at the airport because a small plane has crashed and she is needed as part of the recovery team.
The closer she comes to her vacation the more bodies pile up but not all of them are human. What has Dr. Brennan stumbled onto? Mysterious things start happening, a colleague goes missing, Dr. Brennan receives multiple death threats, strange body parts show up in very unlikely places and once again Dr. Brennan is knee deep in poop. Lots of strange animal stuff in this book and very informative. I liked the bird lady a lot.
Did you like it?
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October 17th, 2009
by candace
Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
Rating:
This was book 5 in the Temperance Brennan series and by far the most frustrating. By book 5 the reader is emotionally involved with the characters and by reader I mean me. My husband keeps making fun of me because of how obsessed I have become with this series. Anytime I have a coupon for books I go out and buy the next in the series. I have the 5 books and since they take about a day (max) to read I’m not that concerned about them adding to my page count. If they are here and gone in the same month then does it really count? I like deluding myself.
Anyway, where this book ends is where the TV series actually picks up. Dr. Brennan is in Guatemala working as a part of a team for the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation whose work focuses on locating and identifying the remains of the citizens who disappeared during the civil war from 1962-1996. A really gruesome time for the country and hundreds of thousands of people still remain missing or so I learned. In the course of her work with the foundation, she is called in to consult on a local case. A body is found the septic system of a local motel and Dr. Brennan has had experience with these types of remains so they call on her to help. EW is all I have to say about that, really one of the times I wish Kathy Reichs didn’t use so much detail.
Dr. Brennan finds herself helping a the family of a Canadian Ambassador and flying back and forth from Guatemala to Montreal. This isn’t the only change for Dr. Brennan. She finds herself having to decide between the stud from Montreal or the sexy Latino from Guatemala. Tough place to be I know. That’s not all that’s following her, a hungry reporter shows up in Montreal after she returns and she doesn’t know what to make of all of it, of course there’s more to this story than meets the eye. Did I forget to mention the string of women who have gone missing in Guatemala City in the past month? Can they get to the bottom of this? Is there a serial kidnapper/killer out there? How much trouble does Dr. Brennan get into this time? A page turner until the very last page!
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October 4th, 2009
by candace
Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs
Rating:
So I’ve been a little Kathy Reichs crazy lately. I just can’t help it. This is book four in the series and one of the best so far. I really liked how this story got away from the basic formula of the first three. This book does not take place primarily in Montreal. Instead, this book takes place in South Carolina at the scene of a plane crash. Dr. Brennan is a part of a team that focuses on recovery efforts. You’ll learn a lot about what happens at the site of a disaster like this. The process of collecting and identifying the remains for the family, of collecting clues as to what happened to make the plane go down, and how important these two things are to giving closure to the family and friends of each victim.
I’m happy to say that Dr. Brennan’s sometime work partner, Detective Andrew Ryan is in this book, because a prisoner of his was that being extradited back to Montreal was on the flight, and is now presumed dead. Dr. Brennan tries to help out by doing what she does best, but she finds herself in unfamiliar situations as her discoveries uncover more than just information about the crash. Dr. Brennan must come to grips with not only her past, but the past of a lot of high ranking officials. She runs the risk of ruining her career in order to get to the truth. She starts a new relationship and ends an old one. And as always, she puts herself directly in the line of fire.
Not nearly enough French Canadian swearing but lots of juicy, gory, disgusting details about death and life. I will admit I have bought the next three books in the series and have now added back 1000 pages to my total! I figure if I read them all this month, it doesn’t count? Ha.
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October 4th, 2009
by candace
Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
Rating:
The third book in the series and at this point I’m dying for some thing to happen with these characters. (Get it, it’s a book about deaths?) This book was about biker gangs. I was like seriously? But it was really interesting because I didn’t know anything about biker gangs other than they were a group of guys who rode motorcycles around. Apparently there’s more to them than meets the eye. They are involved, some how in the deaths of over 100 people. Montreal has set up a special task force to deal with these gang wars that are getting totally out of control.
Dr. Brennan joins the task force and of course gets mixed up in this web and into all kinds of trouble. Unfortunately for her, she has to work with Inspector Detective Claudel and it’s not easy. She finds herself playing host to her 20 year old nephew and trying to keep him from getting involved with the very people she’s trying to put in jail.
Lots of French Canadian swear words, bloody bodies, suspense, and questions that need answering. The only disappointing part of this book was the lack of involvement of one of the characters. I can’t say too much without giving it all away.
What did you think?
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September 25th, 2009
by candace
Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs
Rating:
This is the second Temperance Brennan book and like the first it could not be more unlike the show Bones, which I must say I absolutely love. I liked this book mostly because I like this style of writing a lot. It is very similar to the very technical writing of Michael Crichton and Dan Brown. They write about very different topics but in that same analytical manner that is very enjoyable to read because you learn a lot about the subject through the course of reading the book. I should preface this by saying I love cop shows, I love shows where they catch the bad guy so this series is likely to be very satisfying to me.
I liked that there were very few allusions to the first book even though most of the characters were the same. This book wasn’t set solely in Montreal as the last one was, part of it took place in Charlotte, NC as well. It was an interesting way to get to know the characters that will be progressing through to the next books. We get to see Dr. Brennan in her home state and with her daughter. Of course this case was different from the last so she was able to call on different expert friends for advice which was cool. I learned more about cults and bugs and french Canadian curse words in this story than I knew before. I’d have to say the best part about this book is the progression of relationships between the characters. They have to continue to work together even if they don’t really like each other. I think that is also part of what makes you want to read the next book in the series to see how and where the relationships progress.
Dr. Brennan is a professor at UNC and spends her breaks in Montreal helping with their case load. It’s away for her to be “in the field” and still be able to teach. Unlike on the show, she is starting to feel the effects of her work during her breaks from the university. Analyzing the remains of someone dead for years is completely different than analyzing bones in order to catch a murderer. I like this about the books because it seems more realistic than the sometimes robotic character of the tv show. It humanizes her and feeling a connection to the character is what makes me want to continue reading to be sure everything turns out ok for her.
These books are very gruesome, as murders tend to be and that can be a little disconcerting. Murder isn’t supposed to be something you just shrug off, especially when children are involved. There are a series of deaths seemingly unrelated that Dr. Brennan is helping investigate and obviously she finds herself in way too deep. This case drifts back and forth between Canada and the US. How can all of these random deaths be connected when they seem to have nothing in common? Will Dr. Brennan be able to continue working while facing down the reality of her duties?
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