Saturday, April 24, 2010

"206 Bones", by Kathy Reichs


Book 12 in the Temperance Brennan series

"206 Bones' is the story of a highly qualified scientist with dreams of becoming a bench mark in her profession. Her drive and ego take her outside of the box disregarding protocol and boundaries of established scientific disciplines. Putting her credibility and those of other professionals on the line for the sake of personal advancement.

The story opens with Tempe Brennan regaining consciousness in complete darkness, her feet and hands are bound and she has no recollection of what happened. As she struggles to free herself she digs deep to try and regain her memory.

In flashbacks, Tempe gradually recalls the disastrous events of precious weeks. The trip to Chicago with Andrew Ryan to defend herself on charges of professional negligence and on her return, to face two other seemingly botched investigations, one of an elderly woman found in a wooded area and the other a body found burned in a remote cabin.

The focus is on Tempe and the story is told from her point of view both in the present while trapped and from memory as she tries to piece together what happened. The puzzle is exciting and the story brings out many twists and turns while we try to anticipate her next move and guess who is out to get her.

The forensic evidence seems more farfetched and baffling than usual but it is quite entertaining. True to the writer's style, the tale includes an abundance of gruesome details, portrayed with a fair amount of scientific and medical terminology and an interesting vu on police procedural.

Although I enjoyed the novel, I was nevertheless let down with the conclusion. The climax was little far-fetched and the end came to a screeching halt.

No comments:

Post a Comment