Kathy Reichs is a practicing forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the state of North Carolina and for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Medecine Legale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only 50 forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of forensic sciences. The Fox TV program "Bones" is based on her life. Pretty impressive credentials don't you think? What's more amazing to me is that she has the time to write quality books starring her fictional forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. This book is her sixth Brennan novel.
It's a sizzling summer in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance is looking forward to her first real vacation in years. A vacation that she hopes will have some romantic moments in store for her. But before she can leave a newborn's charred remains are found in a woodstove, a small plane crashes in a North Carolina cornfield, and bones (many of which seem to be of animal origin) are discovered at a remote farm outside Charlotte. So everything is put on hold until the bones are examined. At the same time that all this comes about, Temperance is dealing with her daughter Katy's new boyfriend (who she takes a dislike to) and trying to sort out her personal decisions about emotional commitment. Then someone starts trying to keep Tempe from discovering the answers. Someone is following her and her daughter and that someone needs to be stopped before it's too late.
I had always heard it said that if you like Patricia Cornwell, you'll love Kathy Reichs...that she actually does Patricia Cornwell better than Patricia Cornwell. I think I would have to agree. I like Cornwell's writing, but Reichs is undoubtedly a master crime-writing star. The book is fast paced, the dialogue engaging, and you flip the pages engaged fully in the story and curious as to how it's all going to play out. Being a forensic anthropologist must be a pretty grim job at times, and Reichs does a good job describing what those days are like. At one point in the book, Temperance says "Sometimes I think goodness and charity are racing toward extinction faster than the condor or the black rhino...Greed and callousness are winning out...Love and kindness and human compassion are becoming just a few more entries on the list of endangered species." Well said.
The other aspect of this book I really loved was the glimpse into the trade in illegal wildlife. Another direct quote from the book..."Fifty thousand plants and animals become extinct each year. Within half a century one-quarter of the world's species could be gone...one third of all U.S. plants and animals are at risk of extinction...at least 430 medicines containing 80 endangered and threatened species have been documented in the U.S. alone--at least one third of all patented Oriental medicine items available in the United States contain protected species...deer are killed for their antler velvet, Siberian tigers are hunted for their bones and penises, sea horses are killed to help men grow hair, and rhinos are shot, electrocuted, and driven into pits lined with sharpened bamboo stakes so men in Yemen can make dagger handles." That's enough to cause even the most casual animal lover to have fits of outrage.
I recommend this book highly as an entertaining and riveting read. I know I'm going to read more by Ms. Reichs now.
It's a sizzling summer in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance is looking forward to her first real vacation in years. A vacation that she hopes will have some romantic moments in store for her. But before she can leave a newborn's charred remains are found in a woodstove, a small plane crashes in a North Carolina cornfield, and bones (many of which seem to be of animal origin) are discovered at a remote farm outside Charlotte. So everything is put on hold until the bones are examined. At the same time that all this comes about, Temperance is dealing with her daughter Katy's new boyfriend (who she takes a dislike to) and trying to sort out her personal decisions about emotional commitment. Then someone starts trying to keep Tempe from discovering the answers. Someone is following her and her daughter and that someone needs to be stopped before it's too late.
I had always heard it said that if you like Patricia Cornwell, you'll love Kathy Reichs...that she actually does Patricia Cornwell better than Patricia Cornwell. I think I would have to agree. I like Cornwell's writing, but Reichs is undoubtedly a master crime-writing star. The book is fast paced, the dialogue engaging, and you flip the pages engaged fully in the story and curious as to how it's all going to play out. Being a forensic anthropologist must be a pretty grim job at times, and Reichs does a good job describing what those days are like. At one point in the book, Temperance says "Sometimes I think goodness and charity are racing toward extinction faster than the condor or the black rhino...Greed and callousness are winning out...Love and kindness and human compassion are becoming just a few more entries on the list of endangered species." Well said.
The other aspect of this book I really loved was the glimpse into the trade in illegal wildlife. Another direct quote from the book..."Fifty thousand plants and animals become extinct each year. Within half a century one-quarter of the world's species could be gone...one third of all U.S. plants and animals are at risk of extinction...at least 430 medicines containing 80 endangered and threatened species have been documented in the U.S. alone--at least one third of all patented Oriental medicine items available in the United States contain protected species...deer are killed for their antler velvet, Siberian tigers are hunted for their bones and penises, sea horses are killed to help men grow hair, and rhinos are shot, electrocuted, and driven into pits lined with sharpened bamboo stakes so men in Yemen can make dagger handles." That's enough to cause even the most casual animal lover to have fits of outrage.
I recommend this book highly as an entertaining and riveting read. I know I'm going to read more by Ms. Reichs now.
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3 comments:
I haven't read this one before, but I've enjoyed some of Reich's other books immensely. I'll definitely have to add this to my TBR pile.
Thanks!
Sorry..Reichs is stale, cold, and trite compared to Cornwell, who began the entire genre. She is an anthropologist, sure, but not nearly as fine a writer, at least in our opinion. Funny thing, she's always drawing comparisons between herself and Cornwell-must be hard to be second string.
Sorry, stale, cold, and trite are not words I would apply to Kathy's writing. I happen to like both Reichs and Cornwell and think there are a lot of other readers that make room for both of them. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation.
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