SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
206 Bones
A Novel

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Devil Bones
A Novel

Publishers Weekly
Dr. Temperance Brennan's quest to identify two corpses pits her against citizen vigilantes intent on a witch-hunt in bestseller Reichs's exciting 11th thriller to feature the forensic anthropologist (after 2007's Bones to Ashes). While working in Charlotte, N.C., Brennan investigates remains unearthed during a housing renovation and discovers disturbing clues possibly pointing to voodoo or Santeria. She must determine if the bones, including the skull of a teenage girl, are linked to an unidentified headless torso found in a nearby lake. Intent on using the deaths as the cornerstone of his crusade against immorality, fundamentalist preacher turned politician Boyce Lingo claims that the bodies bear the mark of devil worshippers. With the help of Det. Erskine Skinny Slidell, Brennan unearths a tangled web of dirty politics, religious persecution and male prostitution. Reichs, whose work inspired the hit TV series Bones, once again expertly blends science and complex character development.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

Booklist
In an era when many mystery writers feel compelled to add forensics to their investigations but do so in a tentative, superficial manner, or when forensic scientists who move into fiction sometimes forge monstrous mixes of good science and bad fiction writing, Reichs is a standout on both counts. She’s a double hitter, who has both a deep knowledge of forensic science (Reichs is a forensic anthropologist and producer of the Fox TV hit Bones) and a formidable way of incorporating science with character and plot in her Temperance Brennan series. This time out, Brennan, an academic anthropologist with ties to the University of North Carolina, the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and a forensic lab in Montreal, concentrates on two grisly local discoveries. One is the torso of a teen boy in a river. The other is a basement in Charlotte, where a plumber finds the skull of a teenage girl and enough feathers, beads, and cauldrons to suggest some weird goings-on. Brennan’s brisk first-person narrative is often wryly funny, especially when she lambastes other academics and various forensic bureaucrats. Her expertise is snappily and entertainingly delivered. This series can be entered into and enjoyed at any point.
-- Connie Fletcher

Reichs is a standout...[with] a formidable way of incorporating science with character and plot.... Her expertise is snappily and entertainingly delivered.
-- Booklist

Loved it! I'm amazed by how seamlessly Reichs makes the transition from forensic jargon to snappy, funny dialogue -- scientist to great storyteller. What's not to admire and envy?
-- Sandra Brown, author of Play Dirty

Reichs is a standout...[with] a formidable way of incorporating science with character and plot.... Her expertise is snappily and entertainingly delivered.
-- Booklist

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Cross Bones
A Temperance Brennan Novel

Booklist
In the eighth entry in Reichs' popular mystery series, forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan spends more time contemplating biblical history than modern-day murder. A preface sets the stage, providing a bit of factual context for the puzzle that emerges when Tempe is given a photo of an articulated skeleton, which she is told is the key to the suspicious death of a slightly shady Orthodox Jewish merchant. The legend on the back of a photo leads to the bones themselves, 2,000-year-old remains that excite not only Tempe but also her friend Jake Drum, a biblical archaeologist, who suggests that the bones might even belong to Jesus himself! Unlike Tempe's previous forays into the world of crime, this episode isn't long on thrills. Instead, we get a fairly complicated lesson in biblical history, some radical theory to ponder, and the itch to read real-life religion professor James Tabor's upcoming book about Masada and ancient bones, The Jesus Dynasty, to which Reichs refers in an afterword. Yet another read-alike for Da Vinci Code fans.
-- Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

"A riveting thriller."
-- Charlotte Observer (NC)

"A spirited rival to The Da Vinci Code...Reichs is in top form."
-- Sunday Times (London)

"Fans of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation should be in heaven."
-- People

"Such bloody good beach reading."
-- USA Today

"There's nothing like a morgue mystery to brighten up a summer day."
-- Entertainment Weekly

"Likely to leave you with the shivers of an ice storm."
-- People

"As good as Cornwell at her best."
-- Detroit Free Press

"The science is fascinating, and every minute in the morgue with Tempe is golden."
-- Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Monday Mourning

From Publishers Weekly
Forensic scientist Tempe Brennan isn't happy: it's freezing in Montreal, her detective boyfriend is giving her the cold shoulder and her macho colleagues won't take her seriously. When Reichs's heroine is called in to examine three skeletons discovered in the basement of a pizza parlor at the start of the seventh installment in this popular series, her instincts tell her a crime was recently committed. Chauvinistic homicide detective Luc Claudel doesn't agree, but Tempe forges ahead and soon discovers that the victims are young women, probably teenagers killed sometime in the 1980s. Already feeling vulnerable because she's left her beloved daughter, Katy, back home in North Carolina, Tempe is further troubled by the indifference of formerly avid lover Andrew Ryan (another Montreal detective). Meanwhile, new developments lead Tempe and her reluctant colleagues to suspect a creepy former pawn store owner of serial kidnappings, torture and grisly murder. What's best about Reichs, and often unappreciated in reviews, is not the informative detail that she brings to Tempe's forensic sleuthing, though that's certainly engrossing. It's the same well-observed detail and incisive analysis applied to other aspects of the story. Tempe deconstructs Ryan's every evasive gesture and casual comment and describes an ominously darkened room, the glow from a UV light and an armada of snow plows with vivid precision. Here, as previously, readers will be as invested in Tempe's life as in her case. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Bare Bones

From Publishers Weekly
Feisty forensic anthropologist Temperance (Tempe) Brennan is supposed to be on vacation, but body parts keep turning up. At the start of her sixth adventure, she's awaiting the arrival of her current flame, Quebecois sleuth Andrew Ryan, so she can head for the beach near her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. Before he shows up, she's called in to use her world-class forensics skills when a local janitor's infant granddaughter is found dead and charred in an oven. Then some strange, decomposing remains (" `Human?' `I'm not sure' ") are discovered by Brennan's dog during a barbecue at a local lakeside resort. Ryan finally arrives, but Brennan's vacation is indefinitely put on hold when a small plane crashes nearby. Two people are dead, and her expertise is required yet again ("The skull had suffered massive communitive fracturing on impact. The fire had done the rest"). Brennan eventually realizes that all three cases are linked to a drug-smuggling ring that also dabbles in poaching exotic animals. As she pursues her investigations, she is forced to work with "Skinny" Slidell, a redneck cop who rubs her the wrong way, but tension is defused by the presence of Ryan, who gamely gives up his vacation to pitch in. He matches Brennan quip for quip, and Tempe's dog, Boyd, provides extra comic relief. Reichs has built a reputation on cut-to-the-chase writing and swift plotting, and this latest effort delivers everything her fans have come to expect. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Fatal Voyage

From Publishers Weekly
With four crime thrillers to her name, Reichs (Deadly Decisions) seems to have settled into a comfortable routine with forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose adventures grow more engrossing with each outing. Here, Tempe takes on an especially gruesome case in a richly plotted tale about an airline crash, missing body parts and cannibalism. The story opens in the rugged backwoods of North Carolina, where Tempe must identify the dead from the remains of a passenger jet that spiraled straight into the ground. While rummaging through the grisly debris, she comes across a foot that doesn't appear to match any of the 88 dead people aboard the jet. As investigators determine what brought the plane down, Tempe looks into the mystery of the foot. That seemingly well-intentioned pursuit gets her fired. Her ouster appears to be the doing of Lt. Gov. Parker Davenport, an ambitious politician taking an abnormal interest in the crash. Tempe, determined to restore her reputation, plows back into the case on the sly. What she finds is evidence of a chilling, depraved episode in local history that upends many common perceptions about North Carolina's political and business elite. Reichs, herself a highly accomplished forensic anthropologist, expertly directs a busy plot that moves with electrical force in the final quarter. She capitalizes on the morbid yet captivating aspects of the forensic trenchwork, yet never lets it overwhelm her story. But it is Reichs's ongoing development of Tempe a woman in her 50s with a mature understanding of human nature, and a self-deprecating sense of humor that truly lifts the book above many of its peers.

From Booklist - *Starred Review*
Initially, it appears the only tragic journey traced in Reichs' fourth Tempe Brennan tale is the devastating crash, in western North Carolina's forested hills, of a regional airliner full of college soccer players and their fans. Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who (like Reichs) works in both North Carolina and Quebec, joins with federal and state postcrash investigators, matching horrific body fragments to TransSouth Air Flight 228's passengers. Much to Brennan's surprise, Montreal cop Andrew Brennan shows up; his partner, Jean Bertrand, was booked on the flight, escorting an extradited prisoner. But Brennan encounters a forensic inventory problem: the foot she rescued from a pack of coyotes doesn't match anyone on the plane. When Brennan tries to identify its owner, she's smeared by a politician desperate to preserve the secrets of a group of power brokers who have gathered for years at a nearby hunting lodge. To save her reputation (and her life), Brennan must find the source of the telltale foot. A complicated, involving mystery.
-- Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Library Journal
Reichs is at the top of her game with her fourth forensic thriller (after Deadly Decisions) as once again Dr. Tempe Brennan must "tease posthumous tales from bones," utilizing all of her skills as a forensic anthropologist to put the dead to rest. Tempe is called to the Great Smoky Mountains, scene of the crash of TransSouth Air flight 228 where 88 souls suffered gruesome deaths. As the medical teams work to reassemble and identify bodies, Tempe makes a disturbing discovery a foot that doesn't belong to any of the victims. While investigating the foot's origins, Tempe stumbles on a mountain cabin and is immediately banned from the recovery operations, accused of malfeasance. Something sinister is going on, and Tempe must unravel the mystery to save her reputation. What she discovers is shocking. Reichs once again proves that she is master of the genre; her science is impeccable, her characters are believably complex, and her plotting and pacing are nearly flawless. Often compared to Patricia Cornwell, Reichs is raising the bar. Highly recommended for all fiction collections.
-- Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Death du Jour

From Publishers Weekly
"Triumphant... As in Déjà Dead, Reichs... renders comprehensively and believably the cool, tense intelligence of her heroine. Reich's first novel... was compared justifiably to the Kay Scarpetta novels of Patricia Cornwell. Soon Cornwell's novels may be compared to Reichs's."

From Kirkus Reviews, March 19, 1999
Called from her peaceful exhumation of the century-old bones of Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, whose heroic work during Quebec's 1885 smallpox epidemic may qualify her for sainthood, consulting anthropologist Temperance Brennan finds herself in a charnel house. The two bodies that have been discovered in a burning house in St-Jovite were both murdered, one horribly, before the fire was set, and four more corpses, two of them infants, are found nearby. This tableau, showing Reichs's strength in the gruesome details of forensics, is only Act One of a tale that will involve Tempe with a student missing from McGill University, a threateningly oracular professor of religious studies, and Tempe's own flamboyant sister, Harriet Lamour. When the grisly discoveries Tempe's made in the lab link the dead of St-Jovite to Dominick Owens's commune in sleepy Beaufort, South Carolina, the site of two other killings, the evidence shrieks conspiracy, and the prose shrieks along with it: chapters end with the likes of Tempe's trepidation escalat[ing] to real fear, an icy wind rocketing through my soul, and my jaw dropp[ing] in amazement. Beneath all the hand-wringing, readers with strong stomachs will find an even broader canvas than Deja Dead (1997), Reichs's striking debut, though one with more mystification than mystery. Reichs plots ambitiously, knows her way around a morgue, isn't afraid to pile on the Grand Guignol, and spins a tale that reads, well, like a house afire.
-- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Deja Dead

From The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
Although she walks and talks like a clone of Kay Scarpetta, the testy medical examiner in Patricia Cornwell's novels, Brennan comes by her forensic expertise legitimately, as the alter ego of a first-time author who is herself an anthropologist for the province of Quebec.

From Library Journal August 1997
A superb new writer introducters her intrepid heroine to crime fiction. Dr. Tempe Brennan, a trowel-packing forensic anthropologist from North Carolina, works in Montreal's Laboratoire de Medecine Legale examining recovered bodies to help police solve missing-persons cases and murders. It's clear to Tempe that the remains of several women killed and savagely mutilated point to a sadistic serial killer, but she can't convince the police. Determined to prevent more brutal deaths, she sleuths solo, tracking her quarry through Montreal's seedy underworld of hookers, where her anthropologist friend Gabby, doing her own scary research, is being stalked by a creep. Despite her ability to work among fetid, putrfying smells that "leap out and grab" and her "go-to-hell attitude" with seasoned cops, Tempe is as vulnerable as a soft Carolina morning. When a grinning skull is planted in her garden, her investigation turns personal and escalates to an intense and satisfying conclusion. Except for imparting an excess of lab information, Reichs, also a forensic anthropologist, drives the pace at a heady clip. A first-class writer, she dazzels readers with sensory imagery that is apt, fresh, and funny (e.g., "fingers felt cold and limp like carrots kept too long in a cooler bin"). Recommended for all fiction collections, this read is sure to be in demand. -Molly Gorman

From Booklist , July 19, 1997
Temperance Brennan may not be competition for Kay Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell's medical examiner, in the romance department, but she's just as stubborn and almost as astute when it comes to sleuthing. While investigating a grisly discovery for the Montreal coroner's office, Tempe finds herself remembering a similar investigation she conducted on the remains of a woman who was savagely dismembered and stuffed in garbage bags. When Tempe's concerns about a serial killer are dismissed by the police, she decides to pursue the matter herself--a course of action that both puts her career on the line and so effectively upsets the murderer's plan that he sets his sights on her. Montreal, with its French culture, is an enticing setting for Reichs' first mystery, and as a forensic anthropologist who spends part of her time working for the Province of Quebec, Reich knows the city well. She also contributes a wealth of authentic medical detail as she follows Tempe on her gripping, convoluted quest to catch a psychotic killer. A high-voltage thriller that readers won't want to put down. Reichs' novel generated great interest at the Frankfurt Book Fair and prompted a big-numbers rights auction.
-- Stephanie Zvirin Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. All rights reserved.

From Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 1997
"...Readers ravenous for ghoulish detail and hints of unfathomable evil, spruced up by the modishly effective Quebec setting, will gobble this first course greedily and expect better-balanced nutrition next time."