Reviewed first at Brunner's Bookshelf

As much as it pains me to say this; I’m officially finished reading Kathy Reichs. I was a big fan of these books since almost the beginning, but I took some time off reading them and explored what else is out there. I have given this a lot of thought and I think I have figured out why I have grown out of these books. In the last few years I have gone from reading only 3 authors to reading a ton of authors. There are plenty of women authors with female characters that are stronger and more interesting than Temperance Brennan. Don't get me wrong, I have liked Brennan for many years but I have found that Rizzoli and Isles from Tess Gerritsen, and Sara Linton from Karin Slaughter are more interesting characters. These books have also inspired the hit show Bones which is really interesting, well written and fast paced. I think because The show's episodes are an hour with commercials and I think that’s what makes it work. These stories would work better in a shorter format. I hate to say it, and I don't very often, but the show has surpassed these books for me.

I have thought about this review for a few days and there really wasn’t anything I liked about this book. This is the third book in a row by Kathy Reichs that I have read that has been less than impressive. There was so much rambling though out the book that didn't have any purpose. Had this been edited out the story would have moved much smoother. It also irritated me that we meet a character for the first time whom is supposedly a longtime friend, (where was she in previous books) and she is struggling with health issues. I didn’t feel this was really necessary other than to tie Temperance to the area she was in to work the case. There isn’t any reason she would work a case outside her jurisdiction accept to help out a potentially dying friend. I’m also really tired of Temperance being the clichéd damsel in distress in every one of these books. Let her stand up and smack the attacker in the face with a skull and tie him to a chair while she waits for the police. I don’t know a single woman these days that would fit into the damsel in distress category.

The last thing that I am really tired of in these books is the love triangle. She is always on again off again with Detective Andrew Ryan, but now we get not only Ryan, but her Ex-husband Pete in one book. If that wasn’t awkward enough, all three characters are all living in the same beach house and Pete seems to be trying to win back Temperance. Are you kidding me, this was just overkill and I could have done without both characters. Get rid of Pete and Andrew as well has her constant complaining about life with and without him and this might have been a better story. After all of that the main plot didn’t really matter, it was forgettable and had very little entertainment value. I used to love these books and would recommend Kathy Reichs to everyone I knew who read. Now I am ripping this book apart and trying to not be too harsh.

This kind of feels like when you grow apart from a friend from your childhood; you remember the good times and wish them well but part ways. Kathy Reichs is a great writer but I have just out grown her style. This book was really predictable and disappointing. Reichs still knows how to set scenes well and she is great at the descriptive stuff like describing background and what leads up to a find. She just got a little too descriptive in this book and it was dry. I have read 2 of the 4 YA series she has written and 12 of the 16 Temperance Brennan books, this one was the last one I will read. I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.

Good mystery, quick read. I will read more Reichs.

3.5 stars. I loved the tension between Pete and Ryan.

Nine books in and I may have to give this series a brief rest.

This is the first book of this series I read and I picked it up because I like the tv show. It was interesting, but I wasn't always sure about the relationships (can't be helped since I came into the middle of the series). Interesting case though.

Già in passato ho elencato le due cose che più di tutto accomunano la Reichs e la Cornwell e cioè il fatto che hanno due personaggi che fanno lo stesso lavoro e il fatto che ogni loro libro (tranne quelli che la Cornwell scrive con altri personaggi - e con altro successo) sembra un ritorno a casa. Ultimamente la terza similitudine, l'incapacità delle protagoniste di scegliere l'uomo giusto: Kay Scarpetta ritrova l'uomo che credeva morto e deve sorbirsi l'ira repressa di Marino, Tempe torna a provare qualcosa di indefinibile per l'ex-marito, nonostante frequenti l'adorabile detective Ryan. Ora in tutto queste love-story trovo che il mistero si perde un pochino, viene giusto accennato qua e là, come se bisognasse tingere il rosa di giallo, per vendere ancora di più.
A questo punto vorrei chiedere alle signore scrittrici una cosa: possiamo per favore accantonare un pochino le storie sentimentali delle protagoniste e tornare a scrivere quei romanzi dove fino all'ultimo non sapevi chi era il colpevole, e non perchè si era parlato di altro fino a quel momento???
Ridateci post-mortem, ridateci un Edgar Award e per favore basta questi strascichi da Harmony, quando mi va di leggere un romanzo d'amore, me lo vado a comprare senza spendere i miliardi perchè si nasconde sotto la copertina dell'ultimo giallo della scrittrice famosa. Grazie.

It's a couple of years since I read a Kathy Reichs novel, and the last one was one I didn't enjoy that much, so it was with a little hesitancy that I started this. Well, I needn't have bothered being concerned - she (or me, because it may have been my state of mind that caused the unhappines with that last one) was back to the great kind of story that I'd loved in all the former ones.

What did I like in particular about this? - I enjoyed the sparring between the ex-husband and the boyfriend, I enjoyed the verbals games that Tempe plays, I enjoyed the descriptions of places and people. And the conclusion was full of excitment.

A good read.

I would say that so far this is my favourite one
Tempe is showing a bit more emotion in her love life particularly
I can see why she loved Pete however I really like Ryan
The story itself was great, the villain in this book was extremely smart, making sure from the beginning to cover their tracks so it was even more satisfactory when they were captured

Likeable, good story, think I always enjoy Andrew Ryan being part of the story.