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Bones to Ashes: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Scribner
Category: EBooks
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $7.19
You Save: $12.76 (64%)
Rating:  80 reviews
Sales Rank: 335
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B000UG78LS
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Temperance Brennan, like her creator Kathy Reichs, is a brilliant, sexy forensic anthropologist called on to solve the toughest cases. But for Tempe, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada, is more than just another assignment. Evangaline, Tempe's childhood best friend, was also from Acadia. Named for the character in the Longfellow poem, Evangaline was the most exotic person in Tempe's eight-year-old world. When Evangaline disappeared, Tempe was warned not to search for her, that the girl was "dangerous." Thirty years later, flooded with memories, Tempe cannot help wondering if this skeleton could be the friend she lost so many years ago. And what is the meaning of the strange skeletal lesions found on the bones of the young girl? Meanwhile, Tempe's beau, Ryan, investigates a series of cold cases. Three girls dead. Four missing. Could the New Brunswick skeleton be part of the pattern? As Tempe draws on the latest advances in forensic anthropology to penetrate the past, Ryan hunts down a serial predator.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 75 more reviews...
Tempe in the footsteps of Longfellow... September 16, 2007
Veggiechiliqueen (Deep in the heart of Texas)
32 out of 36 found this review helpful
Tempe Brennan's back in her tenth mystery. For those not in the know, Dr. Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist who divides her time between Quebec and North Carolina. No stranger to personal trouble, she's an ex-alcoholic and single mother assigned to gruesome, personally dangerous cold cases. This time, Tempe's on the trail of her vanished childhood friend Evangeline Landry, a young Acadian who summered at Pawleys Island back when Tempe was a child. Tempe and Evangeline would spend the summers creating poetry and staging dramas as Evangeline shared her love of Longfellow's epic namesake poem (his Evangeline included a romanticized account of the Acadian deportation and its aftermath). One day, Evangeline Landry vanished without a trace, and for thirty years Tempe has longed to know what happened to her.
One of Tempe's coworkers in Quebec wants her to look at a skeleton uncovered in New Brunswick, and Tempe starts to put together pieces that point to Evangeline. She is consumed with uncovering the truth behind her friend's disappearance at her own personal risk. As with previous novels, Reichs does her homework well. Acadia was an area of Eastern Canada originally settled by the French, who were later forcefully evicted by the British. Many exiled Acadians fled to Louisiana, where the name "Acadian" shortened to "Cajun." Next to Quebec, New Brunswick has the largest percentage of Francophones in Canada (35% of the province is French-speaking).
Tempe's quest takes her to the small town of Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick. I admit, I was curious in Reichs' choice of town, because one of my favorite Francophone pop artists, Jean-Francois Breau, (Expose) is from Tracadie-Sheila, as is Star Academie winner Wilfred Bouthillier. One reason I love Reichs' books is because I lived in Quebec and majored in Quebec Studies, and she effortlessly manages to work in in-the-know elements of modern Quebecois culture. No mention of Breau or Wilfred, but Garou's Seul makes an appearance (in the first Temperance Brennan novel Deja Dead, it was Roch Voisine's Helene).
Tempe's on-again, off-again romance with Detective Ryan is definitely off-again here. Ryan has his hands full with cold cases and personal problems, and although the two consult each other, there's precious little romantic involvement this time around. However, the vibrant cast of supporting characters fills the void.
As usual, there are dark subject matters here that may offend some, including post mortems and torture, exploitation and rape of minors, so consider yourself warned. The dialogue is witty and balanced, the pacing generally impeccable, although the ending seemed a tad rushed. Unlike some of the past few Tempe novels, I felt that this was an excellent effort that was truer in spirit to some of the first few Reichs novels. It generally doesn't stray from the realm of believability, and Reichs' expertise as a forensic anthropologist and her experiences living in Quebec lend Tempe an unshakable credibility.
 Another winner from Reichs August 28, 2007
Ann Spencer (Carmel, CA)
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
Just back from a trip to New York, and my niece who works in the publishing industry there surprised me with a signed copy of the thriller of "Bones to Ashes." I have been a huge fan of the Temperance Brennan forensic thrillers and have been anticipating this book since I finished "Break No Bones: A Novel." Temperance's relationship with Detective Ryan has crashed and burned, so she welcomes looking into a cold case of an unidentified skeleton. The bones turn out to be of a young girl. Temperance finds her self believing they are the bones of her childhood friend who disappeared when she was 15. Now she must deal with investigating her friends death while coming to terms with her feelings for Ryan as they work on the case together. This is another winner from Reichs, who again proves she is the best in this genre. I really felt like I was cheating getting to read this book before everyone else!
"LINGUISTIC FINGERPRINTS DON'T LIE" September 23, 2007
Gail Cooke (TX, USA)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
It's interesting how memories of our childhoods can sometimes remain with us throughout our lives or suddenly return to us as vividly as yesterday's events. Recollections may gladden or sadden. For forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan memories of summer days spent with her best friend, Evangeline Landry, confounded and distressed.
Some 30 years ago when Tempe was eight she met Evangeline and thought her to be "the smartest and most exotic being I would ever know. She was beautiful in a dark gypsy way, spoke a foreign language, knew songs and poems I never heard. But, even then, despite the sharing of secrets, I sensed a reserve in my new friend, a mystery."
Nonetheless, those summers spent together were halcyon days as Evangeline introduced Tempe to poetry, told her about Acadian history, and of a longing to be a poet. Tempe dreamed of becoming a veterinarian so together they kept notebooks, recording the wild life they encountered. Then, quite suddenly, it all ended. That was the day they had planned to go crabbing but Evangeline along with her mother and sister had disappeared. When Tempe went to her house she was told to go away and not return, plus given an ominous warning - they were dangerous.
Of course, Tempe wrote numerous letters and searched but all to no avail. Now, three decades later she is confronted with the skeleton of an adolescent girl found in Acadia. She cannot help but wonder if these are the remains of her friend.
Tempe's partner and on-again, off-again lover Detective Lieutenant Andrew Ryan is working on cold cases all involving missing teenage girls. Is there any connection between the Acadian skeleton and the missing girls?
Eventually, Tempe is able to trace Evangeline's sister, Obeline, who claimed that Evangeline had been murdered long ago. However, linguistic fingerprints don't lie.
With unflagging attention to detail and punchy dialogue Reichs has penned the tenth in her Temperance Brennan series - may there be as many more.
- Gail Cooke
 Pleasant, but a Letdown September 1, 2007
M. S. Butch (Katonah, New York USA)
17 out of 30 found this review helpful
I was surprised to see the rave reviews. For me, this is the book that will remove Kathy Reichs from my list of "buy the day released" authors.
First: the Brennan/Ryan romance - I'm trying not to spoil, so I'll just day, the conflict seemed very contrived. In fact, given the amount of time elapsed, ridiculous.
Second: The plot was very thin and its resolution unrewarding. At the end I was thinking "that's it??". There was really no excitement, and none of the complexity of Reichs' earlier work.
Third: Although I still enjoy the writing, I had a sense of "writing by numbers". Reichs has perfected the skill of writing to produce a particular effect, but it seemed mechanical. Cat. Bird. Sister. A few touches of the dialogue or signature characteristic of each. On to the next.
I'm not saying this is a lousy book, just that it is rungs down from the author's best work. It still makes an interesting quickie read.
A technical crime novel September 26, 2007
Fred Camfield (Vicksburg, MS USA)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
This is the 10th novel in a series, but the first one that I have read. Consequently, I was not biased by other novels in the series and judged the novel on its own merits. It reads well as a stand alone novel. Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist employed by the police in Montreal Canada. As a child, she spent her summers at the seashore in North Carolina. A childhood friend was a slightly older girl from Canada who spent summers with an aunt and uncle. One summer the friend was suddenly rushed away without saying goodbye. The aunt and uncle implied something bad, but would not provide details. All contact was cut off.
Now Temperance is investigating human remains in Montreal, and her investigations turn up the skeleton of an unidentifed teenaged girl from the area where her friend had lived. Could it be the remains of her childhood friend?
The investigations reveal both family secrets and a very bad criminal activity. There are suspects, but some very surprising revelations. There are some young women injured by their families either deliberately or through negligence, and predators prowling in the dark. There is some discussion of social phobias, distrust of authorities, etc., especially in insulated communities that have suffered wrongs in the past.
Some readers have noted that scenes in the novel can be a little gruesome. It does give somewhat detailed descriptions of autopsies in the morgue. The author is a forensic anthropologist, as is the main character in the novel.
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