206 Bones

Starred review from June 15, 2009
At the start of bestseller Reichs's outstanding 12th thriller to feature Dr. Temperance Brennan (after Devil Bones
), Brennan finds herself bound and injured in an underground tomb. In flashbacks, Reichs fills in the how and why of the forensic anthropologist's deadly predicament. When Brennan and Andrew Ryan of the Sûreté du Québec arrive in Chicago on business, she's accused of botching the autopsy of Rose Jurmain, a Canadian heiress. Knowing only that an anonymous caller instigated the investigation, Brennan is determined to uncover who's out to sabotage her. Back in her Montreal lab, Brennan soon realizes that not only is Jurmain's death possibly linked to the brutal murders of other elderly women but that whoever is out to tarnish her reputation refuses to back off. With her usual blend of cutting-edge forensic science and a stubborn, compelling heroine, Reichs manages to juggle several story lines without losing an ounce of momentum.

Although there's a bit too much forensic babble in this twelfth book about anthropologist Temperance Brennan, Linda Emond makes the frequent transitions from scientific jargon to intriguing murder mystery gracefully. The plot itself is also transitional and intriguing as well. As the story opens, Brennan awakes to find herself hog-tied and bottled up in some kind of earthen tomb. As she starts to put together how she got there, piece by piece, you shift from the tomb to the facts and histories behind three killings she had been investigating. Emond transitions from past to present and scene to scene adroitly. Her voice, unusually potent for a female reader, adds just the right touch to the several characters. And there's a big bonus in this ten-CD set--a free MP3 disc of DéJË DEAD, the author's first Temperance Brennan thriller. A.L.H (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine