Helpful Score: 13
I enjoy the "Bones" television series and wanted to read the books the show was based after. Don't expect too many similarities between the characters. I found them quite different in personalities. Though, that's not to say I didn't enjoy the book. I found it a very good book. The characters were interesting to read about and the storylines all tied in very well. It was a great book and I'm looking forward to reading all the others in this series!
Helpful Score: 12
Tempe (for Temperance) Brennan is an interesting character. In this, the first novel in the series, she is working in Montreal as a forensic anthropologist. Murder victims are found, she is caught up in the search for the killer, and circumstances get quite dicey for her.
It is well written. I had a quarrel with the story, however. I know I am in the minority here--vastly in the minority, I might add. It seems that one of the main ingredients of a modern bestseller thriller novel is that the main character must be in deadly peril. The serial killer somehow becomes fixated on the detective or medical examiner or whoever is the focus of the novel. I hate that. I had to stop reading Patricia Cornwell because of it--I mean, really, how many dang serial killers can there be in Raleigh, NC? One a year it seems, which is how often a new novel came out. And what are the odds that every one of those serial killers would decide they wanted to kill the medical examiner?
So in this first novel, the killer is looking to do away with the medical examiner! Talk about deja vu!
I decided that although the book was fun to listen to, I was through with this series for the same reason I had to quit Cornwell. Then I ran across a taped version of one of the later novels in the series for a very low price when I had just run out of tapes to listen to. I bought it, and am now 3/4ths of the way through listening to it. It's good. It doesn't (exactly) involve the killer(s) trying to kill Tempe, so maybe Reichs isn't a victim of thriller-writer syndrome after all.
At any rate, this is a good story and the ones that follow seem to be even better.
It is well written. I had a quarrel with the story, however. I know I am in the minority here--vastly in the minority, I might add. It seems that one of the main ingredients of a modern bestseller thriller novel is that the main character must be in deadly peril. The serial killer somehow becomes fixated on the detective or medical examiner or whoever is the focus of the novel. I hate that. I had to stop reading Patricia Cornwell because of it--I mean, really, how many dang serial killers can there be in Raleigh, NC? One a year it seems, which is how often a new novel came out. And what are the odds that every one of those serial killers would decide they wanted to kill the medical examiner?
So in this first novel, the killer is looking to do away with the medical examiner! Talk about deja vu!
I decided that although the book was fun to listen to, I was through with this series for the same reason I had to quit Cornwell. Then I ran across a taped version of one of the later novels in the series for a very low price when I had just run out of tapes to listen to. I bought it, and am now 3/4ths of the way through listening to it. It's good. It doesn't (exactly) involve the killer(s) trying to kill Tempe, so maybe Reichs isn't a victim of thriller-writer syndrome after all.
At any rate, this is a good story and the ones that follow seem to be even better.
Helpful Score: 11
I'd really like to say that I loved this book, but I didn't. Generally, medical and science mysteries are among my favorites and, while I will probably continue with this series, I found this book rather rough. The science was excellent and well done, obviously showing the author's knowledge and experience in the field, but neither the characters nor the plot particularly engaged me. Worth reading, just not a great first entry into a series.
Helpful Score: 8
Not sure about this one. It is my first Kathy Reichs book, and I think I was expecting something more like the "Bones" TV series which is based on these books. I found Brennan to be a much less sympathetic character in the book than on the TV series. While the story was compelling, I found the book to be overly dark and violent. Some may like that, but I would have preferred to see more of the brilliant, but socially inept Tempe that we know from "Bones". I may try another in the series, but not for a while.
Helpful Score: 7
I didn't feel much sympathy for Tempe; I'm not middle-aged, I'm not a recovering alcoholic, I don't have children. I didn't learn much of use about the book's setting; street name upon street name does not a description make. I wasn't frightened at any point; the book is the first in a series, so we know Tempe makes it through the book alive. Finally, the writing was a bit over-the-top in places, as is typical of the genre. I won't continue with this series.
