In this, the 13th book, of the Temperance Brennan series we find our heroine dealing with a body found in a pond. I won't go into just what shape the body was in but well, interesting.

 

When the body is identified via a fingerprint things get interesting. For the body that is only freshly dead is identified as a man who died in Vietnam! We are taken back into the US to exhume the body that was buried and from there on there are enough twists to keep the most jaded watcher of procedural dramas riveted. Bouncing between Canada, North Carolina, and Hawaii we learn a lot about JPAC.

 

JPAC is how our government finds and identifies our lost war dead. Going through this tale we learn about the confusion that happens when governments fall and how much identification of the dead has evolved since the sixties. There is a great message in the middle of a tale of crimes unspeakable.

 

For this tale is about redemption, understanding, loss and so much more. About why we search for the remains of the fallen and how important it is to give families closure. I recommend picking it up and reading it.

Also under the title “Mortal Remains”

Book 13, in the Temperance Brennan series

This installment is pretty much the Kathy Reichs we know and we have come to expect. The story centers on the world of JPAC (Joint POW/MIA (Prisoner of War/Missing in Action) Accounting Command (US DOD) and how far the military will go to find and bring home the bodies of fallen soldiers around the world. Of course as in all the novels we have a family drama to spice up the mystery and all the forensic science knowledge and real life criminal investigations are once again brought forward. 

With this as backdrop the puzzle start with Dr. Brennan called on the scene of a drowning, victim of bizarre auto-erotic asphyxiation stunt gone horribly wrong. The body is identified as being a long-dead Vietnam War veteran John Lowery presumed buried in his hometown in North Carolina. This kick off a case that will have Tempe turn circles and take her all the way to Hawaii looking into Vietnam vets and Hawaiian gangs. 

The plot is full of drama however I found it to be far-fetched and rather contrived as it moved along. The narration is told in a very didactic manner, choppy with an over-use of acronyms and scientific jargon. Initially I did find the story interesting but it quickly fell apart and lost its appeal. I really don’t care how accurate police procedural are but give me outstanding characterization and I am a happy reader, here we have the dullest of characters and the most frustrating ones acting the same old way. The author has employed the same writing style over and over again, even if I was to some extend entertained I do think this formula is wearing thin and a change is highly needed, “Spider Bones” is far from being an exciting novel. Thank goodness it was a fast read….With this said I still will read further installments, I like the fact that the main plot is usual based on events that made the news at some point.

I am not a fan of the TV show Bones but I am a fan of Kathy Reichs. She writes fictional books based on her real life experiences as a forensic anthropologist. I particularly enjoy her ability to interject her science in a manner which is understandable by the average person. Besides learning a few words in French, I also learn a bit about forensic investigation.

This particular book is of particular interest to me. I was raised on Oahu, specifically in Kailua right next to Lanikai so there is a lot of familiarity to me. Ms. Reichs does a good job of writing about the various ethnic groups in Hawaii. I do wonder why anyone would stay in Lanikai and commute all the way across the island to work at Hickham AFB.

Spider Bones is simply another great read by a very talented author. I enjoy the smooth flow of the story line, the characters and their personalities, and the humorous nature of personal interactions. A great fun read that is highly recommended.

This is the first Kathy Reichs I've read, and, well, I didn't hate it. (Unlike the Patricia Cornwell I read last year.) But neither am I really grabbed by it. Will I read more? Only time will tell, and whether or not one of my lists coughs up one for me to read. I certainly won't avoid it, but I know there's at least one mystery writer writing forensic anthropology mysteries that my mother likes more. Maybe I'll search him out.

Also, I watched the first two episodes of Bones and hated, hated, hated them, so that might explain why I avoided these for so long. I knew the books were probably better than the show, but the association lingered. I've also been told the show got better, but I've never gotten back to it.

Temperance Brennan is doing her thing with a drowned body in Quebec when the fingerprints throw up an American, long dead in Vietnam. So she is requested to go and disinter the recovered remains of that vet from his family cemetery. And then she is requested to go to Hawaii. This requesting go on a lot? While interesting, it did leave the story feeling a little fractured - oh yeah, there was this story back HERE we haven't talked about in a while.

So she goes to Hawaii where the task force for finding American military remains and repatriating them resides. And where she used to work. And there, she finds more relevant bodies than you can shake a stick at, and some surprising DNA matches and lack of matches.

I'm all for unlikely medical twists, but there were two in this book, which feels like one too many. When you have two conditions or event, for each of which there are only one or two recorded precedents, including both does strain credulity.

It also puts this book into the category of pulling out left-field information to solve the murder, something the reader could not possibly have guessed. I don't have a huge problem with that, but I do tend to classify such books mentally as thrillers, rather than mysteries. (I'm looking at you, James Patterson!) But this book has enough actual mystery, and a few bits where I could speculate on what had happened, to keep it in the mystery camp.

The family drama was fine, but didn't add a ton to the story - it felt like it would be largely the same story without it as with it. But as a mystery, this was fine, if not great. I doubt it will linger in my memory for long, but I never got angry with it.

got from library for 50 cents