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Available
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Series
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Publication
Scribner (2007), Edition: 1st Printing, 320 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:In Kathy Reichs's tenth bestselling novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada might be connected to the disappearance of Tempe's childhood friend. For Tempe Brennan, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada, is more than just another case. Evangeline, Tempe's childhood best friend, was also from Acadia. Named for the character in the Longfellow poem, Evangeline was the most exotic person in Tempe's eight-year-old world. When Evangeline 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 had 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. Two girls dead. Three 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.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jeniwren
This is the tenth book in the series featuring Temperance Brennan on which that awful TV series 'Bones' is based . Why Reichs has any affiliation with this drivel I will never understand. Anyway these are fast paced and full of interesting forensic detail. In this instalment there are three missing
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persons, three unidentified bodies , all female , all mid teens and is there a serial killer at work? This time it is very personal as one could be a childhood friend who disappeared long ago without trace. Temperance is a great character so flawed as a human being and after so many books it is like visiting an old friend. Show Less
LibraryThing member MichaelDeavers
A bit weak for the Bones Series.
I thought Bones to Ashes was a very good story for the Bones series. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was one of the best, but it was still a wonderful read. Temperance love life got a wee bit boring but I couldn't help but perk up with the portrayal of missing
As always, Kathy Reich did an excellent job of describing in detail the police procedures, which I found very interesting.
I thought Bones to Ashes was a very good story for the Bones series. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was one of the best, but it was still a wonderful read. Temperance love life got a wee bit boring but I couldn't help but perk up with the portrayal of missing
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children. My feelings on the plot are mixed. Mainly I just wished that there were more scenes that revolved around the mystery of the bones and Ryan's cases.As always, Kathy Reich did an excellent job of describing in detail the police procedures, which I found very interesting.
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LibraryThing member M8lt
I am quite a fan of Kathy Reichs, but couldn't really get into this one. There's too much attention for Temperance's private life and her dealings with collegues and too little focus on the investigated crimes. I don't like the fact that the crime story is part of Temperance's past and hope that
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the next book will be more of a crime novel than a character sketch (Cornwell has had the same tendency to let the main character's private life become part of the crime story instead of just investigating it and it doesn't really work for me... almost always, as in the case of BONES TO ASHES the story just becomes farfetched). I missed Temperance's positive energy. She seemed continuously depressed about her love life. In terms of the crimes that are investigated, I increasingly lost track which girl was victim of which crime. Finally, I found myself getting anoyed with Reich's way of ending a chapter, i.e. "What I saw, I couldn't have imagined", as if trying to create a moment of suspense to convince the author to eagerly turn to the next chapter..... All in all, not Reich's best. Show Less
LibraryThing member cenneidigh
Love this series, it is entertaining and fresh. The mystery is interesting and the romance is sweet. I've caught up and I wish she would write faster.
LibraryThing member Alera
Fast-paced! A joy to read and easy to get lost in. I love this set of novels and Bones to Ashes lived up to my expectations of this series. There were a lot of threads in this very engaging and somewhat personal (for Tempe) plot, and I think the best part of it was that while they were all wrapped
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up, they weren't all wrapped up as neatly or as together as you would first assume. Show Less
LibraryThing member chmessing
A good, quick "filler" sort of book - for when you don't have anything else handy. I've read a couple others in this series and they're generally decently written and fast-moving with lots of forensic details (sometimes a bit too much).
LibraryThing member bilja
Maybe not the best book ever written by Dr.Reichs, sometimes complicated, sometimes boaring in its details, shows a very interesting part of the Canadian/American history. Always departing from Tempe's personal life, her summer holidays with her little sis and 2 french canadian girls, develops a
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voyage into a corner of land, Tracadie, totally unknown to European people, but very significant in history. I truly enjoy the french/english culture comparison, at its highest point in this book. It really shows the two Canadian souls. Another excellent job Mrs.Reichs! Show Less
LibraryThing member seasidereader
I disagree with other reviewers about the appeal of Tempe's childhood side story, and it felt it added immensely to the intrigue. (Spoiler alert:) It also helps to explain her irrational tenacity about pursuing the wrong perpetrator.
Yes, some of the characters aren't fully drawn and all loose ends
A couple plot issues bothered me, though they are forgivable. And as always, Reichs gives us a glimpse of places we don't know.
Yes, some of the characters aren't fully drawn and all loose ends
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aren't tied up. That's not a bad thing, that's realism.A couple plot issues bothered me, though they are forgivable. And as always, Reichs gives us a glimpse of places we don't know.
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LibraryThing member Periodista
Meh. I guess it served its purpose as a killing-time-while-traveling book, but I don't think the bit of new info I learned made up for the exceedingly preposterous plot line involving leprosy in Canada in the present day. Someone working in a leprosy hospital in the 1960s--in a hospital closed down
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because it was no longer needed--would be well aware that the disease could easily be cured with drugs. Never mind allowing her daughter to contract it. Show Less
LibraryThing member cmeilink
Since I normally purchase and read Kathy Reichs' books the moment they hit the shelves, I'm not sure how I missed this book when it was released in 2007 but better late than never.
This Temperance Brennan installment takes place during one of her Montreal rotations, and it's non-stop from the first
Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan, Temperance's love interest, is investigating cases of murdered young girls and calls in Tempe to identify them. As the investigation progresses and Tempe finishes her examinations of the bodies, they find that Ryan's cases and several of Sergent-enqueteur Hippolyte Gallant's cold cases are linked. Add to that Tempe's childhood friend, Evangeline, who has been missing for over 30 years, and Tempe's sister, Harry, who has offered her services as co-investigator, and you have a dynamite story.
This Temperance Brennan installment takes place during one of her Montreal rotations, and it's non-stop from the first
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page through to the last.Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan, Temperance's love interest, is investigating cases of murdered young girls and calls in Tempe to identify them. As the investigation progresses and Tempe finishes her examinations of the bodies, they find that Ryan's cases and several of Sergent-enqueteur Hippolyte Gallant's cold cases are linked. Add to that Tempe's childhood friend, Evangeline, who has been missing for over 30 years, and Tempe's sister, Harry, who has offered her services as co-investigator, and you have a dynamite story.
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LibraryThing member virgil69
Bones to Ashes
Published 2007 by Scribner
As a child, she was told to forget about the missing girl. But some memories don’t die….
The discovery of a skeleton in Acadia, Canada, reawakens a traumatic episode for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan: Could the young girl’s remains be those
Published 2007 by Scribner
As a child, she was told to forget about the missing girl. But some memories don’t die….
The discovery of a skeleton in Acadia, Canada, reawakens a traumatic episode for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan: Could the young girl’s remains be those
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of Évangéline Landry, Tempe’s friend who disappeared when Tempe was twelve? Exotic, free-spirited, and slightly older, Évangéline enlivened Tempe’s summer beach visits…then vanished amid whispers that she was “dangerous.” Now, faced with bones scarred with inexplicable lesions, Tempe is consumed with solving a decades-old mystery — while her lover, detective Andrew Ryan, urgently needs her attention on a wave of teenage abductions and murders. With both Ryan and her ex-husband making surprising future plans, Tempe may soon find that her world has painfully and irrevocably changed once again. Show Less
LibraryThing member Joybee
Typical Temperance Brennan novel, a fun quick read. Set in Montreal. Forensic anthropologist, Tempe reminisces about a childhood friend who mysteriously disappeared, and is reminded of her when a set of bones come to her attention about the approximate age of the vanished girl. Meanwhile the body
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of a girl is found in a lake, and she may tie into another investigation of missing girls Ryan is working. Show Less
LibraryThing member ClicksClan
This one begins slightly differently, giving more of an insight into Tempe’s past and early childhood. In previous books we’ve had glimpses of her youth and her life growing up, but never quite in as much sustained detail as this. Previous books have mentioned her father’s alcoholism and her
Flash forward to the present and there’s a possible serial murder of young girls been discovered in Montreal, coupled with some bones which have been residing at a police station for a number of years which may be linked to the missing Evangeline. And Tempe’s on the case.
This one picks up shortly after the action of Break No Bones (which ended, frustratingly, with her in a sort of romantic limbo between Andrew Ryan and her ex-husband). Tempe’s back in Canada for this case; I can’t say exactly what it is about the Canadian cases, possibly the fact that they usually include a plausible reason for Ryan to be involved in the investigation, but they’re always my favourites. I was quite relieved to discover that in this book Pete announces his engagement to a woman around the same age as his daughter, suggesting that he’s well and truly over Tempe. Unfortunately, it seems so is Ryan, though that didn’t seem to stop them hooking up midway through the book, so I’m curious to see how that’s going to play out in the future books.
This is also probably a good time to mention just how dangerous it seems to be to actually befriend Tempe. I’ve mentioned before the rather formulaic structure of these books with Tempe becoming incapacitated/abducted/ill/bopped on the head/etc. somewhere around Chapter 30 (though this is a structure which hasn’t been quite so strictly adhered to in the later books). Well, in every book there is frequently a friend or family member who, usually as a result of Tempe’s activities (or if not, conveniently connected to them), is attacked or placed in some sort of deadly peril.
Right from the start of this book, as soon as Evangeline was mentioned, I knew that things were not going to go well for the poor kid. Admittedly, her troubles started long before she met young Temperance Brennan and nothing her friend did influenced what ultimately happened to her, but still it seems that she was just the first in a long line of unfortunates who have associated with Tempe; in the first book it was her best friend who was murdered but since then both her sister and her nephew have been abducted by a cult/shot, Andrew Ryan has been shot, as has her husband. Whenever a new friend is mentioned in one of these books I can’t help but wonder what disaster will befall them!
That probably makes it sound like I don’t really like these books, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I really like them. It was so good to finally get my hands on one which I’ve never read before. I think I would have sailed through it even if I hadn’t had so much free time to read, purely because once I start one of Kathy Reichs’ books, I really hate having to put it down. I’m sure that this being the first read of it made me read it quicker.
I also felt a slight sense of smugness at figuring out what condition had caused the deformities in the bones Tempe was examining. You’d think an anthropologist would have recognised leprosy. It was a little convenient how the mystery remains linked back to Evangeline, unrealistic perhaps, but not something I can really complain about. I’ve accepted that with any case Tempe investigates, it will somehow link to another of her cases/something personal she is going through at the time. In a way it works well because it gives you two stories, the foreground one and the background one, and the two can feed off one another.
My copy had the opening for the next book in the series at the back which I’m eagerly waiting to read, it feels like I’m rediscovering Kathy Reichs all over again now. That’s the problem with books like these, once you’ve read them and you know who did it you don’t get quite the same satisfaction from revisiting them. Thank goodness there’s still a handful that I’m yet to read!
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baby brother’s death, but the opening chapters of this book has Tempe tell us all about how this affected her as a child. It also introduces us to a girl she made friends with at the time, Evangeline, from Canada, who after just a few years of friendship disappeared leaving Tempe wondering exactly what happened to her.Flash forward to the present and there’s a possible serial murder of young girls been discovered in Montreal, coupled with some bones which have been residing at a police station for a number of years which may be linked to the missing Evangeline. And Tempe’s on the case.
This one picks up shortly after the action of Break No Bones (which ended, frustratingly, with her in a sort of romantic limbo between Andrew Ryan and her ex-husband). Tempe’s back in Canada for this case; I can’t say exactly what it is about the Canadian cases, possibly the fact that they usually include a plausible reason for Ryan to be involved in the investigation, but they’re always my favourites. I was quite relieved to discover that in this book Pete announces his engagement to a woman around the same age as his daughter, suggesting that he’s well and truly over Tempe. Unfortunately, it seems so is Ryan, though that didn’t seem to stop them hooking up midway through the book, so I’m curious to see how that’s going to play out in the future books.
This is also probably a good time to mention just how dangerous it seems to be to actually befriend Tempe. I’ve mentioned before the rather formulaic structure of these books with Tempe becoming incapacitated/abducted/ill/bopped on the head/etc. somewhere around Chapter 30 (though this is a structure which hasn’t been quite so strictly adhered to in the later books). Well, in every book there is frequently a friend or family member who, usually as a result of Tempe’s activities (or if not, conveniently connected to them), is attacked or placed in some sort of deadly peril.
Right from the start of this book, as soon as Evangeline was mentioned, I knew that things were not going to go well for the poor kid. Admittedly, her troubles started long before she met young Temperance Brennan and nothing her friend did influenced what ultimately happened to her, but still it seems that she was just the first in a long line of unfortunates who have associated with Tempe; in the first book it was her best friend who was murdered but since then both her sister and her nephew have been abducted by a cult/shot, Andrew Ryan has been shot, as has her husband. Whenever a new friend is mentioned in one of these books I can’t help but wonder what disaster will befall them!
That probably makes it sound like I don’t really like these books, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I really like them. It was so good to finally get my hands on one which I’ve never read before. I think I would have sailed through it even if I hadn’t had so much free time to read, purely because once I start one of Kathy Reichs’ books, I really hate having to put it down. I’m sure that this being the first read of it made me read it quicker.
I also felt a slight sense of smugness at figuring out what condition had caused the deformities in the bones Tempe was examining. You’d think an anthropologist would have recognised leprosy. It was a little convenient how the mystery remains linked back to Evangeline, unrealistic perhaps, but not something I can really complain about. I’ve accepted that with any case Tempe investigates, it will somehow link to another of her cases/something personal she is going through at the time. In a way it works well because it gives you two stories, the foreground one and the background one, and the two can feed off one another.
My copy had the opening for the next book in the series at the back which I’m eagerly waiting to read, it feels like I’m rediscovering Kathy Reichs all over again now. That’s the problem with books like these, once you’ve read them and you know who did it you don’t get quite the same satisfaction from revisiting them. Thank goodness there’s still a handful that I’m yet to read!
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LibraryThing member JoAnnSmithAinsworth
Enjoyable. Storyline kept me interested, despite lots of technical info added. Satisfying ending, although I could have used more showing, less telling.
LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
This is a better read than the last couple of Temperance Brennan novels. The story rocks along at a fast pace and is consistent with itself even if it is a little unrealistic in parts. But I don't read crime thrillers for realism anyway so that bit doesn't bother me. The Brennan character had been
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starting to annoy me in previous books but I like her more in this one, it's nice to see her having a normal relationship with her sister. Show Less
LibraryThing member redheadish
Read this in 2011 after finding 3 of Reichs books at a thrift and buying then reading outof sequence I relized I had to read them all in order! I just love Kathy reichs books!
LibraryThing member EowynA
This is one of the series of books about Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, upon which the "Bones" TV show is loosely based. This is the first of that series that I've read, though clearly it is not the first of the series written. The book threw me a bit because this Tempe Brennan is not
There are a series of stories, long and short, woven into this book. One thread follows Tempe through her life, with her relationships to her sister Harry, her former lover Ryan, and an off-stage guest appearance by her husband Pete, finally asking for divorce papers. Another thread follows the stories of the people whose bones she analyzes. Some of these stories are small, but the key thing is that though Tempe meets them as bits of skeleton, she does not lose sight of the fact that these are people with their own stories and connections. Through her eyes, we also connect to these bits of lives. And then there is the main thread of story, about Acadia, her childhood friend Evangeline, and a series of cases that point to young runaways and child pornography.
The book is a swift read (I started it yesterday morning in the Dr's office), and reminds me somewhat of Patricia Cornwell's series about Kaye Scarpetta. Reichs has a knack for introducing us to the people behind the many bodies she introduces that sets her apart from Cornwell. This book also has an excellent sense of place, introducing us to the culture of Acadia and some of its history. Recommended.
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in the same setting / situation as the TV show - they have clearly used this book series as a springboard, not as a blueprint. There are a series of stories, long and short, woven into this book. One thread follows Tempe through her life, with her relationships to her sister Harry, her former lover Ryan, and an off-stage guest appearance by her husband Pete, finally asking for divorce papers. Another thread follows the stories of the people whose bones she analyzes. Some of these stories are small, but the key thing is that though Tempe meets them as bits of skeleton, she does not lose sight of the fact that these are people with their own stories and connections. Through her eyes, we also connect to these bits of lives. And then there is the main thread of story, about Acadia, her childhood friend Evangeline, and a series of cases that point to young runaways and child pornography.
The book is a swift read (I started it yesterday morning in the Dr's office), and reminds me somewhat of Patricia Cornwell's series about Kaye Scarpetta. Reichs has a knack for introducing us to the people behind the many bodies she introduces that sets her apart from Cornwell. This book also has an excellent sense of place, introducing us to the culture of Acadia and some of its history. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member klarusu
There's not too much you can write about crime fiction in a review without heading into spoiler territory (not something I'm going to do here). I don't expect this kind of book to be 'high art', I aim for well-written story, innovative enough and with enough suspense to keep my interest. Bearing in
The plot of this novel was hardly gripping and electric and there was little originality. In fact, I'd worked out what was going on long before Tempe did. As for her relationship with Ryan, god, I've rarely come across such a limp fish! Reichs is in the running for a 'Worst Sex Scene Ever' award and there's no excuse for a character saying things like 'the nookie was good', even if it was addressed to a cat.
I think I'll probably buy the next book, they come up cheaply in supermarkets, but I am fast losing patience with this series. Soon, as I did with the Kay Scarpetta novels, I will have to make a conscious decision to drop the series. Already I've just fallen into the buying from habit not excitement trap.
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mind, I've bought and read the rest of the series already, I am a relatively captive audience. Unfortunately, this book falls short on all counts. Without giving anything crucial away, it continues to relate the life and career of forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. This time she finds herself drawn into an investigation of the disappearance of a childhood friend by its similarity to a current case. Meanwhile, her stumbling relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan continues stumbling in the background. The plot of this novel was hardly gripping and electric and there was little originality. In fact, I'd worked out what was going on long before Tempe did. As for her relationship with Ryan, god, I've rarely come across such a limp fish! Reichs is in the running for a 'Worst Sex Scene Ever' award and there's no excuse for a character saying things like 'the nookie was good', even if it was addressed to a cat.
I think I'll probably buy the next book, they come up cheaply in supermarkets, but I am fast losing patience with this series. Soon, as I did with the Kay Scarpetta novels, I will have to make a conscious decision to drop the series. Already I've just fallen into the buying from habit not excitement trap.
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LibraryThing member riverwillow
Not the best in the Temperance Brennan series as the plot felt very contrived, but still an enjoyable read.
LibraryThing member nbmars
Temperance Brennan, or “Tempe” works as a forensic anthropologist for the central crime and medico-legal lab for the province of Quebec. She has a sexy sister Harry, an on-and-off boyfriend/police detective/co-worker Ryan, an estranged husband Pete, a cat named Birdie, and a bird named Charlie.
In “Bones to Ashes” Tempe helps Ryan look for some missing young girls in the Acadia area, and tries to find out about her own Acadian childhood friend who disappeared.
This is the tenth Temperance Brennan novel from Reichs, and the plots follow familiar patterns. Reichs’ work on her television series seems to have affected her writing, however. Now each chapter ends like a commercial break: “His news rocked my world.” “The woman stepped into daylight.” “Her response stunned me.” And the all time Triteness Winner: “Something was dreadfully wrong.”
Nevertheless, if you’ve followed the characters, you have a certain affection for them, and so as a reader you are a bit more lenient. You refresh your memory on the three forms of transformation in death, you learn a bit of Acadian history, and you wait for the next installment, hoping it will be a bit better.
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She is generally brilliant, but often didactic.In “Bones to Ashes” Tempe helps Ryan look for some missing young girls in the Acadia area, and tries to find out about her own Acadian childhood friend who disappeared.
This is the tenth Temperance Brennan novel from Reichs, and the plots follow familiar patterns. Reichs’ work on her television series seems to have affected her writing, however. Now each chapter ends like a commercial break: “His news rocked my world.” “The woman stepped into daylight.” “Her response stunned me.” And the all time Triteness Winner: “Something was dreadfully wrong.”
Nevertheless, if you’ve followed the characters, you have a certain affection for them, and so as a reader you are a bit more lenient. You refresh your memory on the three forms of transformation in death, you learn a bit of Acadian history, and you wait for the next installment, hoping it will be a bit better.
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LibraryThing member andreaslindblad
A good page-turner (i read it whilst commuting to work). It is about a forensic antrhropologist who, confronted with the remains of both contemporary victims and those of victims that may be ancient aids with the investigation of a number of missing person cases which may be linked through one
Analogous to Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta novels in both the forensic theme and a heroine being the main character - if you liked the former you'd probably like the latter. Since Cornwell's novels have lately become a bit (too much?) strained in the narrative Reichs' is still quite restrained in their boundaries.
Anyway, a good book to read on airports, airplanes and the RER B in Paris.
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killer.Analogous to Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta novels in both the forensic theme and a heroine being the main character - if you liked the former you'd probably like the latter. Since Cornwell's novels have lately become a bit (too much?) strained in the narrative Reichs' is still quite restrained in their boundaries.
Anyway, a good book to read on airports, airplanes and the RER B in Paris.
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LibraryThing member babemuffin
It was overall an easy read and quite intriguing. The main character, Temperance Brennan, is a forencis anthropologist and there are many many scientific references throughout the book. As I'm mainly not a science person, most of these details just sort of go over my head so whilst I appreciate the
The book begins with a nostalgic rememberance of her childhood friend who suddenly left and would not reply to her letters. Certain circumstances triggered her to search for this missing friend whilst still working her cases. The end just seems a little bit convenient.
What I really like from this book in the series is her relationship with her sister, Harry. Which I don't think was prominent in the other books. Or at least Harry was merely passing by in the other books but here she's featured quite a bit. It made a welcome change.
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spin, I didn't really think it's necessary to go to that depth.The book begins with a nostalgic rememberance of her childhood friend who suddenly left and would not reply to her letters. Certain circumstances triggered her to search for this missing friend whilst still working her cases. The end just seems a little bit convenient.
What I really like from this book in the series is her relationship with her sister, Harry. Which I don't think was prominent in the other books. Or at least Harry was merely passing by in the other books but here she's featured quite a bit. It made a welcome change.
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LibraryThing member thotcriminal
This was better than some of her last few. It had a lot more action and a lot better plot development. I liked it!
LibraryThing member Heptonj
As usual, I enjoyed this Kathy Reichs novel which is steeped in mystery and old-fashioned values. Tempe is very personally involved in this one as is her sister Harry who adds an interesting dimension. However, I only gave it 31/2 stars as I thought there were too many cases to follow fully and
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kept getting mixed up with the background stories to each of the bodies and missing persons. Still a good read though. Show Less
LibraryThing member susanbunny
I really got stuck into this book, but found it hard going with all the french names. I was enjoying the storey until it turned into a paedophile storey, why oh why did she need to do that, made it all a bit sad I felt. Also not a bit like the series bones, which I expected it to be as the main
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character shares the same name. Show Less
Subjects
Original language
English
Original publication date
2007
Physical description
320 p.; 9.5 inches
ISBN
0743294378 / 9780743294379