Spider Bones: A Novel

Kathy Reichs

Aug 2010 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Don’t miss this “whopper” (Publishers Weekly) of a thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs in her “cleverly plotted” (The New York Times) Temperance Brennan series, the inspiration for the hit FOX television series Bones.

John Lowery was declared dead in 1968—the victim of a Huey crash in Vietnam, his body buried long ago in North Carolina. Four decades later, Temperance Brennan is called to the scene of a drowning in Hemmingford, Quebec. The victim appears to have died while in the midst of a bizarre sexual practice. The corpse is later identified as John Lowery. But how could Lowery have died twice, and how did an American soldier end up in Canada?

Tempe sets off for the answer, exhuming Lowery’s grave in North Carolina and taking the remains to Hawaii for reanalysis—to the headquarters of JPAC, the US military’s Joint POW/ MIA Accounting Command, which strives to recover Americans who have died in past conflicts. In Hawaii, Tempe is joined by her colleague and ex-lover Detective Andrew Ryan (how “ex” is he?) and by her daughter, who is recovering from her own tragic loss. Soon another set of remains is located, with Lowery’s dog tags tangled among them. Three bodies—all identified as Lowery.

And then Tempe is contacted by Hadley Perry, Honolulu’s flamboyant medical examiner, who needs help identifying the remains of an adolescent boy found offshore. Was he the victim of a shark attack? Or something much more sinister?

Ratings and reviews

Reichs convoluted tale included extensive medical details, although understandable yet overdone. Likewise for descriptions of historical, geographical, and physical settings - might she remember: "less is more"? J.P. Miller. Cambridge, MA

Dr. Tempe Brennan, forensic anthropoligist, arrives at the scene of a drowning near Montreal, Canada. The victim is wrapped in a manner that suggests an auto erotic fixation. After fingerprinting is done, the vic is identified as John Lowery. However, the U.S. authorities claim that Lowery died in Vietnam, forty years before. When Canadian authorities notify Lowery's family, Lowery's father demands to know who is in his son's grave and why officials claim that his son must be a deserter. Brennan arrives at Lowery's grave, exhumes the body and goes to Hawaii to the U.S. military command that tries to identify and recover Americans who are missing from military actions. In an interesting subplot, Tempe assists in identifying the bones that were found by divers. She shows that the bones are from an adolescent male who is later identified. Now officials must investigate to see if the teen was a victim of a shark attack or murder. Another complication arises when officials find another set of remains with Lowery's dog tags. Who are the other two people whose remains are found? The author has dealt with an interesting issue with militray attempting to identify and recover remains of Americans who were lost in military conflicts. I enjoyed the story and the manner in which Tempe Brennan is able to solve a problem and find a murderer with her intelligence rather than with so many thrillers where the protagonists must resort to violence in order to get the answers they need. This novel will please fans of the TV series Bones and is a good example of an author remaining fresh in their writing.

Real page turner with twists of direction nicely spiced with science. Light hand with the romance and personal angst. Not enough Birdie.

About the author

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on Twitter @KathyReichs, Instagram @KathyReichs, or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks.