"Bones of the Lost" by Kathy Reichs~Slow-moving

SUMMARY :

#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the Fox hit series Bones, Kathy Reichs returns with an unforgettable new novel featuring forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan, whose examination of a mysterious hit-and-run victim triggers an investigation into human trafficking.

When Charlotte police discover the body of a teenage girl along a desolate stretch of two-lane highway, Temperance Brennan fears the worst. The girl’s body shows signs of foul play. Inside her purse, police find an airline club card bearing the name of prominent local businessman John-Henry Story, who died in a horrific fire months earlier. How did Story and the girl know each other? Was she an illegal immigrant turning tricks? Was she murdered? Was he?

Tempe must also examine a bundle of Peruvian dog mummies confiscated by U.S. Customs. A Desert Storm veteran named Dominick Rockett stands accused of smuggling the objects into the country. Could there be some connection between the trafficking of antiquities and the trafficking of humans?

As the complications pile on, Tempe must also grapple with personal turmoil. Her daughter, Katy, grieving the death of her boyfriend in Afghanistan, impulsively enlists in the army. Meanwhile, Katy’s father, Pete, is growing frustrated by Tempe’s reluctance to finalize their divorce. As pressure mounts from all corners, Tempe soon finds herself at the center of a conspiracy that extends all the way from South America to Afghanistan and right to the center of Charlotte.

A tour de force of imagination, Bones of the Lost is a roller coaster of plot twists, punctuated by Tempe’s fierce wit and forensic know-how. “A genius at building suspense” (New York Daily News), Kathy Reichs is at her brilliant best in this sixteenth installment of the Temperance Brennan series. With the Fox series Bones in its ninth season, Kathy Reichs has reached new heights in suspenseful storytelling.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Schribner
Pages:  336
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller/Fiction
Author:  Kathy Reichs
Website:  http://kathyreichs.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 Kathy Reichs, like her character Temperance Brennan, is a forensic anthropologist, formerly for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina and for the province of Quebec. A professor in the department of anthropology at the UNC at Charlotte, she is one of only eighty-eight forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, is past Vice President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and serves on the National Police Services Advisory Council in Canada.


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Ordinarily, I'm the hugest of fans of Kathy Reichs.  This time, I'm sad to say I really had difficulty with this book.

The storyline just dragged along.  It was disjointed and seem very disconnected to me.  While the original "carrot" of a dead girl found on the side of a dark road was engaging, it didn't really go anywhere for about 100 pages...a third of the way into the book!  I wasn't even interested in the mummified dogs, the smuggler or her daughter in Afghanistan and how some of them were connected...there was nothing to intrigue me or to show me a connection that was satisfying.

Reichs character, homicide detective Skinny Slidell, was simply disgusting.  Nothing redeeming in his gratuitous swearing and dirty slang, to me.  It added nothing to the story and just acted at fill in.  Seemed very juvenile.

Though Tempe is always a well-drawn character herself, even she was boring in this particular book.
She had no story to hang on to.

I was disappointed in this novel.  As I've said, I usually find Kathy Reich's books thoroughly entertaining and at the top of my suspense/thriller list.  This one falls flat.  Sorry...

3 stars for effort                     Deborah/TheBookishDame