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Flash and Bones
by
Kathy Reichs
forensic mystery, thriller in a hardcover edition that was published by Scribner on August 23, 2011 and has 278 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Bones are Forever, Bones Never Lie, Speaking in Bones, Bones of the Lost, A Conspiracy of Bones, The Bone Collection
Fourteenth in the Temperance Brennan forensic suspense series revolving around a forensic anthropologist who splits her time between Montreal and Charlotte, North Carolina.
My Take
The story had good bones — no pun intended, but there was a passion lacking in this. Although, Reichs appears to be setting us up for a new boyfriend. Mostly this one was a lot of tease romance-wise. Even Pete got used here.
Brief visits to the racetrack with a lot of forensic investigating as Tempe, Slidell, and Cotton go back to the past talking to old witnesses.
Omigod, WTF is Pete thinkin’?? Summer is a major idjit. Her bra size is bigger than her IQ . . .?! Typical issues with the FBI. Ya know, I bet more crimes would be solved if the guys who were all on the same side would cooperate . . .
Oh. Give me a break. This is where the number fell when Reichs got all stupid-drama-y with Tempe’s prison scene. I thought Tempe was a smarter woman than this!
The Story
It’s the body in the drum of asphalt that starts it all up again. Wayne Gamble wonders if it’s his sister’s boyfriend while the FBI wonders if it’s Ted Raines. It’s a combination of two young kids’ tragic disappearance and the FBI slipping in under everyone’s noses that gets Tempe’s dander up and she and Skinny Slidell get to investigating.
An investigation that leads to all sorts of death threats as bits and pieces get revealed. Lots of speculation and theories.
The Characters
Dr. Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist. She has a well-traveled cat named Birdie. Charlie Hunt is a lawyer who has been seeing Tempe on and off . . . seems that it’s about to be all off. Dr. Tim Larabee is her boss in North Carolina and the Mecklenburg County medical examiner. Mrs. Eunice Flowers is the receptionist/secretary at the MCME; she is quite a stickler for manners. Joe Hawkins is a death investigator.
Wayne Gamble is the jackman on Sandy Stupak’s ’59 Chevy and he’s passionate about finding his sister Cindi who’s been missing for over a decade. She and her boyfriend, Cale Lovette, disappeared together in spite of the efforts of the local police and the FBI. Grady Winge, Eugene Fries, and Owen Poteat were witnesses at the time. Ethel Bradford was one of Cindi’s teachers. Cale was involved with the Patriot Posse, a group of right-wing militants led by J.D. Danner. Who is very concerned about Tempe’s renewed investigation into the kids’ disappearance. Craig Bogan married Kitty, Cale’s mom, and then bought her gardening business from her. Maddy Padgett and Lynn Nolan were friends of Cindi’s. Friends with some interesting secrets then and now.
Cotton Galimore is an ex-cop who now works as head of security at the racetrack. Seems he was a very bad boy at one time. He was also was one of the cops who worked with Rinaldi on the Gamble-Lovette missing person case. Detective Erskine Slidell has a very low opinion of Galimore and cautions Tempe to stay away from him.
Ted Raines works for the CDC and goes missing. Special Agents Carl Williams and Percy Randall do everything they can to obstruct Tempe and Larabee.
Lieutenant-détective Andrew Ryan of the Section des crimes contre la personne at the Sûreté du Québec makes a brief appearance. From afar. It’s been a year since Tempe and Ryan were together. Turns out Ryan is a racing fan. His daughter Lily is still giving him trouble. Pete Brennan is Tempe’s about-to-be-ex-husband (finally!) and his bride-to-be Summer is balking. He’s begging Tempe to help him out. They have a daughter, Katy, who is an accountant. Harry is Tempe’s sister and recently learned that her son Kit had fathered a child back when he was 16. He now has a 14-year-old daughter, Victoria “Tory” Brennan, now living with Kit in Charleston.
A quick reference to the Bhagwan Shree Rahneesh in Oregon and his little terrorism spree. Bit of coincidence. This same guy and the incident has a mention in Ursula Hegi’s Tearing the Silence.
The Cover
The cover is a blend of metallic blues, but whether they represent an ocean horizon or simply the static of a television with no reception . . . only the cover artist knows.
