Marian's 2015 Reads - 'Bones Are Forever'

via kathyreichs.com

Title: 'Bones Are Forever'
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2012
Pages: 283 (excluding the bonus section of 'Forensic Files')
Genre: Crime

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan discovers infant remains in a decrepit apartment in Saint-Hyacinthe. The tenant of the apartment was a woman named Alma Rogers, according to the landlord. Shortly after discovering the owner, a man named Ralph Trees visits the crime scene to look for Alva Rodriguez. Who are these people? Or do these names belong to one woman?

Tempe, along with detectives Andrew Ryan and Oliver Hasty, head to the Northwest Territories, which are well-known for their diamond mines and also the place where Alma/Alva is located. This homicide investigation expands to a range of family issues and exhumations of other corpses.

I have to admit that Brennan and Ryan weren't well-written in this recent adaptation of Dr. Reichs' brilliant series. They argued a lot over the fact that Brennan's old flame, Oliver, joined them in solving this case. Ryan was being extremely overprotective of Brennan when Oliver tried to make moves on her, which I thought was very adorable. What I also found to be gruesome was that infants were murdered. When I face situations like these, fictional or real, I would ignore it and move on to another topic, but in this case I just had to face it head-on.

Let's compare this Dr. Brennan to the one they have on 'Bones'. I am aware that the TV Brennan is based on Dr. Reichs, but if this figure were to be in this novel, she wouldn't have a deep connection to the very young victims. The novel Brennan, however, experienced horrifying dreams about the babies and wanted to vent out to her friends and family. If I were to be either, I'd be the latter. It would be very difficult for me to solve this investigation without having the urge to take comfort in my peers or even writing my feelings in a diary.

I recommend this novel to people who are emotionally stable and/or are conspiracy theorists. I don't recommend this novel to people who have never read this series. I suggest that you start with Déjà Dead or a couple of books after that.


- M ★