One Monday morning, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is awaken by the phone. An eleven year-old girl was found murdered, no apparent cause of death. Dr. Brennan's services are needed on the scene of the crime; the MO resembles a case she has worked on in the past, her sole unsolved case. Anique Pomerleau, the monster who still haunts Tempe, seems to have resurfaced in Charlotte, North Carolina ten years after her crimes were discovered in QuΓ©bec, where she vanished.
From 1989 until 2004, Pomerleau and her male accomplice preyed on girls between the ages of eleven and fifteen; the victims were captured, starved, raped and kept in captivity; only one escaped. The psychopath's trail went from MontrΓ©al, QuΓ©bec through the United States, and Tempe had worked on the case with her colleague, and on-and-off sort-of- boyfriend, Lieutenant Detective Andrew Ryan, from the SuretΓ© du QuΓ©bec.
Ryan has gone AWOL from police work and life since his twenty year-old daughter died from an overdose some time ago. When another girl is found dead in Charlotte, under the same circumstances, the authorities suggest Tempe work the case along with Ryan, who must first be found. Dr. Brennan gets help from the most unlikely source: her mother has taken up a new hobby at the medical facility where she lives; she is mentally unstable but has become some sort of computer whiz. Ryan is hiding in Costa Rica, drinking himself into oblivion. Tempe manages, with great difficulty, to convince him to give her a hand; he doesn't seem to care much about anything, not even her. His attitude begins to change when it appears that Pomerleau had been more active than previously suspected: she had never stopped killing; BONES NEVER LIE but other elements can obscure the truth.
Every new Kathy Reichs book reminds me why I love this author and Tempe Brennan and BONES NEVER LIE is no different. The character development is unsurpassed, the writing is flawless, fluid, and the banter between the characters is genuine and often quite amusing. Ms. Reichs shares her considerable knowledge in such a way that the reader feels privileged to learn while being masterfully entertained. There is always sufficient background information so a newcomer to the series will feel at home, while refreshing long-time fans' memories of details that might have become blurry.
BONES NEVER LIE happens to be, in my opinion, the best in the whole series, and that is saying a lot. The plot is incredibly tight, the author chose to revisit a past story and tie up loose ends, and it was a brilliant idea. How unlikely and wonderful that the author can pen such a terrific book in a series that has gone on for so long. BONES NEVER LIE has a few surprises as well, and ends on a note that will leave readers gaping, and begging for the next book; it's only the beginning!
The evidence is irrefutable: In sixteen New York Times bestsellers over the course of as many years, Kathy Reichs has proven herself “a genius at building suspense” (New York Daily News). In forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, Reichs has created a detective fiction heroine who’s brilliant to the bone. “Every minute in the morgue with Tempe is golden,” says The New York Times Book Review. In the acclaimed author’s thrilling new novel, Brennan is at the top of her game in a battle of wits against the most monstrous adversary she has ever encountered. Unexpectedly called in to the Charlotte PD’s Cold Case Unit, Dr. Temperance Brennan wonders why she’s been asked to meet with a homicide cop who’s a long way from his own jurisdiction. The shocking answer: Two child murders, separated by thousands of miles, have one thing in common—the killer. Years ago, Anique Pomerleau kidnapped and murdered a string of girls in Canada, then narrowly eluded capture. It was a devastating defeat for her pursuers, Brennan and police detective Andrew Ryan. Now, as if summoned from their nightmares, Pomerleau has resurfaced in the United States, linked to victims in Vermont and North Carolina. When another child is snatched, the reign of terror promises to continue—unless Brennan can rise to the challenge and make good on her second chance to stop a psychopath. But Brennan will have to draw her bitter ex-partner out of exile, keep the local police and feds from one another’s throats, and face more than just her own demons as she stalks the deadliest of predators into the darkest depths of madness. In Bones Never Lie, Kathy Reichs never fails to satisfy readers looking for psychological suspense that’s more than skin-deep.
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