Break No Bones: A Novel
By Kathy Reichs
4/5
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About this ebook
Summoned to South Carolina to fill in for a negligent colleague, Tempe is stuck teaching a lackluster archaeology field school in the ruins of a Native American burial ground on the Charleston shore. But when Tempe stumbles upon a fresh skeleton among the ancient bones, her old friend Emma Rousseau, the local coroner, persuades her to stay on and help with the investigation. When Emma reveals a disturbing secret, it becomes more important than ever for Tempe to help her friend close the case.
The body count begins to climb. An unidentified man is found hanging from a tree deep in the woods. Another corpse shows up in a barrel. There are mysterious nicks on bones in several bodies, and signs of strangulation. Tempe follows the trail to a free street clinic with a belligerent staff, a suspicious doctor, and a donor who is a charismatic televangelist. Clues abound in the most unlikely places as Tempe uses her unique knowledge and skills to build her case, even as the local sheriff remains dubious and her own life is threatened.
Tempe’s love life is also complicated. Ryan, her current flame, has come down to visit her from Montreal, and Pete, her former husband, is investigating the disappearance of a local woman—and he and Tempe are staying in the same borrowed beach house. Ryan and Pete compete for her attentions, and Tempe finds herself more distracted by her feelings for both men than she expected.
Break No Bones is a smart, taut thriller featuring the kind of high-stakes crime that makes the headlines every week. Reichs, the inspiration for the hit Fox TV show Bones, is writing at the top of her form, and Tempe has never been more compelling.
Kathy Reichs
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.
Read more from Kathy Reichs
MatchUp Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Faking a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Side: A Collection of Mysteries & Thrillers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Break No Bones
Titles in the series (20)
Bones of the Lost: A Temperance Brennan Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5206 Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flash and Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bones Are Forever: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grave Secrets: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bones to Ashes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cross Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deja Dead: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Break No Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bone Code: A Temperance Brennan Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bare Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fatal Voyage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monday Mourning: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deadly Decisions: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Du Jour: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cold, Cold Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Conspiracy of Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bone Hacker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Break No Bones
83 ratings42 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Possibly the most disappointing book I've ever read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Read this in 2011 after finding 3 of Reichs books at a thrift and buying then reading outof sequence I relized I had to read them all in order! I just love Kathy reichs books!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A bit of fun.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Temperance Brennan is back in this taught thriller. Working a summer teaching job on the shores of South Carolina, Brennan finds herself in the middle when bodies keep turning up, each connected to the previous. After being disappointed with Cross Bones, I am pleased to find Break No Bones as good as the previous books. Another solid entry in the Brennan series.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book really grabbed me. I was so engrossed reading it on the bus on the way home that I was oblivious to the fact that the bus had arrived at my bus stop. Thankfully my neighbour was on the bus and tugged at my sleeve to ask me if I was going to get off. This is another book featuring Reichs' forensic anthropologist/detective, Temperance Brennan. Dr. Brennan has taken a group of students to Charleston to investigate possible aboriginal burial grounds on a site that is about to be developed for condos. On their second to last day at the dig the students discover skeletal remains that are considerable newer than the Sewee tribe pre-Columbian remains they have found elsewhere. Temperance quickly decides to call in the County coroner, Emma Rousseau, an old friend. Once the body is disinterred Emma asks Temperance to stay to give the benefit of her expertise as a forensic anthropologist and Temperance agrees to do so. After all, she is staying in a wonderful house right on the beach which belongs to another friend and she doesn't have any pressing work to get home to. In addition to suspicious circumstances with regard to the burial the body shows some unexplained fractures and bone chips but the details do not help them zero in on an identity. Tempe's personal life starts to get confused when her estranged husband, Pete, shows up in Charleston working on a case (he's a lawyer) and moves into the beach house complete with dog and cat. Tempe is romantically involved with Andrew Ryan, a Canadian cop from Montreal with whom she has worked on cases, and Ryan also decides to visit Tempe in Charleston. Then another body shows up with identical fractures to the first. This body was found hanging from a tree in a forest preserve and there is enough skin remaining to get fingerprints. The fingerprints identify the deceased as someone who is connected to Pete's case. By this time Temperance is determined to find out what is the connection and she also wants to stay because she finds out Emma has cancer that is not responding well to treatments. The ending has a few twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end. It is also not clear if Tempe is over Pete and working it out with Ryan. That will have to wait until another book. I highly recommend this book. I have liked all of Reichs novels but this one seemed better than the last few
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I am sure I have read this before but absolutely enjoyed it the 2nd time! Grisly remains at times are found over a reasonably short period of time and Tempe manages to beat the cops at finding out the common link.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I was not pleasantly surprised by this first submersion into Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan series. While the story line was interesting, a medical clinic used for the wrong purposes, people dying just because they knew too much, and the typical forensic investigation, I found myself bored quickly with the writing itself and the characters were lacking in depth. At least, they did not entice me to want to know what would happen to them next. I require at least that much of my literature, that it give me reasons to go on to the conclusion of the book and get to see the resolution, good or bad for the characters. I struggled through but I found it uninteresting. I would give her books another chance though. I would read it this time though rather than listen to an audiobook because that may have been the reason I was not as entertained as I had expected to be.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I liked this book. However, it was somewhat unrealistic in that Dr. Brennan and boyfriend Andrew Ryan pretty much take over the investigation and the small town, Charleston, SC Sheriff doesn't seem unhappy about their help or interference. But overlooking that small detail, it was a fun read and hard to put down. The story had some good twists and turns and Tempe is trying to figure out and understand her feelings for her estranged husband Pete. So the story is about bones found by Tempe and her students doing an archeological dig in Charleston. These bones are new compared to the Native American graves they have uncovered. These bones lead Brennan into an investigation involving a church-run free clinic and missing homeless people. Meanwhile Pete is hired by a client to look into the financial side of this same church and try to get information about the client's missing daughter, last seen working at the free clinic.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Temperence Brennan, forensic anthropologist, is leading a student excavation on one of the barrier islands when she finds a not so ancient body. She is soon beset with more bodies,her unfaithful, estranged husband and her Canadian boyfriend. Another good read from Kathy Reichs
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Brennan uncovers a skeleton and 2 more bodies whose deaths seem to be related. They point back to a fee clinic and their employees. Story was pretty good, narration was not so great.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5creator of tv series BONES, I loved the show first and went back to read the books. They are different but still good. More Patricia Cornwell than the show. Details galore, sometimes too much maybe.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enjoyed this first experience of a Temperance Brennan Novel. Want to collect her series of novels from the beginning. Bones, the TV show, is a favourite, although I can see it bears little resemblance to the books.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not as well written as I expected, but an interesting plot which kept me turning pages.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Well-written, but the series is becoming too predictable. Someone is always attacked, shot, and there is too much simplicity in the personal relationships. I want to like it, but it doesn't excite me too much. It might be that all coincidences feel far-fetched... it is too arranged and too dramatic, not normal.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5easy read. Temperance Brennan is nothing like the TV character with the exception of her profession. The book takes place in Charleston, SC. where temperance in on a dig and discovers a body that does not belong at the site. She works with the local coroner to identify the body and its cause of death. One body turns into two and the mystery gradually unveils itself all the while she is dealing emotionally with her separated husband and boyfriend all temporarily under one roof. It is an easy read; the only trouble I had with the book was Temperance's perception and seeming reality that she as an anthropologist was more capable than the sherrif at puzzling through the who done it portion of the myster; otherwise, it was a good read. She is a character filled with many emotions and she is believable.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed the book. It was less intence then some of her others.Worth the read if you are a fan.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Brennan is more tempermental and emotional in this book than I remember her. The Pete/Ryan thing is awkward -- could you or the men really handle sharing the same living space with your boyfriend and your ex (actually current) husband? Weird.
The dead bodies that show up are way too coincidentally connected, and towards the end the "mystery" gets dragged out longer than necessary with back-and-forth who's framing whom deliberation (way too obvious, though).
As always, a beach read. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderfully and brilliantly written, this Tempe Brennan story is another winner. I couldn't put it down after the first chapter.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I didn't expect much from this pulp style crime novel. I did enjoy it as my commute distraction - it did it's job.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good mystery.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Requires great suspension of disbelief to swallow the idea of Tempe (a forensic anthropologist from Charlotte), Ryan (her detective boyfriend from Quebec), and Pete (her estranged husband, a lawyer) solving murders in Charleston. Hello, jurisdiction?And a shoutout to my librarian friends - you might find it annoying that Tempe searches in vain for a journal article online, and then suddenly her hindbrain reminds her where to find it (conveniently, in a book in her living room). A woman with a PhD can't use a database? Gah.Criticism aside, this is a good example of the series. Fun, quick, some red herrings to keep it from being *too* easy for the reader to solve.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This was my 2nd (3rd attempt) at trying to read one of her books. The writing is not interesting, and the mystery was merely okay. The TV show surpasses the books in writing and characterization.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In this one Tempe is conducting an anthropological field school on an island currently undergoing development, when they dig up a body which is a little too modern for the course. While investigating this, Tempe's estranged husband shows up in town conducting a little investigation of his own. Then things get a bit messier and her current on/off love Andrew Ryan shows up for a visit as well. Oh yeah, and there's some more murders in there as well.I'd more or less forgotten this book, though as the series progressed I realised I hadn't read about Pete, Tempe's ex, getting shot so it had to have been in one of the later books that I'd read. And I was right, it was in this one. Aside from that, I remembered very little of the actual cases in this one so it was more like reading it for the first time.I liked this one more than Cross Bones because it was back to dealing with murder cases and criminal investigations again, however having Tempe, her ex-husband and her current boyfriend all decend on this small town and get involved in the investigation is a little far-fetched. There would have to have been some repercussions in the prosecution if they found out that these extra people had gotten involved.I was willing to let that go though, because it was a good read. I think one of the main things I liked about it was the fact that I couldn't remember who did it. Not so good for getting sleep as it did mean that I ended up staying up far too late reading; promising myself just one more chapter and then getting to a cliffhanger and thinking 'well I can't stop now'.One thing that does bug me about the character of Tempe Brennan is her indecision regarding Andrew Ryan. I realise that first and foremost it's a series of crime books, I don't read them expecting romance, but I still remember that moment when they first almost hooked up. I was on the train pulling into Glasgow Central on my way to university and I was hurriedly reading, wanting to find out what would happen before I had to get off and put my book away!But nine books on, the will they/won't they is beginning to wear a bit thin. I'd like them to either hurry up and make a decision one way or the other. They're both adults and it's been about ten years, cut to the chase already! If they are going to split up and Tempe wants to reunite with her husband, then fair enough, but stop going backwards and forwards. Though, that said, I really don't like the idea of Tempe and Pete as much as Tempe and Ryan.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In this ninth in the popular series, forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is spending two weeks in May on Dewees, a barrier island north of Charleston, South Carolina, where she is leading a student excavation of a prehistoric site when one of the bodies they find isn't so ancient. After reporting her find to her friend Emma Rousseau, coroner at the Charleston County Coroner's Office, Tempe learns that Emma is ill and unable to investigate; so Tempe fills in for her as a consultant. When another body is found in a different location, the forensic examination of the bones shows a similarity in the manner of death. As Tempe investigates further, another body turns up, leading her to a horrifying conclusion about the motive for these deaths. Complicating matters, Tempe's estranged husband moves into the house she has borrowed, and her boyfriend arrives unexpectedly from Montreal. Tempe must work through her ambivalence about divorcing her unfaithful husband, for whom she still has feelings, but she also cares for her boyfriend. Readers who enjoy Patricia Cornwell's mysteries will appreciate the forensic detail here, and more character-oriented readers will respond to Reichs' likable and well-developed cast, from the local sheriff to Tempe herself, a dedicated woman who feels compelled to provide justice for those who can no longer speak for themselves. An engrossing entry in a widely read series
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I listened to this on cassette - don't recall if it was abridged. Entertaining and smart, I'm happy to read or listen to any of Reichs' Brennan books.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the first book I read by this author and it is good.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another awesome Reichs read. Always full of details ,twists and turns. Brennan and her students are on an archeological burial ground when they dig up a body in a shallow grave.Upon examining the body, Brennan questions interesting marks on the bones. And the investigation is on.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I didn't like this as much as other Kathy Reichs books, maybe because it was the one book that she didn't base on a specific investigation of hers (my guess). She sets up the questions, then lays out answers that the reader couldn't have figured out from the clues.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Well written mystery thriller, however I am just not very keen on the fast paced wise cracking style. Everything is just too slick especially the Temperence Brennan character
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The story picked up after a while, but the beginning was confusing. Too many names and cases in the very beginning. At times the technical talk was too much for me, and I found myself skimming...a lot.
Perhaps I just missed the characters from Bones, since I fell in love with the series before reading Reichs. I have another book to read, so we will see if I like her better as I get used to her style.