Devil Bones (Temperance Brennan, #11)

by Kathy Reichs

book data

1,063 ratings, 3.63 average rating, 213 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		17%
4		39%
3		33%
2		8%
1		1%

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published

August 26th 2008 by Scribner

binding

Hardcover, 310 pages

characters

Temperance Brennan

setting

The United States

isbn

0743294386 (isbn13: 9780743294386)

description

Following her most successful book to date, Kathy Reichs -- international number one bestselling author, forensic anthropologist, and producer of the ...more

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06/04/08

Brooke rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, mystery

Read in August, 2008

The books in Kathy Reichs' Bones series are either really, really good or merely decent, and this newest installment fell into the latter category. I think my level of enjoyment depends on how interested I am in the murder mystery.

I was annoyed with the level of "catch up" Reichs did - I can understand wanting a new reader to be able to pick up any Bones book and understand the players, but by the 11th book in the series, I really don't need to spend pages on what Tempe's j...more The books in Kathy Reichs' Bones series are either really, really good or merely decent, and this newest installment fell into the latter category. I think my level of enjoyment depends on how interested I am in the murder mystery.

I was annoyed with the level of "catch up" Reichs did - I can understand wanting a new reader to be able to pick up any Bones book and understand the players, but by the 11th book in the series, I really don't need to spend pages on what Tempe's job is, who her co-workers are, a detailed chronology of her dating life, etc. I've spent a lot of time with you, Kathy and Tempe. Just hit me with the story.

I was also disappointed that a pivotal conversation between Tempe and Andrew Ryan was reduced to Tempe relating it after the fact in a few sentences. After spending 10 books being invested in the on-again, off-again relationship, it was so odd that Reichs didn't flesh it out and let us in on it.

The introduction of a new potential date for Tempe also confirmed what I thought all along - Reichs can't (won't?) write more than one type of love interest. I'd always thought Pete and Ryan were identical, characterized mainly by their witty, combative personalities. Now Charlie, a man Tempe knows from their high school days, tries to date her, and lo and behold, he's exactly the same as the other two!

I've resigned myself to the fact that these books are rather formulaic, and that they'll always end with Tempe in mortal danger, which leads to her missing out on how the police put the final pieces together - the final chapter is always an after-the-fact recounting of the final clues, which always makes the ending feel rushed. I've also stopped gritting my teeth at the melodramatic, foreshadowy chapter endings and Tempe's habit of getting preachy when discussing a topic that clearly matters to the author. Because really, despite all these flaws, Tempe Brennan is a good protagonist to spend time with, and Reichs always has an entertaining mystery thanks to her day job as a forensic anthropologist.

I'm exasperated I already finished the new book in one sitting, but at least the new season of Bones starts in three days.(less)

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09/18/08

Amy rated it:

i feel an obligation to read all of her books because i started with the first one when it came out a million years ago. i recall the first ones to be pretty good. this is the 11th brennan novel, and it annoyed me to no end. primarily the foreshadowing she uses at the end of each short chapter, usually reading "And things were going to get worse. Much worse." EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER. ugh. mostly her writing just got worse. i can't even recall the plot, something to do with bones in a caul...more

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03/05/09

Lorraine rated it:

(review of isbn 0743571916)

bookshelves: listened-to, mystery

Read in March, 2009

recommends it for: no one but hard-core Reichs fans

If this was the first Reichs book I read, I don't know that I'd read any more. Nothing about it was memorable or unique enough to set it apart from other mystery books. There was a bit less of the smart/stupid Brennan than the last book, less of textbook explanation of various sciences, fewer rhetorical questions, but still too many for me. The other annoying bit about the writing was the "telling" not "showing" of action and emotion. The only example that comes to mind a...more

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02/14/09

Bernadette rated it:

(review of isbn 0434014656)

bookshelves: crime-fiction

Read in April, 2009

I normally start out my reviews with a brief synopsis of events that take place in the first 40-50 pages of a book but in all honesty I can’t think of more than a sentence to say about this one. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, is called in when a skull is found under the flooring of an old house in North Carolina. Nothing else that develops the plot in any meaningful way happens before page 75. There’s a history lesson about the town of Charlotte, a swag of stultifying detail ab...more I normally start out my reviews with a brief synopsis of events that take place in the first 40-50 pages of a book but in all honesty I can’t think of more than a sentence to say about this one. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, is called in when a skull is found under the flooring of an old house in North Carolina. Nothing else that develops the plot in any meaningful way happens before page 75. There’s a history lesson about the town of Charlotte, a swag of stultifying detail about Brennan’s work life and some snippets about what she has to eat in her fridge but I’m pretty sure none of that is going to make anyone rush out to get this book.

The only word that seems to fit this book is dull. If pressed to expand I would, in Douglas Adams fashion, qualify that description by saying mostly dull. The first third of the book could have been written by anyone with access to Google. It’s almost as if Brennan (or Reichs) is lecturing one of her undergraduate classes as she lists in minute detail the dimensions of the bones she has found, details the major deities of several religions and continues a frightfully uninteresting internal monologue about the object of 11 books worth of sexual tension. Yawn. The plot gets slightly better for the last two thirds but it’s not even close to being gripping. I found myself skim-reading long passages of technical stuff and groaning at the portentous statement at the end of each chapter. The resolution to the mystery element was predictable and the final lecture on America’s culture of fear was patronising.

In case you’re wondering I have read Reichs before. In fact I’ve read all the books in this series. I rated the last one, Bones to Ashes, a 4 but the two installments prior to that only rated a 2 on my personal scale. The thing is I can’t decide if Reichs’ writing has deteriorated over the years or my reading tastes have altered during that same period. Maybe it’s a little (or a lot) of both. In the past I’ve felt Reichs has had a genuine interest in exploring the topics she’s used as the basis for her plots, such as in Grave Secrets which dealt with human rights abuses and ’the disappeared’ of 1980’s Guatemala. In Devil Bones it felt like she’d drawn voodoo out of a hat filled with random plot elements and threw in a few facts and figures alongside the dead bodies and danger. I’m firmly convinced the only person who had less interest in this book than I did is Reichs herself.

I’m done with this series.

(less)

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11/02/08

Patty rated it:

Kathy Reichs joins the ranks of so many writers who feel compelled to produce a book every year and end up producing crap. I used to so enjoy her books -- but she has gone downhill fast and this might be the last one that I read.

Devil Bones' only saving grace was that it was quick to read .. but only because of the # of pages, not because of the content. There were too many peripheral characters that added nothing to the plot except to make it confusing. I also prefer the books that...more

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02/14/09

Valerie rated it:

bookshelves: tv-made-me-do-it

Read in February, 2009

recommends it for: Mom, Kathy, Debbie

This series if filled with scientific goodness and wit. I thought this one ended too quickly.

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02/06/09

Sheila rated it:

Read in February, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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01/28/09

Garrett rated it:

Read in January, 2009

This is the first book of the series that I've read. There are a few interesting things about the style that I like. When you get to the last line of a chapter, there is always something that makes you want to turn the page and keep on going.

Of course, there are a couple of things that just keep on going, but should probably end sooner. Tempe has some difficulties in figuring out what is odd about one of the bodies found in this book. With all of the clues scattered about, you would ...more

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02/18/09

Peggy Walker rated it:

Read in February, 2009

recommends it for: Fans of Kathy Reichs, CSI, forensic science .

I actually learned a lot that I either didn't know or had forgotten. This is Reich's 11th Temperance Brennan book, and she spends some time telling the reader who she is, what she does, where she works, a lot about Charlotte, NC as a setting, and where she is in her life. It was helpful, actually, since I have not read the whole series, and have read in random order.

Another reviewer pointed out that she tended to end every chapter with some version of "...what happened next wa...more

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12/10/08

Mary rated it:

bookshelves: mystery-crime-fiction

Read in December, 2008

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is called in on a case that might involve devil worshippers, or Wiccans, or practicers on Santeria ... actually, she and her fellow investigators are having difficulty deciding just what happened to the victim found in the crawl space of a North Carolina home.
This was one of the better offerings in this series. It's been a little while since I read the last few, but I seem to remember being somewhat disappointed - though that sometimes happens wh...more

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02/21/09

Ines rated it:

bookshelves: medical-thriller

Read in March, 2009

It's been so long since my last Kathy Reichs book that I forget what it's like to read one of these. The pace of the book is fast and the language flows nicely, making it quite an enjoyable read. The book is also informative, providing a concise background of Santeria and voodoo.

Unfortunately, that's all I can say for the book. It was a bit hard to follow (but this could be because I took a three day break halfway through the book) and Tempe seemed to randomly jump to conclusions tha...more

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04/28/09

Lorna rated it:

Read in April, 2009

There was a lot of interesting stuff in this book about alternative religious groups. It clarifys the original presmise of Voodoo and others. It addresses the hysterical responses of christians to the aforementioned and others, exploring their origins, customs, rituals and reasoning behind them. These native religions which were masked using christian saints to prevent persecution from the christian masters!

Two main distractions for me though, I do not think that Reichs has mast...more

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09/13/08

Ermabom rated it:

I've read all of Kathy Reichs' books and they are pretty formulaic. I love them because they keep me engaged. I thought this one was a bit more shallow than previous books and there was no real surprise twist at the end, though she tried to create one.

However, I had a difficult time putting the book down when I had to go to work on Thurs.

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08/30/08

Robin rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, forensic-fiction, mystery-thriller

Read in September, 2008

Another gripping book by Kathy Reichs. Unlike Patricia Cornwell she's maintained a level of enjoyment and writing throughout her series that constantly keeps me coming back.

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01/03/09

Barb rated it:

recommends it for: no one

So I really needed something to read and I made a quick library run and this was one of the books I chose. I was not familiar with this author (although I do like the TV show Bones) and didn't realize this was part of a series. Read the book anyway and it was so ho-hum that I doubt that I'll go back and read any more. Plus, this author irritated me as she dangled a carrot at the end of every chapter that was supposed to be an inducement to keep going - she'd write that things were going to ge...more

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03/13/09

Trina rated it:

Read in March, 2009

OK. I found myself being bugged by all the cliffhangers. And then I saw what I least expected...new chapter, If I had acted differently no one would have died...new chapter, etc. That and I could never remember who she was talking about it. Even at the big climax. It was along the lines of "And then I saw..." and I'm wracking my brain and flipping pages trying to remember who exactly it is that now turns out to be the killer. She never gives the readers reminders- just expects us to re...more

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04/16/09

Laurel rated it:

Read in March, 2009

This is one of many many books in Reichs' Temperance series. For those who don't know, the hit TV show Bones is based off of Reichs' books. While I love most of Reichs' books, mainly because they are easy to read and drop lots of forensic pathology tidbits into the murders, DO NOT waste your time on this book. HIGHLY disappointed. Too many characters with little back story to them, little touches on wicca and witchcraft (but not enough to be interesting, and too complicated of a story line t...more

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10/31/08

Julie rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Hummmm.... It's okay. More of Tempe Brennan doing her anthropological pathology.

This time a giant iron cauldron filled with dirt and bones is uncovered in a basement and the bones are analyzed by Tempe. Then a headless corpse is found on a beach, with an odd lack of decomposition. (A side mystery which I figured out almost instantly, and which took Dr. Brennan the remainder of the book to figure out, much to my annoyance.)

I didn’t care much about the mystery, and ...more

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09/30/08

Stephanie rated it:

bookshelves: disappointing

Read in December, 2008

Good God I waited FOREVER for my name to come up at the library to get this one, and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I didn't break down and buy it, even at Costco prices...

I have read Reichs since book #1 in the series, and instantly preferred her to Cornwell, but ugh. I HATED the way she kept ending every chapter with some sort of cliffhanger so the reader would feel compelled to go on. By the time I was 2/3 of the way through this one, I didn't care WHOSE bones were in the cauldron, ...more

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09/18/08

Sarah Librarian rated it:

I just finished reading this (as in, like, 15 minutes ago) and loved it. This is the eleventh (I think) book in the Temperance Brennan series, and like all of the others, I totally enjoyed it. Kathy Reichs' does a great balance between Brennan's personal life, the cases she solves, and the educating she does in the book. Many mystery authors gloss over the details, or delve too deeply into them, but in Reichs' case, she does a really good job of educating us with the relevant bits of scientific,...more

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