‘Devil Bones’ by Kathy Reichs
After my focus on Oppenheimer, John Nash, the fires in Hawai’i, and quantum mechanics, it was a joy to go back to simpler books about chopped-up bodies, serial killers, and the other nefarious deeds Kathy Reichs (Bones) writes about in her crime/thriller series about a forensic anthropologist. This time I went back in time to an older novel from 2008, Devil Bones. It has a pentagramme on the cover that tells you whether or not this is your kind of book.
Here’s a real-life tip. If you’re working on an old house and discover a deep root cellar, don’t go down there. Since this is a wholesome family blog, I won’t tell you what’s down there in the novel even though the publisher’s description spills the beans about that.
From the Publisher“In a house under renovation, a plumber uncovers a cellar no one knew about and makes a grisly discovery: a decapitated chicken, animal bones, and cauldrons containing beads, feathers, and other relics of religious ceremonies. In the center of the shrine rests the skull of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, on a nearby lakeshore, the headless body of a teenage boy is found by a man walking his dog.
“Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is called in to investigate, and a complex and gripping tale unfolds. Nothing is clear—neither when the deaths occurred, nor where. Was the skull brought to the cellar or was the girl murdered there? Why is the boy’s body remarkably well preserved? Led by a preacher turned politician, citizen vigilantes blame devil worshippers and Wiccans, and Temperance will need all of her expertise to get to the real culprit first.”
I smile when I read these kinds of descriptions because I don’t believe in the devil and wonder just what the hell those who believe they are devil worshippers think they’re doing.
