Kathy Reich’s
Cross Bones is certainly not the type of
novel I would normally read, but as it was a book club selection, I picked it up. It is the eighth in a series of novels featuring Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist. I haven’t
read the previous seven, so I can’t say if this is better or worse than her past efforts. Although reading the summary on the cover brought
The Da Vinci Code to mind (which I haven’t read, but which I know enough about to be able to see instant connections between these two novels).
In this book, Dr. Brennan’s investigation of a murder and a mysterious skeleton from the time of Jesus brings her to Israel to figure out how the two
cases are tied together. Almost everything is tidily solved at the end (notice I said ALMOST everything. Reichs leaves a bit of a
mystery behind), but getting to a resolution is a challenge and a danger to Dr. Brennan, her partner Andrew Ryan, and her archaeologist colleague, Jake Drum.
I enjoyed it for the most part, although I thought the references to contemporary pop culture are going to make this book extremely dated in a matter of a few years. The characters make references to
The Da Vinci Code and
The Sopranos, among other things. Also, Reichs ends almost every chapter with some kind of cliffhanger, a literary device that gets very stale after awhile.
What was good about the book is that Reichs writes what she knows. She herself is a forensic anthropologist, and her experience is the backbone of the novel. She uses her actual case files as inspiration for the cases in the novel. The plot revolves around actual
archaeological discoveries in Israel, and Reichs actually traveled there to do research for this book. Because of that, her descriptions of Israel and of the archaeological relics are accurate, and all information given on Masada and Cave 2001 are directly from archaeological records.
Another aspect of this novel that I liked is that Reichs handles three major religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, with a knowledge that is quite impressive. The book also poses some fundamental questions about religion that, I think, are rather deep and philosophical for a book of this nature. It made it that much more rewarding to read, because I didn’t feel like I was reading a fluff novel or some kind of formulaic murder mystery/thriller. This book has some intelligence behind it, some food for thought, that made it better than the other books I have read in this genre.
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