Product Description

Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an Orthodox Jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary Montreal murder. When a stranger slips Tempe a photograph of a skeleton unearthed at an archaeological site, Tempe uncovers chilling ties between the dead man and secrets long buried in the dust of Israel. Traveling there with Detective Andrew Ryan, Tempe plunges into an international mystery as old as Jesus, and centered on the controversial discovery of Christ's tomb. Has a mastermind lured her into an elaborate hoax? If not, Tempe may be on the brink of rewriting two thousand years of history -- if she can survive the foes dead set on burying her.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20587 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-23
• Released on: 2006-05-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743453028
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Tempe" Brennan gets caught in mysteries past and present when she's called in to determine if illegal antiquities dealer Avram Ferris's gunshot death is murder or suicide. An acquaintance of Avram suggests the former: he hands Tempe a photograph of a skeleton, taken in Israel in 1963, and insists it's the reason Avram is dead. Tempe's longtime boyfriend, Quebecois detective Andrew Ryan, is also involved with the case, so the duo head to Israel where they attempt to solve the murder and a mystery revolving around a first-century tomb that may contain the remains of the family of Jesus Christ. This find threatens the worldwide Christian community, the Israeli and Jewish hierarchy and numerous illegal antiquity dealers, any of whom might be out to kill Tempe and Ryan. Not that Tempe notices. She has the habit of being oblivious to danger, which quickly becomes annoying, as does Reichs's tendency to end chapters with a heavy-handed cliffhanger ("His next words sent ice up my spine"). The plot is based on a number of real-life anthropological mysteries, and fans of such will have a good time, though thriller readers looking for chills and kills may not find the novel quite as satisfying.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In the eighth entry in Reichs' popular mystery series, forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan spends more time contemplating biblical history than modern-day murder. A preface sets the stage, providing a bit of factual context for the puzzle that emerges when Tempe is given a photo of an articulated skeleton, which she is told is the key to the suspicious death of a slightly shady Orthodox Jewish merchant. The legend on the back of a photo leads to the bones themselves, 2,000-year-old remains that excite not only Tempe but also her friend Jake Drum, a biblical archaeologist, who suggests that the bones might even belong to Jesus himself! Unlike Tempe's previous forays into the world of crime, this episode isn't long on thrills. Instead, we get a fairly complicated lesson in biblical history, some radical theory to ponder, and the itch to read real-life religion professor James Tabor's upcoming book about Masada and ancient bones, The Jesus Dynasty, to which Reichs refers in an afterword. Yet another read-alike for Da Vinci Code fans. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"The science is fascinating, and every minute in the morgue with Tempe is golden."

-- Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

Customer Reviews

Tempe tackles a biblical enigma.
Kathy Reichs latest thriller, "Cross Bones," features forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, who divides her time between laboratories in North Carolina and Montreal. Tempe is currently in a committed relationship with hunky Canadian Detective Andrew Ryan (he of the Viking blue eyes), who is her partner both professionally and personally.

When the body of an Orthodox Jew named Avram Ferris turns up in a state of advanced putrefaction in Montreal, Tempe is called in to help determine the cause of death. Adding to the mystery, a stranger named Kessler passes Tempe a photograph, stating that it provides a clue as to why Ferris was killed. The photo shows a supine skeleton, and various elements in the picture indicate that it was taken at an archaeological dig. Tempe calls her pal, Jake Drum, a colleague at University of North Carolina-Charlotte and an expert in biblical archaeology, to shed some light on the photograph.

Jake believes that the picture was taken at Masada, Israel, in 1963. He further states that it may contain explosive evidence that Yigael Yadin, the archaeologist who excavated Masada, wanted to keep hidden from the world. Ferris' death and the puzzling photograph lead Tempe, Jake, and Ryan to Israel, where they encounter intrigue, violence, and ever more complex biblical conundrums involving skeletal remains.

The resemblance between "Cross Bones" and Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" is strictly intentional. In fact, Tempe mentions Brown's blockbuster bestseller more than once, with a wink to the reader, as if the Reichs is saying, "Sure, this is another 'Da Vinci Code' clone, but I'm putting my own spin on it." Unfortunately, Reichs doesn't quite pull it off. She populates her book with dozens of characters, including violent fanatics who want old bones to stay in the ground, Ferris's bereaved relatives, a corrupt Israeli antiquities official, and a priest with a deadly secret. This book is so convoluted that Reichs is forced to spend many pages explaining the various plot points, and this slows the narrative down considerably. It is obvious that the author has conducted extensive research about Masada and Jesus, and I applaud Reichs's scholarly attention to detail. However, by the end of the novel, the lengthy explanations become a bit wearying and repetitious.

Much of "Cross Bones" is formulaic. As in most novels of this type, the heroine places herself in unnecessarily perilous situations more than once, and then scrambles to save her life. There are frantic chase scenes, stilted, cutesy, and preachy dialogue, the obligatory twists and turns, excessive reliance on exclamation points and italics to grab the reader's attention, and, of course, a final violent confrontation. The characters are devoid of any depth, and although the biblical riddles that Reichs offers are as intriguing as any of Dan Brown's, many more questions are raised than Reichs can ever satisfactorily answer. I sincerely hope that in the foreseeable future, we will see an end to the spate of "Da Vinci Code" imitations.

Boring - Annoying
I usually love Kathy Reichs books. This one I found incredibly boring, pedantic and uninteresting. The dialogue between Tempe and Ryan peculiar to say the least, staccato, juvenile and ridiculous. The storyline could have been told in 100 pages. Tempe came across as a know it all and lectured at every oportunity, half of which was incomprehensible to the layperson. Also some of the comments made couldn't be connected to the conversation. In actual fact had I been given the book without being told the author I would never have recognised it as being written by Kathy Reichs. Very disappointing.

Very disappointing and unengaging
I've been a fan of Reichs's work from her first novel. I've found her Brennan character engaging, and her story lines well thought out and interesting.

I found this particular book to be very disappointing. As Reichs writes in her Afterword, she wrote this novel to, in essence, indulge her interest in archeology. The problem is, she wrote a very confusing (to me) book with a story line that was very hard to follow. I had a hard time keeping straight the various antique skeletons that are driving the plot, the various dig sites, why various political groups were so intent on hiding/destroying/acquiring/whatever these assorted ancient remains.

In all honesty, while reading this book I was kind of busy shrugging my shoulders when I wasn't scratching my head. Figuratively, of course. I found myself thinking "who cares?"

Every author is entitled to blow one from time to time. Hopefully Reichs has this out of her system now. My advice: pass on this one. Read her earlier books, and wait for the next one.