June 20, 2011
The discovery of an old corpse in a barrel of asphalt in landfill bordering the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., propels Reichs's solid 14th thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (after Spider Bones). Brennan feels the pressure to make a quick ID, with race week approaching and the speedway a major stop on the NASCAR circuit. Wayne Gamble, whose older sister, Cindi, an aspiring NASCAR driver, disappeared in 1998 with her right wingâleaning boyfriend, hopes Brennan can help, perhaps by identifying the barrel body as his sister. But as Brennan pokes around into the cold case, new issues crop up with the FBI claiming jurisdiction because of possible bioterrorism. Caught between two sparring cops, Erskine "Skinny" Slidell of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD and Cotton Galimore, the speedway's head of security, Brennan must tread carefully to find the long-buried truth. Reichs imbues this fusion of past and present with her signature blend of forensic know-how and deeply felt characters.
January 30, 2012
In this latest book in the Temperance Brennan series, the forensic anthropologist—and inspiration for the television series Bones—finds herself in Charlotte, N.C., and in the middle of a case involving auto racing, a corpse hidden in a barrel of asphalt for 10 years, and an assortment of missing persons, including one with ties to a white supremacist group known as the Patriot Posse. Narrator Linda Emond—who has ably handled previous books in the series—captures the essence of the book’s heroine: wry, self-deprecating, smart, and never smug. Emond also provides appropriate voices for male characters and produces an assortment of believable Southern accents, including the marzipan-sweet sounds of Brennan’s office receptionist and the whiny demands of a dim-bulb beauty contest winner. But Emond’s finest achievements are the voices she lends to both gruff and cynical detective Skinny Slidell and the sinister leader of the Patriot Posse. A Scribner hardcover.