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Book Summary and Reviews of Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Flash and Bones

A Temperance Brennan Novel

by Kathy Reichs

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  • Published:
  • Aug 2011, 288 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for Race Week, a body is found in a barrel of asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The next day, a NASCAR crew member comes to Temperance Brennan's office at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner to share a devastating story. Twelve years earlier, Wayne Gamble's sister, Cindi, then a high school senior and aspiring racer, disappeared along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovette. Lovette kept company with a group of right-wing extremists known as the Patriot Posse. Could the body be Cindi's? Or Cale's?

At the time of their disappearance, the FBI joined the investigation, only to terminate it weeks later. Was there a cover-up? As Tempe juggles multiple theories, the discovery of a strange, deadly substance in the barrel alongside the body throws everything into question. Then an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goes missing during Race Week. Tempe can't overlook the coincidence. Was this man using his lab chemicals for murder? Or is the explanation even more sinister? What other secrets lurk behind the festive veneer of Race Week?

A turbocharged story of secrets and murder unfolds in this, the fourteenth thrilling novel in Reichs's "cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series" (The New York Times Book Review). With the smash hit Bones about to enter its seventh season and in full syndication - and her most recent novel, Spider Bones, an instant New York Times bestseller - Kathy Reichs is at the top of her game.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Reichs imbues this fusion of past and present with her signature blend of forensic know-how and deeply felt characters." - Publishers Weekly

"Rednecks and race cars do not constitute a compelling plot. Although devoted Reichs fans will miss the clever repartee and nonstop action of her previous novels, they will still plod through this one." - Library Journal

This information about Flash and Bones was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cloggie Downunder

filleted Tempe Brennan
Flash and Bones is the 14th in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs. Just back from Hawaii, Tempe is called to a landfill site in Charlotte adjacent to the NASCAR circuit, where a body is encased in asphalt in a rusting metal drum. It’s almost race week, so the pressure is on to deal with the situation quickly. But after she manages only a perfunctory examination of the corpse, the FBI steps in to confiscate the body and all the files. As the story progresses, the list of possible identities for the John Doe lengthens, and Tempe comes up against the FBI, the local cops, the track security team and a right-wing extremist group, the Patriot Posse, as she tries to solve the riddle. Reichs sticks to her formula of letting Tempe get into danger while investigating something that’s probably none of her business. Usually, this works because she also gives the reader a good dose of forensic anthropology, and plenty of facts. This time the facts are about abrin, a systemic toxin (interesting) and NASCAR (maybe interesting for fans but left me cold). The forensic anthropology in this instalment is minimal: getting the body out of the asphalt ; putting together the skull of a known victim. There’s a plot with a few twists and some good dialogue in the form of dry quips between Tempe and Skinny Slidell, almost ex-hubby Pete, Kate and a possible new love-interest, Galimore. There may be bones in the title, but the story has been well filleted. Let’s hope the next Tempe Brennan novel is an improvement on this one.

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Author Information

Kathy Reichs Author Biography

Kathy Reichs's first novel Déjà Dead catapulted her to fame when it became a New York Times bestseller and won the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Her other Temperance Brennan books include Death du Jour, Deadly Decisions, Fatal Voyage, Grave Secrets, Bare Bones, Monday Mourning, Cross Bones, Break No Bones, Bones to Ashes, Devil Bones, 206 Bones, Spider Bones, Flash and Bones, Bones Are Forever, Bones of the Lost, Bones Never Lie, Speaking in Bones and the Temperance Brennan short story collection, The Bone Collection. In addition, Kathy co-authored the Virals young adult series with her son, Brendan Reichs. The best-selling titles are: Virals, Seizure, Code, Exposure, Terminal, and the novella collection Trace Evidence. The series follows the adventures of Temperance ...

... Full Biography
Link to Kathy Reichs's Website

Name Pronunciation
Kathy Reichs: Last name rhymes with bikes

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