Reviewed by Rod McLary
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free.
The above line from Bob Dylan’s rather enigmatic song Mr Tambourine Man is the epigraph to this new novel by Kathy Reichs which features Temperance Brennan; and its relevance to the narrative becomes clear at the novel’s dénouement. The Bone Hacker is the author’s twenty-second crime novel with Temperance Brennan – a forensic anthropologist – and it is no less fresh and gripping than any of the previous twenty-one.
Even the book’s title is enigmatic – is it a tongue-in-cheek reference to Tempe [as she is generally known] who spends much of her working life cutting into bones, or is a reference to something more sinister? Well – only time will tell.
Investigating an unexplained death of a young man during a fireworks festival in Montreal takes Tempe to the Turks and Caicos Islands lying east of Cuba in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Islands are a British Overseas Territory. Once on the Islands, she is persuaded – as she happens to be there – to investigate the deaths of three young men which occurred over a five-year period. All three were ‘extraordinarily good-looking’ [233], were tourists, arrived by air, and disappeared within two or three days of arrival – and when their bodies were finally found, each was missing his left hand.
As so often is the case in her investigations, Tempe runs up against police officers with less than adequate social skills and outdated views on the proper place of professional women. But with her technical and investigative skills and her personality, Tempe is more than capable of convincing them that she is a person to be taken seriously. This investigation also runs up against the FBI whose Special Agents are far from ready to share their knowledge with Tempe and her local colleague Detective Delroy Monck – colloquially known as The Monk. Because of the extent of knowledge that Tempe and the Monk have gained through their investigations, the Special Agents are persuaded that it would be in their best interests to share some of theirs.
In between the investigations and the scientific detail which the author strives to – and largely achieves – present clearly and succinctly for all readers to comprehend, the author’s well-known humour and light-heartedness shines through. The novel is written in the first person and narrated by Tempe who from time to time addresses herself – as in Focus, Brennan, focus when she is distracted by thoughts of her long-term lover Andrew Ryan. Ryan plays less of a part in this novel than is usually the case – largely just making an appearance at the beginning and another at the end. But his and Tempe’s banter and sexual innuendo are still intact and lighten the mood of the narrative when matters are looking bleak and dangerous.
The Bone Hacker is a thrilling and challenging read and one which will be enjoyed by all followers of Kathy Reichs and of those authors who are able to skilfully combine forensic detail with humour and characterisation. There is much to be enjoyed in this book.
The Bone Hacker
[2023]
by Kathy Reichs
Simon and Schuster
ISBN 978 176110 396 4
$34.99; 352pp