It’s fair to say that Dr. Temperance Brennan is having a very 2021 kind of year: that is, everything is a cluster of chaos in Kathy Reichs’ The Bone Code (Scribner). There’s the tropical storm sending everyone, especially her fidgety feline companion, for cover. There’s the concerning outbreak of capno, a new pandemic playing fire to COVID’s frying pan. Then, of course, there’s the new case on which Brennan has been called to consult, but that particular cluster of chaos is an occupational hazard.
There are very disturbing similarities between the case Brennan is being asked to join and a case she once worked with her partner, now-boyfriend and roommate, Andrew Ryan. The original case was left unsolved, a fact that still troubles Brennan as she tries to connect the recent murders to the former and put names and faces to the unidentified victims so that she can finally give them justice.
With the help of Ryan and others, including a surly and sensible detective in Montreal where the original murders took place, Brennan manages to catch the scent, which could not only provide closure and the answers to sought-after questions but also reveal the diabolical details of something even more massive.
ANOTHER FOR THE SCIENCE-MINDED
There are many praises to be given to this book, but I must first start with a trigger warning. Since we have not yet gotten to the other side of COVID, the references to it — and indeed to an entirely different pandemic — might be triggering to those who are still being impacted. That said, if this potential trigger does not pose an issue for you, there is some quality material awaiting your eyes.
This is especially true of the forensic process involved in the investigation since Reichs’ greatest asset is her background in science. As is her nature, she crafts for us a story that holds its foundation in her forensic expertise, offering us a realistic narrative filled with just as much drama and intrigue as any in which the rules of a particular fictional universe are imagined.
The science offering us such a realistic form of fascination is not threadbare. Reichs brings in other areas of knowledge, most notably genetics, in her construction of the case and its evidence. Not only does this mix offer an excellent opportunity to incorporate characters with different areas of expertise for Dr. Brennan to work with; it also provides a wonderful display of curiosity and a recognition that others possess valuable knowledge one can learn from even when one is an esteemed expert in one’s own field.
Despite the expertise, Reichs treats the reader like an intelligent being capable of following the minutia of forensics. She explains the meaning of this or that scientific point, trusting that after the reader is astute enough to comprehend what she places before us — and what she places before us is something appealing to the insatiable curiosity in all of us.
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