Since 1997 when DEJA DEAD, the first Temperance Brennan title was published, Kathy Reichs name has been liked to the quirky, just the facts, Tempe. Since then you cannot hear one name without connecting the other. Reichs' experience in the field of anthropologic forensics has turned many readers into armchair experts, thanks to the many fan favorite "Bones" books of which THE BONE CODE is #20. While you could read this as your first book of the series, you'd miss the complicated brilliance that is Temperance Brennan and her cast of characters. Trust me when I say, no matter which series book you start with, you have some serious binge reading in your future.

This was a quick read. Very interesting how the two cases tied together. Hope some of the new characters will continue in future books.

The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs is the 20th book in the Temperance Brennan series but can be read as a standalone. I’m not sure how Reichs is able to continuously write such gripping stories, but she does it again in this installment!!
• Brennan is called to investigate the deaths of two women whose bodies have washed up on the shores of South Carolina and Quebec. The two women have been dead for fifteen years, and their deaths appear to be connected to a deadly new pestilence.
• Brennan investigates and uncovers a dark and twisted web of secrets and lies. She uses all of her skills as a forensic anthropologist to piece together the clues and solve the mystery before it's too late.
• The Bone Code is a fast-paced and suspenseful thriller with plenty of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end.
• Reichs does an excellent job of weaving together the scientific aspects of forensic anthropology with a gripping mystery plot.
• The characters are well-developed, believable/relatable, and the setting is vividly described.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Bone Code. It's a well-written and engaging novel that I would definitely recommend to fans of crime thrillers or forensic science.

Anything that Kathy Reichs writes is amazing. I have been reading her for years and watching the series on TV based on her books. Do yourself a favor and read everything she writes.

Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for the gratis copy I received in exchange for an honest review of this book.

Set in Charlotte (NC), Isle of Palms/Charleston (SC), and Montreal (PQ), The Bone Code follows Reichs' heroine, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan as she solves the murders of four women and girls, which are separated by more than 10 years. For fans of Patricia Cornwell, The Bone Code supplies an intriguing mystery that Kathy Reichs' loyal readers will undoubtedly appreciate. However, I found Reichs' writing style to be distracting; the Bone Code reads more like a journal, with its sentence fragments, dangling participles, and ill-advised transitions between first-person past and first-person present tenses. Most concerning are Reichs' characterizations of individuals (through the perspective of Temperance Brennan, of course) who are anything other than slim, wealthy, Ivy-educated white women: She portrays an overweight woman as smelly and gluttonous; a poor, elderly woman is a hoarder; a pushy, foul-mouthed attorney "definitely" didn't graduate from an Ivy-league law school; a Black female detective is a former basketball player; her supervisor with an Asian surname has an "exotic" accent...the list of intellectually lazy characterizations go on. Reichs frequently refers to the American South - the Carolinas, in particular - as Dixie (if you're from this area of the South - and I am - you know that only a microscopic subset of the population still refers to it as "Dixie"), which feels condescending and disrespectful to the millions of people - Black, Latino, white - who've made this area their home. Basically, no one is smarter - or more ignorant - than Temperance Brennan. I doubt I'll return to this series.

2.5/5 stars.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Interesting mystery novel. Good weekend read.

I love all books by Kathy Reichs and this book did not disappoint. I love this series... The books just keep getting better and better

There's a hurricane bearing down on North Carolina. It changes Tempe's life for quite a bit for sure. A bin with two youngish girls in it washes up in South Carolina and Tempe is called in. She wonders if it relates to a case from her past. Add in to that a weird thing going on in South Carolina (other than the dead bodies). Not to mention that Tempe pops back and forth between Canada and the US like its going out of style, and, it was a book that was chock full of plots (and I was impressed that, I'm pretty sure that they were all mostly tied up, sometimes that doesn't happen in these books).

There was a new detective from South Carolina, she was cool, I hope that we see more of her (I know that we probably won't). And, there were the old favorites from Montreal too. And, of course Ryan. In some of the immediately previous books I felt like Reichs was treading water with them, and not in a good way. But, in this book, they seemed to be back to their old back and forth, with a bit of romance/love mixed in. Do I want a resolution. Sorta, yeah, but, not having one did not take away from this book at all. And, now I'm hungry for JELLO.

Temperance Brennon travels from the US to Canada in pursuit of the murderer of two pairs found in the water after being shot even though the two sets happened 15 years apart. ARC from NetGalley.

I've long been a fan of Kathy Reichs and Tempe Brennan. I read her books with my mom back when I was in college in the early 2000s. I binged Bones when I was in my late 20s and needed to recover from a hangover. And now in my early 40s, I still love them. There have been some misses along the way, but this one was definitely a hit.

After a hurricane brushes the Carolinas, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner informing her that the storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many of the details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec fifteen years earlier.

I thought that this was a fast and entertaining read and really enjoyed it.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Trigger Warnings: Murder, Child Murder, Gore, Descriptions of Dead Bodies, Animal Cruelty, Attempted Murder, Mentions of DNA modification and vaccines.

In the early 2000s, I fell in love with a TV show called Bones. I would later discover that the TV show was loosely based on the Temperance Brennan series of books by Kathy Reichs. Earlier this year, I decided I was going to make it a point to read/listen to as many of those books as I could. I didn’t get too far in, but I knew I had the 20th book in the series, The Bone Code, in my NetGalley queue. I finally got off my butt and read it.

First things first, you don’t have to read the Temperance Brennan books in order to understand what’s going on. You’ll be given enough details to help you figure things out if previous books are referenced. So don’t let this being the 20th book in the series scare you off. You can totally read this without reading any of the others first.

I love Temperance’s character. I find it funny that she isn’t nearly as “odd” in the books as she is in the TV show Bones. In the show, she doesn’t understand pop culture references and is very clinical, doesn’t get social cues. In the books, she isn’t like that at all. Which is nice because I’m not sure I’d like the books as much as I do if she was. I also enjoy Andrew Ryan’s character. He’s the perfect foil for Temperance and I love to see all the little tidbits of their relationship.

As for the plot of this particular book, I thought it was very intriguing. A “new” case in the Carolinas is startlingly similar to a 15 year old case from Canada that Temperance and Andrew had worked on. This leads them both down a path filled with danger and surprising revelations. I was kept wondering what would happen next and I absolutely loved the way the plot kept twisting. This book was definitely not boring.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It is a mix between a slow-burn and fast-paced. Some areas are slow, some move really fast. The buildup to the final fight scene was well executed. I wasn’t left feeling let down by the ending – it was a great ending to a great book.

If you like mystery/thrillers and you like series, I definitely recommend this book and this series.

Another winner for Kathy Reichs and Temperance Brennan! When a biohazard container washes ashore after a hurricane, Tempe connects the bodies to a 15-year-old unsolved case that she worked on with boyfriend (now fiancé) Andrew Ryan in Canada. Although the medical jargon is usually above my head, Reichs has a way of explaining it to the reader without being condescending and the real life implications in this book are intriguing. Vaccines, deadly bacteria, DNA sequencing and some history of death masks make for a great storyline. I hope we see more of new character Tonia Vislosky, a Charleston detective, and it’s always a pleasure to have old friends like Anne, Claudel, Katy, of course, Birdie pop up. I’m looking forward to the next Tempe Brennan book! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

There’s nothing like a thrill of a hurricane, said no one ever.. After a mysterious barrel washes ashore, Tempe is called on for her expertise. This case reminds her of a similar one 15 years ago. Edge of your seat thriller, set right after Covid with a new bacterial pandemic.

I have read every book in the series. I really like the character and the story. This one continues the story of Temperance Brennan as a forensic anthropologist. As she is faced with new challenges and mystery, her own lives continues to develop with Ryan and her daughter. Highly recommend as a series, not a standalone.

I Love these books so very much!! Kathy has not disappointed yet by far my favorite series I am so glad Tempe is back!

Very good book. Have read her entire series, and she reminds me a bit of Patricia Cornwell back in her best days.

So good! Just like all the other Temperance books, I first became a fan watching the TV show and then read all the books. Can't wait for the next one to come out!

I am a long time fan of this series and was hooked by this book from the beginning. The hurricane, Tempe going to help her friend in Isle of Palms, the new case that she gets involved in, the cold case from her past. There was a lot going on in this book and Tempe was doing a lot of traveling between the Carolinas and Montreal. The story was so intriguing and had many unexpected connections throughout the different story lines. I enjoyed the new character that was introduced in this book and hope that she will make an appearance in future novels.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

In the aftermath of a hurricane, Temperance Brennan heads to the Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina. The Charleston coroner informs Tempe that a medical waste container has washed ashore, with two decomposed bodies inside. The bodies are bound in a way that Tempe recognizes, as they are identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec fifteen years earlier. As Tempe digs into the two cases, she is struck by a growing sense of unease. How are the cases related and how does genetics play a part?

I have read every book in this series and I can say that The Bone Code is no where near my favorite. The Temperance Brennan that I have come to know is not the woman in this book. She is distracted, scattered, and makes mistakes. Additionally, I find it hard to believe that she would not know a good portion of the science that is mentioned in the novel. Though not her area of expertise, genetics have some part to play in forensic anthropology and I do not think she would be so clueless. After what happens early on with her and Ryan, I also think it is implausible that Brennan would be so careless in her friend's house (door that will not latch, and so on). I am glad that The Bone Code is not the first book in the series, or I would have never read the others.

Disclaimer: I won a print copy of The Bone Code through a Goodreads Giveaway. Additionally, I was given an Advanced Reader's copy by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this book was entirely my own.

I greatly enjoyed this entry in the Temperance Brennan series. As usual, she shifts back and forth between Quebec and the American South. And as usual, she solves the murders with which she is presented.