Flash and Bones: A Novel (Temperance Brennan Book 14) by Kathy Reichs (MOBI)

Description

Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with a riveting new novel set in Charlotte, North Carolina, featuring America’s favorite forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan.

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.

User’s Reviews

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Cold, Cold Bones is Kathy’s twenty-first entry in her series featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Kathy was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which is based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Kathy divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Montreal, Québec. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on Twitter @KathyReichs. Amazon.com Review Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with a riveting new novel set in Charlotte, North Carolina, featuring America’s favorite forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan. 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. Q&A with Dr. Kathy Reichs In this bonus Q&A, the scribe behind Tempe Brennan takes questions on NASCAR, extremist groups, Tempe’s love life, and the difference between writing a novel and penning a script for the TV show Bones on FOX. Q: Flash and Bones begins with the discovery of a body in a barrel of asphalt in a dump next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and characters from the racing world become implicated in the drama. What drew you to NASCAR as a backdrop? Are you yourself a racing fan? A: Prior to writing Flash and Bones, I had only passing knowledge of auto racing, having attended one event way back in the gray dawn of history. But almost every Charlottean knows a player in the game–be it a team owner, a mechanic, a sponsor, or a driver. It’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement each May and October when hundreds of thousands converge on our burg for big races. Like Daytona or Darlington, Charlotte is an epicenter for the sport. And, as Tempe explains in the book, stock car racing originated with bootlegging in the Carolina mountains during Prohibition. I ended up writing NASCAR into the novel because of my long-time friend Barry Byrd, himself a huge racing enthusiast. Each time I began a new Temperance Brennan novel Barry would suggest that NASCAR would provide a rich background for a story. I finally realized he was right. Barry offered to introduce me to Jimmy Johnson and his team, to take me to the track, to include me with the gang attending the All Star Race and the Coca Cola 600. Barry followed through on that promise. I met track owners and managers, sports journalists, pit crew chiefs, and fans who had driven their Winnebagos from Portland, Houston, Teaneck, and Nashville. Thanks to Barry and the Smith family I enjoyed a top to bottom tour of the Charlotte Motor Speedway. My fascination with the adjacent landfill was, I fear, a source of some dismay. Q: Flash and Bones takes place entirely in Tempe Brennan’s hometown of Charlotte. Spider Bones, on the other hand, begins in Montreal, where Tempe occasionally works, then moves to Hawaii. Other books have taken Tempe to Chicago, Israel, and Guatemala. How do you decide where to set your next novel? In what city do you spend most of your own time these days? A: Setting is a living, breathing part of each story I write. When Tempe travels, her destination is always a place that I know well, one in which I have plied my trade or spent time doing research. I work and live in Charlotte, so Tempe does too. Like her, I am a commuter, shifting regularly from North Carolina to Quebec, where I consult to the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale in Montreal. Yep. I have the mother lode of frequent flier miles. In Spider Bones Tempe heads to Hawaii to pursue a case for JPAC, the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command, the United States military facility dedicated to identifying the remains of servicemen and women who have died far from home. Easy choice. I consulted for this lab for many years. In Grave Secrets Tempe exhumes a mass grave in Guatemala. In the year 2000 I was invited to do the same by the Guatemalan Foundation for Forensic Anthropology. In Bones to Ashes a case takes Tempe to Tracadie, New Brunswick. This setting was suggested by an exhumation and analysis I performed for an Arcadian family living in that province. In 206 Bones Tempe flies to Chicago. Another no-brainer. That’s where I was born. You get the idea. It’s better to observe first hand than to make things up. Q: Another dominant theme of Flash and Bones is right-wing extremism, a subject about which you’ve written before. Members of a white supremacist group figure as suspects in the book. How did you become interested in these factions of American society? A: Extremist ideas do not offend me. In my view, people are free to believe what they will. Extremism that hurts others offends me greatly. In Cross Bones I wrote of religious extremism–belief systems that refuse to accept the legitimacy of differing worldviews. In that story events take Tempe to Israel and bring her into contact with fringe groups who use violence to impose their ideologies and customs on others. Political extremism can be equally dangerous, whether coming from the left or the right. In recent years hatred and intolerance have led to deadly attacks by domestic terrorists in the United States. Ted Kacyznski, the Unabomber; Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombers; Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber. Such individuals choose to kill their fellow citizens based on their own warped definitions of morality. After years on the run, Rudolph was arrested while digging through a dumpster in western North Carolina, about a four hour drive from Charlotte. I wondered who else might be hiding in the woods and back roads of my state. In Flash and Bones, I imagine a group of people who come from the extreme mold of Eric Rudolph and his narrow-minded brethren. Preferring comfort in numbers, some right wing fanatics form clubs or militias. That’s the case in Flash and Bones. Tempe is drawn into the world of an extremist group and must learn their philosophy and decipher their code of conduct in order to determine their role in a cold case that disturbs her greatly. Q: Over the course of Flash and Bones, Tempe develops a flirtatious relationship with Cotton Galimore, the head of security at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Her old flame, Lieutenant-Detective Andrew Ryan, and sometime suitor and Charlotte attorney Charlie Hunt only make minor appearances in the story. How do you decide what Tempe’s romantic life is going to be like in each novel? Can you give readers any hints about where it might go in the future? A: It’s true. Tempe’s love life is in a bit of a muddle. Andrew Ryan is preoccupied with his daughter Lily, who is in drug rehab. And miles away. Charlie Hunt is absorbed in a complex legal case. Miles away in another sense. Enter Cotton Galimore, strong, intelligent, and smoking hot. Sadly, Galimore’s past isn’t exactly spick and span. Joe Hawkins distrusts him. Skinny Slidell loathes him. And the guy is cocky as hell. But the heart wants what the heart wants. Inexplicably, Tempe is drawn to the disgraced ex-cop. Is Galimore really as bad as her colleagues say? Should she steer clear as everyone advises? Nope. No spoilers here. Q: Flash and Bones, as with all your books, contains unique forensic twists: the body found at the dump is lodged in a barrel of asphalt, which Tempe must painstakingly dismantle. Later, chemical tests at the CDC reveal the presence of a surprising toxin in the remains. What was the inspiration for these forensic discoveries? Have you seen such corpses in your real-life work, or, in writing your novels, do you imagine the strange possibilities of homicides you haven’t yet encountered? A: I am like a scavenger, always on the lookout for a snack. But instead of food, it’s criminal twists I’m after. I keep my eyes and ears open for interesting characters, bizarre case elements, and cutting edge science. A Temperance Brennan plot may derive from any number of sources. Starting point. I draw ideas from forensic anthropology analyses that I perform myself. My own cases. Move one circle out. The LSJML (my Montreal gig) is a full spectrum medico-legal and crime lab. While there I am able to observe what goes on around me, to learn about the newest thing in ballistics, toxicology, pathology, or DNA. Continue outward. Forensic scientists love to talk to each other about their cases. Colleagues often suggest ideas for Temperance Brennan stories based on investigations in which they have been involved. Occasionally a plot twist is inspired by a presentation I attend at a professional conference. The annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences provides particularly rich fodder. Articles in research journals also get the old brain pumping. From my own case load, and then from conversing, listening, watching, and reading, I get what I think of as “nugget” ideas, my core story concepts. Then, for both legal and ethical reasons, I change everything–names, dates, places, personal details. I then play the “what if?” game, and spin the nugget off into multilayered fiction. Q: In addition to writing the Temperance Brennan novels (and now the young adult novels featuring Tempe’s niece), you’ve also written a script for the FOX series Bones, based on your books. How does writing a TV script differ from writing your novels? Is one harder than the other? A: I am a producer on Bones. One of many. Just look at our credits. Mainly, I work with the writers, answering questions, providing bone clues, correcting terminology. Over the course of six seasons, I have read more than one hundred and thirty scripts. Though a television script is quite different from a book, there is some commonality. For me the similarity between a Temperance Brennan novel and a Bones teleplay lies in structure. My books typically have a lot going on–an A story, a B story, maybe even a C. Ditto a Bones episode. In Flash and Bones Tempe is asked to identify a body found in a barrel. That’s the A story. Simultaneously, she is drawn into the search for a missing teenage couple. The B story. And, all the while, there’s her complicated love life. C story. In the season five Bones episode that I wrote, “The Witch in the Wardrobe,” two sets of remains are discovered in a burned out house. The witch in the wardrobe turns out to have been dead for quite some time. A story. The witch under the foundation is identified as a recent homicide victim. B story. Angela and Hodgins go to jail (and love rekindles). C story. The structures are very similar, you see. On the other hand, a novel and a script differ in many ways. For example, with film or television there’s no need for detailed description of setting or action. Those features are right there in front of your eyes. A screenplay or teleplay is all about dialogue, character, and story line. Another difference involves the creative experience. When I write a novel, I am the stereotypical loner working at my keyboard in isolation. No one helps me. No one approves or disapproves my work. Not so the television writer. Once a story idea (kind of like my “nugget” concept) is accepted, the next step is called “breaking the story.” For one to three weeks the entire Bones writing staff brainstorms together, hammering out an outline act by act, scene by scene, working on erasable white boards that cover the walls of the writers’ room. The process is collective, and it is exhilarating. (The Bones writing team is awesome. Josh Berman, Pat Charles, Carla Kettner, Janet Lin, Dean Lopata, Michael Peterson, Karine Rosenthal, Karyn Usher. Thanks for your patience, guys.) The completed script outline is then “pitched”–in the case of Bones to Hart Hanson, our genius creator and executive producer. Once the outline is approved, the writer then “goes to script.” That means back to the lonely keyboard to produce what is called the writer’s draft. That stage takes one to three weeks. Unless the show is behind schedule. In that case, well, good luck. Then there are re-writes. And more re-writes. Studio draft. Network draft. Production draft. In the end it is amazing to see your episode actually being shot, with all the actors, the director, the gaffers, the grips, and the best boys. Lights! Camera! Action! Almost as amazing as seeing your baby on the printed page. –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From the Author Kathy Reichs is a producer of the Fox television hit Bones. Like her fictional creation Temperance Brennan, she is a board-certified forensic anthropologist for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec, a position she also held at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina. Her debut novel, Déjà Dead, brought her fame when it became a New York Times bestseller, a #1 international bestseller, and winner of the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Flash and Bones is her fourteenth Temperance Brennan novel. Visit KathyReichs.com. –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Review “I love a good mystery and have been fascinated by forensic science long before starting work on the show Bones. So I am a big fan of Kathy’s books. I love the character of Temperance Brennan, her strong spirit and intelligence, and the humor in the book series.”—Emily Deschanel“Reichs imbues this fusion of past and present with her signature blend of forensic know-how and deeply felt characters.”—Publishers Weekly“Reichs knows what her readers like, and she has another hit with Flash and Bones…a compelling read that will appeal to anyone who likes reading forensic thrillers.”—Associated Press“Welcome to Bones 101…writing novels seems to be embedded in [Reichs’] family’s DNA. “—USA Today“A fine entry in a consistently solid series.”—Booklist“Reichs has crafted a novel likely to appeal to NASCAR lovers as well as thriller aficionados.”—Charlotte Observer –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. LOOKING BACK, I THINK OF IT AS RACE WEEK IN THE RAIN. Thunderboomers almost every day. Sure, it was spring. But these storms were over the top. In the end, Summer saved my life. I know. Sounds bizarre. This is what happened. Bloated, dark clouds hung low to the ground, but so far no rain. Lucky break. I’d spent the morning digging up a corpse. Sound macabre? Just part of the job. I’m a forensic anthropologist. I recover and analyze the dead that present in less than pristine condition—the burned, mummified, mutilated, dismembered, decomposed, and skeletal. OK. Today’s target wasn’t actually a corpse. I’d been searching for overlooked body parts. Short version. Last fall a housewife vanished from her Cabarrus County home in rural North Carolina. A week ago, while I was away on a working vacation in Hawaii, a trucker admitted to strangling the woman and burying her body in a sandpit. Impatient, the local cops had sallied forth with shovels and buckets. They delivered the bones in a Mott’s applesauce carton to my employer, the Medical Examiner’s Office, in neighboring Mecklenburg County. Yesterday, my aloha tan still glowing, I’d begun my analysis. A skeletal inventory revealed that the hyoid, the mandible, and all of the upper incisors and canines were missing. No teeth, no dental ID. No hyoid, no evidence of strangulation. Dr. Tim Larabee, the Mecklenburg County medical examiner, asked me to have a second go at the sandpit. Correcting screwups usually makes me cranky. Today I was feeling upbeat. I’d quickly found the missing bits and dispatched them to the MCME facility in Charlotte. I was en route to a shower, a late lunch, and time with my cat. It was 1:50 p.m. My sweat-soaked tee was pasted to my back. My hair was yanked into a ratty knot. Sand lined my scalp and undies. Nevertheless, I was humming. Al Yankovic, “White & Nerdy.” What can I say? I’d watched a YouTube video and the tune lodged in my head. Wind buffeted my Mazda as I merged onto southbound I-85. Slightly uneasy, I glanced at the sky, then thumbed on NPR. Terry Gross was finishing an interview with W. S. Merwin, the U.S. poet laureate. Both were indifferent to the conditions outside my car. Fair enough. The show was produced in Philadelphia, five hundred miles north of Dixie. Terry launched into a teaser about an upcoming guest. I never caught the name. Beep! Beep! Beep! The National Weather Service has issued a severe-weather warning for parts of the North Carolina piedmont, including Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Anson, Stanly, and Union counties. Severe thunderstorms are expected to move through the area within the next hour. Rainfall of one to three inches is anticipated, creating the potential for flash flooding. Atmospheric conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes. Stay tuned to this station for further updates. Beep! Beep! Beep! I tightened my grip on the wheel and goosed my speed to seventy-five. Risky in a sixty-five-mile-an-hour zone, but I wanted to reach home before the deluge. Moments later Terry was interrupted again, this time by a muted whoop-whoop. My eyes flicked to the radio. Whoop! Feeling stupid, I checked the rearview mirror. A police cruiser was riding my bumper. Annoyed, I pulled to the shoulder and lowered my window. When the cop approached, I held out my license. “Dr. Temperance Brennan?” “Looking somewhat worse for wear.” I beamed what I hoped was a winning smile. Johnny Law did not beam back. “That won’t be necessary,” indicating my license. Puzzled, I looked up at the guy. He was mid-twenties, slim, with an infant mustache that appeared to be going nowhere. A badge on his chest said R. Warner. “The Concord Police Department received a request from the Mecklenburg County medical examiner to intercept and divert you.” “Larabee sent the cops to find me?” “Yes, ma’am. When I arrived at the recovery site, you’d left.” “Why didn’t he call me directly?” “Apparently he couldn’t get through.” Of course not. While digging, I’d locked my iPhone in the car to protect it from sand. “My phone is in the glove compartment.” No need to alarm Officer Warner. “I’m going to take it out.” “Yes, ma’am.” The numbers on the little screen indicated three missed calls from Larabee. Three messages. I listened to the first: “Long story, which I’ll share when you’re back. The Concord PD received a report of a body at the Morehead Road landfill. Chapel Hill wants us to handle it. I’m elbow-deep in an autopsy. Since you’re in the area, I hoped you could swing by to check it out. Joe Hawkins is diverting that way with the van, just in case they’ve actually got something for us.” The second message was the same as the first. Ditto the third, but more terse. It ended with the inducement: You’re a champ, Tempe. A landfill in a storm? The champ was suddenly not so chipper. “Ma’am, we should hurry. The rain won’t hold off much longer.” “Lead on.” I could not have said this with less enthusiasm. Warner returned to his cruiser, whoop-whooped, then pulled into traffic. Inwardly cursing Larabee, Warner, and the landfill, I palm-slapped the gearshift and followed. Traffic on I-85 was unusually heavy for Thursday, midafter-noon. As we approached Concord, I could see that the Bruton Smith Boulevard exit ramp was a parking lot. And realized what a nightmare this little detour of Larabee’s would be. The Morehead Road landfill is back-fence neighbor to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a major stop on the NASCAR circuit. Races would be held there this weekend and next. Local print and broadcast coverage was extensive. Even I knew that tomorrow’s qualifying would determine which lucky drivers made the cut for Saturday’s All-Star Race. Two hundred thousand avid fans would pour into Charlotte for Race Week. Looking at the sea of SUVs, campers, pickups, and sedans, I guessed that many had already hit town. Warner rode the shoulder. I followed, ignoring the hostile glares of those cemented in the logjam. Lights flashing, we snaked through the bedlam on Bruton Smith Boulevard, past the dragway, the dirt track, and a zillion fast-food joints. On the sidelines, the tattooed and tank-topped carried babies, six-packs, coolers, and radios. Vendors sold souvenirs from folding tables beneath improvised tents. Warner looped the surrealistic geometry of the Speedway itself, made several turns, then rolled to a stop outside a small structure whose siding might once have been blue. Beyond the building loomed a series of mounds resembling a Martian mountain range. A man emerged and issued Warner a yellow hard hat and a neon orange vest. As they talked, the man pointed at a gravel road rising sharply uphill. Warner waited while I received my safety gear, then we proceeded up the slope. Trucks rumbled in both directions, engines churning hard going in, humming going out. When the road leveled, I could see three men standing by an enormous Dumpster. Two wore coveralls. The third wore black pants and a long-sleeved black shirt over a white tee. Joe Hawkins, longtime death investigator for the MCME. All three featured gear identical to that lying on my passenger seat. Warner nosed up to the Dumpster and parked. I pulled in beside him. The men watched as I got out and donned my hard hat and vest. Fetching. A perfect complement to my current state of hygiene. “We gotta quit meeting like this.” Joe and I had parted at the sandpit barely an hour earlier. The older man stuck out a hand. “Weaver Molene.” He was flushed and sweating and filled his coveralls way beyond their intended capacity. “Temperance Brennan.” I’d have skipped the handshake, given the black moons under Molene’s nails, but didn’t want to be rude. “You the coroner?” he asked. “I work for the medical examiner,” I said. Molene introduced the younger man as Barcelona Jackson. Jackson was very thin and very black. And very, very nervous. “Jackson and I work for the company that manages the landfill.” “Impressive pile of trash,” I said. “Site’s got a capacity of over two and a half million cubic meters.” Molene ran a dingy hankie across his face. “Friggin’ weird Jackson stumbled onto the one square foot holding a stiff. Or maybe not. Probably dozens out there.” Jackson had mostly kept his eyes down. At Molene’s words, he raised and then quickly dropped them back to his boots. “Tell me what you found, sir.” Though I spoke to Jackson, Molene answered. “Probably best we show you. And quick.” He pocket-jammed the hankie. “This storm’s coming fast.” Molene set off at a pace I would have thought impossible for a man of his bulk. Jackson scampered after. I fell into line, paying attention as best I could to the uneven footing. Warner and Hawkins brought up the rear. I’ve excavated in landfills, am familiar with the aroma of eau de dump, a delicate blend of methane and carbon dioxide with traces of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, hydrogen chloride, and carbon monoxide added for spice. I braced for the stench. Didn’t happen. Good odor management, guys. Or maybe it was Mother Nature. Wind swirled dirt into little cyclones and tumbled cellophane wrappers, plastic bags, and torn paper across the landscape. Our course took us the length of the active landfill, down a slope, then around a series of what appeared to be closed areas. Instead of raw earth, the tops of the older mounds were covered with grass. As we walked, the rumble of trucks r… –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ The last few books by Kathy Reichs have been shadows of the books that she used to write, before “Bones” took over her attention. However, this one took steps back toward the Tempe Brennan I know and love.A body is found near the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which has something to do with NASCAR, or so I’m told. There are teens missing from years before, a gang, and a host of other things going on.This Tempe seems to be much more solid as a person this time. She isn’t allowing her self-worth to be defined by a man. I also applaud the use of less characters. This allowed for more time for Tempe to take center stage.My only issue is that Tempe always ends up in danger at the end of each book and has to be rescued. After awhile, you would think that the police would insert a tracking device under her skin, because they know if she is working on a case, she will end up kidnapped.

⭐ As usual this is an outstanding book by Kathy Reichs. It is fabulous to be able to read the book and follow the characters by using the dictionary, Wikipedia program and translation features on a Kindle. Ms. Reichs does more than produce a great read she educates as she goes along when one uses the aforementioned features. I always learn something new. I have a granddaughter who is starting to write novels and I suggested to her to follow the profile used by Ms. Reichs if she wants to be successful. I find each book hard to put down. I own many books but today I buy all the ones I can in a Kindle edition. I have over two hundred books available to me at any time on my cell phone with my Kindle app.

⭐ Oh, how I’ve missed Temperance Brennan! Though usually a serious lack of Andrew Ryan bothers me, it didn’t seem as upsetting in this novel. Perhaps because Kathy Reichs has returned to basics, a solid case with plenty of suspects, and lots of unanswered questions.I have absolutely no interest in racing but as usual, Ms. Reichs kept me completely engaged with the subject and taught me a few things as well. She balanced the racing with racism -an entire fringe racist group that may or may not have been involved in the death of the recently discovered victim, or the cold case disappearances. Oddly, I didn’t find myself pushing to solve the case but found myself enjoying the discoveries as they came. Though I did figure out the culprit before Tempe and Slidell, it was only by a few chapters.As I mentioned at the beginning of my review, the only thing absent was any forward momentum in Tempe’s love life -though some doors may be closing and some windows may be opening. Right now, Tempe doesn’t really have time for romance, but I hope she’ll make time for it. Obviously, I’m rooting for Andrew Ryan -I always have and I always will. And here I go, referencing Tempe as a real person not a character, but Kathy Reichs writes her so well, Temperance Brennan feels like an old friend to me.I was really looking forward to a solid forensic mystery and Flash and Bones didn’t disappoint. Kathy Reichs seldom does. Julie and I both highly recommend this series… or if you’re looking for something a little lighter, try Kathy Reichs’ new paranormal YA series.[…]

⭐ Will the real Temperance Brennan please stand up? This character made her first appearance in Deja Dead. Several very good books followed. Then came the TV series Bones which is also written by Kathy Reichs and features Dr. Brennan as Bones. The book character is nothing like the TV character. They should not even share the same name they are so dissimilar. It seems to me that the quality of the books has declined steadily since the TV series began. Flash And Bones was the worst in this series to date. A flimsy plot that turned out to be of no import and several unlikable characters combined to bring this book down. Reichs has a very annoying habit of stating the points of the case over and over on a regular basis, as if she can’t keep the story line straight in her mind or she thinks the reader is too stupid to follow along without constant reminders. The book form of Temperance Brennan has evolved into a character similar to Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta. If you are a fan of the Scarpetta stories and auto racing, this book is for you. Not my cup of tea.

⭐ This is a change of pace for the author. It can be read as a stand alone book, although it uses characters from previous novels. The crimes take place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and there is a lot of NASCAR (and NASCAR history) sprinkled through the novel, so it does double duty for NASCAR fans and mystery fans. You will enjoy it more if you forget about the author’s previous novels and pretend that it was written by Jane Doe, i.e., read and review it as a stand alone novel (which is how novels should be reviewed in any case).A body is found, encased in a barrel of asphalt, in a landfill next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. That sets off a chain of events as an investigation tries to identify the victim, and several possibilities are considered. The investigation reopens a can of worms about a past disappearance, about the past investigation, and about people’s motives. FBI special agents are involved, along with the local police. The characters range from NASCAR crews, to forensic investigators, to skinheads. There is also Temperance Brennan’s cat, or one should say a cat willing to share her house (cat’s can be finicky about who they agree to live with).You will learn a lot about NASCAR, a bit about natural poisons, and read through the whodunit trying to guess the killer. It is a well researched and well written departure from the author’s previous novels.

⭐ — or even her tenth best. In her Temperance Brennan series, Kathy Reichs has been providing good, reliable forensic thrillers for a long time now. That’s what her readers want, and it is certainly reassuring to move into Tempe’s world for a while: we know the characters, we know the likely dangers, and we know that it will all be resolved in the end. But sometimes the formula doesn’t work all that well, and this, for me, was one of those times. Maybe it was the setting in the world of NASCAR racing, maybe it’s the fact that I like her Montreal novels better, or maybe it’s the somewhat nervous-making love (or lust) interest, or maybe it’s the fact that Reich’s writerly mannerisms seem to be getting more marked. I certainly won’t stop reading this series, but I do hope the next one is more engrossing.

⭐ Interesting. I have little interest in NASCAR but found the info regarding it’s history entertaining and informative. I look forward to reading all her books. Also interest in the adolescent literature because one of my granddaughters, age 7, watches Bones on TV. It is the one adult show her folks let her watch. She is a voracious reader. Can’t wait to tell her about Tempe’s niece. Keep up the good work, Kathy!

⭐ I love KR books – even the Virals series. I was a bit nervous to purchase this book as I am not a fan of NASCAR at all. That being said I did make the purchase and finished the book. The NASCAR references are only to set the scene so it was not a distraction. KR introduces some very unlikeable characters in this book and I missed a lot of the forensic work she normally does. In this book Tempe acted more like a homicide detective than a forensic anthropologist. This book seemed a bit forced… I really hope she is not falling into the same downward spiral that PC fell into – I cannot even read her books anymore.Overall the book was OK and I would recommend it to another KR fan – no one is perfect and this book reflects that. We’ll see what the next book gives us before I decide if I’ll read any more of the Tempe series….

⭐Flash and Bones: A Novel (Temperance Brennan) Dr. Temperance Brennan, medical examiner, has the unenviable task of diagnosing sex, age and cause of death of mutilated corpses, research their identities and assist the police and FBI to trace the source of their demise.NASCAR Charlotte figures prominently in the setting, along with fictional race personnel, adding spice to the story.Her quest brings her into contact with a wide range of interesting characters who challenge her analysis of facts and assumptions. The reader is advised to have a notepad to stay on top of the characters and their relationships to each other and the plot, as they come and go from chapter to chapter. The writing style is lively and rapidly paced. Although tropes are extensive, they blend well with the NASCAR culture.D K Elliott; Author, The Canyon Caper

⭐ Classic Reichs. All of the good stuff are here in this book, sans Andrew Ryan & the new love interest Charlie.This novel takes place in her home town of Charlotte and covers one of the more basic Charlottean essentials… NASCAR.Full of adventures with twists and turns, where Tempe finds herself between horrors and her safety is in jeopardy. So typically, it’s just as I would have expected and incorporates all the things that I love about Tempe.It was a little weird with the ex-husband and his wedding preparations. But then, that whole “relationship” that Tempe has with them has been odd from the onset. Personally, I could have lived without it, but I didn’t ding off a star because I was so glad to finally have a Tempe Brennan novel. While I have read the young adult stuff, I feel like it takes time away from what I really like, Tempe Brennan novels.

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