“Bones are Forever” by Kathy Reichs – Peaceful Canada

Andrew Ryan is a homicide detective working in Montreal, going through his routine one day at a time. The plot quickly thickens as Ryan is sent to investigate the case of a woman whose nightly visit and sudden disappearance at a Montreal hospital raised some concerns.

Upon following some obvious leads, Ryan makes is way to the woman’s apartment, only to discover two things: that she is known by at least three different, and she has the decomposing bodies of three infants.


Shaken by this ghastly discovery, Ryan must work with his counterpart from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Ollie Hasty, and the one crush of his life, Temperance Brennan, racing across Canada all the way into remote diamond-mining territories in search for the horrific answers to the disturbing questions their digging has raised.

Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs certainly takes a turn for the macabre very quickly, and from there on out it seems as if the author prides herself in being able to instill an unnatural fear and discomfort in the reader. The settings feel desolate, grimy and unforgiving, making you forget about the fact that this specific case is only the tip of the iceberg as far as crime is concerned.

The sheer brutality and shock value of the murders will definitely keep you interested; knowing what motivated such seemingly senseless and inhumane acts of violence becomes your number one priority. Though not perfect, I believe that Reichs did a decent job at turning this book into a page-turner, at hooking her audience at the main premise.

There are a couple of issues with this book in my opinion, and the first one is the disjointedness of the investigation. Though perhaps it was meant to simulate the mindset of the main investigators or the perpetrator of the crimes, it does the reader no favors and makes following the course of events confusing at certain times.

Also, it seems that Reichs put a little too much time and effort into educating us about the ever-exciting industry of diamond-making; though some bits and pieces of information were interesting, I’d say they made the book drag on.

If you are the kind of reader who likes to see the development of relationships between the characters, then you will also be a bit disappointed as the bulk of the book is focused on the actual plot.

With all of that being said though, Bones are Forever still manages to accomplish what it sets out to achieve: it provides entertainment, the kind that doesn’t force you overwork your brain.

Yes, it does take a bit of effort here and there to make it through the less desirable sections, but in the end I found that it is well worth it as for a few hours, the book managed to make me forget all about the real world.

I wholeheartedly recommend this to murder mystery fans who just want a read to pass the time.

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Kathy Reichs Personal site Kathy Reichs is forensic anthropologist, academic and crime writer, without forgetting her work as a professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She released a number of novels drawing heavily from her experiences in her field, and those include Cross Bones, Break No Bones, Bones to Ashes, and plenty of other "Bones" books, upon which the television series is loosely based.