Bones to Ashes

By: Kathy Reichs

Narrated by: Linda Emond

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

When the skeleton of a young girl, not yet a teenager, is discovered in Acadia, Canada, Tempe Brennan is reminded of Evangelina, her best friend in her preteen years, who was mysteriously taken away when she was 12. Evangelina was from strange and faraway Acadia. She was named after Evangeline in the Longfellow poem, and loved poetry. Tempe found her exotic and glamorous, and then, suddenly, she was gone, and Tempe was told not to try to find her, that she was "dangerous".

Though Tempe tries to be rational, she is flooded by memories of her best friend, and wonders whether this skeleton, clearly of a girl who's been dead for decades, could possibly be Evangelina's. At the same time, Tempe's love interest, Ryan, is investigating the deaths of two young girls and the disappearance of another three. Are the cases related? Tempe uses the most recent advances in forensic linguistics to identify the old skeleton, while Ryan investigates the possibility of some kind of serial predator at work now.

Flesh and bone: investigate more of Tempe Brennan's forensic cases.

©2007 Temperance Brennan, LP (P)2007 Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"With her usual blend of cutting-edge forensic science, nail-biting suspense and characters that pop off the page, Reichs, who's vice president of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists and the producer of Fox's Bones, has produced another winner in one of the genre's most satisfying series." ( Publishers Weekly)

Best at the end

Usual fare....but it finally gets good at the end. Fabulous narrative by the reader..that's the REAL plus.

Great

Sent me back to Audible to get more of her books. Great story, got an education and good charaters. Good reader too.

Good story, but got lost with French nomenclature

The story was good, but it was hard to follow at times when some of the words where spoken in French or with heavy French accents.

Average All Around

This book has an average plot with shallow character development. Another downside is the heavy reliance on the French language which is then translated to English. Those who enjoy the scientific exploration of various forensics fields will love the technical aspects of the story; those who dont, will be extremely bored. Having lived in the Miramichi area; I found the Acadian stereotyping a bit ridiculous. In short, large chunks of this book shouldve been edited to make a tighter more suspenseful story line, the plot drags and the overall narrative is only mildly entertaining.

Bones to Ashes

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I was very disappointed in this book. I have read Fatal Voyage and enjoyed it so much, so was anxious to read Bones to Ashes. The setting was Canada and there was too much
French in the reading which was very hard to understand.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was expected.

How could the performance have been better?

The reader was very hard to understand.

Do you think Bones to Ashes needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I wouldn't read a follow up book

Any additional comments?

Very disappointed. Doubt if I will read any more of her books.

Good book

This was my second book by this author and it was very enjoyable. The reader is excellent. Worth a listen!

Tired of tempi getting hit in head

In all her stories she gets hit in head. She should be dead by now. Needs to stay in morgue.

Good book, great narration!

What did you love best about Bones to Ashes?

The narration. Linda Emond's voice is clear and solid, and she acts out the drama of the novel without being, well, overly dramatic - very fitting, I believe, for the character of Temperance Brennan. Though i'm not an expert on French accents, the ones she did sounded pretty good to me!

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Compared to other Kathy Reichs books I've read, this one took a while to get going. There was a lot of exposition in the first third of the book - Tempe in her lab/office, looking at bodies, explaining things - and it was difficult to keep the different skeletons straight. Once she began getting out of the office, though, and doing some investigating, the story picked up considerably, and all the pieces were fit together.

What does Linda Emond bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

As mentioned above, I believe Linda really captures Temperance as the narrator of the story. Her tone is even but not droning, intelligent, assured but still inquisitive. She really brings a depth to the reading that I don't think I would have experienced just from reading the book myself.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Once it got going after the first third or so...yes!

Addicted to these books!

They keep getting better and better like another reviewer said. I do enjoy certain narrators better than others, Linda Emond did a great job with inflection and character differences. Great book.

A good Reichs book!

Kathy Reichs wrote a good one following a few average ones previously in the series.