Cold, Cold Bones is the 21st book in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs.

"Tempe and her daughter, Katy are having dinner when Tempe gets a package delivered to her house. It's happens to be an eyeball with some GPS coordinates etched on the side. Those coordinates link to a monastery where there's another gruesome discovery. Soon Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park and she becomes anxious. All of these cases are similar to many of her previous cases. Are they linked? Is the killer sending her a message? What could it be?
Then the situation escalates because a child is abducted."

This is one of the better Brennan stories. Things move quickly and there's just enough science and forensics to hold your interest without veering into over-explaining. And it's set in Charlotte - here in the Carolinas.
There are plenty of clues to guess the bad guy but you won't guess the why or the ending.

Good picks for fans of a strong, female lead. If you've only watched the show without reading any of the series this is an excellent book to start with.
Great addition to the series.

Cold weather and cold cases for Temperance Brennan in this, book #21. Tempe is helping her daughter, Katy, move into her new home after leaving the Army after two tours in Afghanistan. As they are finishing up with boxes and such, a sinister box is found on Tempe's doorstep....contents one human eyeball skewered to the box by a pin. Tempe was going to leave it in situ but her cat, Birdie, decided it was worth investigating and that led to something even creepier than the eyeball itself. Katy discovers that there is micro writing on the eyeball and they are GPS coordinates that lead to an outhouse and a head in a plastic shopping bag. Thus begins a twisted mystery of revenge, cold cases and plenty of edge of your seat suspense.
I have read and enjoyed all twenty-one books in the series, some more than others, but not one has ever disappointed me. Tempe is a force to be reckoned with and it's always a pleasure to spend time with her on a new case. Add her boyfriend Ryan (in Canada) and retired detective Erskine "Skinny" Slidell to the team and the puzzle will be solved. I enjoyed it start to finish.
My thanks to the publisher Scribner and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The best Bones book in ages! Reichs returns with a terrifying new tale, that's got plenty for dedicated series lovers and new readers alike!
Temperance Brennan is enjoying some down time with her daughter, Katie; fresh out of the military and getting resettled in the Charlotte area. A human eyeball with GPS coordinates etched inside it, left on Tempe's doorstep is about to change all that. Soon other body parts with connections to Dr. Brennan's past cases start showing up with terrifying frequency, and then Katie disappears. Tempe knows someone is trying to get her attention, and they have it now.
Eeek! See, how great does that sound? This book is so cinematic and tension filled, you absolutely cannot stop reading until the conclusion. I did figure out the killer, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of this thrilling, chilling story. Kathy Reichs is still at the top of her game, and Cold, Cold Bones is her best book in years! 4.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the chance to review this advance copy.

Just when life and work have started to settle down for Tempe Brennan, someone leaves a mysterious package on her porch. Inside, she finds a human eye inscribed with coordinates for a body. This leads to several more cases, all of which start to resemble homicides Tempe worked on when she was younger. She begins to suspect a killer may be targeting not just her but also her loved ones.

Cold, Cold Bones is the 21st installment in the Temperance Brennan series. I would not consider this a stand-alone novel. While the cases are individual to each book, there is a lot of subtext and background information on the characters that may be difficult to understand if you have not read other books in the series. If you are looking for a solid thriller/mystery series with great character development, this series is excellent. I’ve read almost every book in the series so I had no issues with the side plots that revolved more around the main character than the case.

Tempe is such a multi-faceted character. Her maternal side really showed throughout the storyline and it’s nice to see part of her that isn’t all “science”. Andrew Ryan is shown as his typical self, loyal to Tempe but also his job.

I do think this one started off a little slow. There’s a lot of excitement in the beginning with the discovery of the eyeball. The plot kind of chugs along until about the halfway point when it picks up again.

I really look forward to seeing where the author takes the series next. I plan to go back and read the few books in the series that I missed.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner!

Bones is back again and when a body part is shipped straight to her door, Tempe gets taken down a rabbit hole of past cases that are being recreated at a surprisingly increasing pace. Can Tempe figure out who the killer is before more of her old cases cause innocent lives to be lost? Will she be able to find her daughter Kate before it is too late?
This book is very slow paced at the beginning. Luckily around the halfway point the cases start to pick up and more pieces start to fall into place. This is a great read if you are a fan of this series. The end ties everything together quite nicely and the killer is one that most readers would not be expecting. Such a great summer read if you enjoy this series.

What's it about (in a nutshell):
Cold Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs is the latest case that Temperance Brennan must solve with the help of her colleagues in law enforcement. A human eyeball is sent to Tempe's home, which starts this fast-paced thrill ride of what looks like copycat killings from her previous cases. Who is trying to get her attention and why?

Initial Expectations (before beginning the book):
I love the cover. It's like you are looking through an ice-coated window. The "O" in the second "cold" is red while all the other letters are black, and a woman is walking towards it. I can't even begin to speculate as to why a red "O," but the cover is mysterious and very cold looking. The blurb clarifies the cold imagery by explaining that the book is set in the winter. It talks about a story based on revenge, which, as we know, is a dish best served cold.

Actual Reading Experience:
The story is in first-person narration from Tempe's point of view. She is sarcastic and snarky, so her thoughts are always fun to know. I am delighted this narration approach is utilized. It also helps keep the pace quick, as Tempe never slows down.

The mystery is okay. There are no jaw-dropping twists or turns, but it is a solid mystery with just the correct number of clues versus red herrings. The thrills are consistently intense as the body count starts stacking up and a child goes missing. The suspense never lets up from the time the eyeball in the box is opened until the conclusion.

I enjoyed the setting. Making this all happen during a blizzard was both a good aspect and a bad aspect for me. It added to the intensity and urgency, but it was also tough to believe since I live right outside of Charlotte, NC. I've lived here for close to 20 years, and the most snow we've ever gotten in that time is between 4 and 6 inches, though they do have records of close to a foot of snow a few winters before I moved here. If it had been set in a nasty ice storm, that would have been more believable and equally as intense because the ice storms here wipe out power for many days and make all surfaces very slick.

Lastly, I enjoyed Katy's story. Katy is Tempe's daughter and has recently decided to leave the armed forces after serving numerous tours in Afghanistan. She potentially has PTSD and must figure out what to do with the rest of her life. I felt that depicting a recently honorably discharged soldier was very authentic, and the possible mental health issues were handled respectfully and empathetically.

Characters:
The characters are interesting, with intriguing back stories and distinct personalities. Sometimes they are borderline stereotypical, but I was okay with that. This is the 21st installment of the series, so I would expect many layers and facets for even the support characters.

To Read or Not to Read:
If you love a high level of suspense and thrills mixed with a good solid mystery, you should pick up this installment of Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan series, which can be read as a standalone.

Cold, Cold Bones is the 21st book in the Temperance Brennan series. If you've watched the television show, but never read any of the books, you will soon see that the literary Temperance Brennan is very different from the TV version. Both are highly intelligent forensic anthropologists, but their personal lives and their personalities are very different. I prefer the funny, personable book version of Tempe over her television counterpart. Also Reich's writing style is enjoyable to read and many of the chapters end on mini-cliffhangers.

The book takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina and Tempe has her work cut out for her. She begins seeing a disturbing pattern in the cases assigned to her and the investigation hits very close to home. I like the book but was surprised Tempe didn't follow her instincts on a couple of major things in the story. The last couple of chapters of the book are tense and dramatic before things are wrapped up at the end. Cold, Cold Bones is another well-written book by Kathy Reichs.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Scribner. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

I have read all of the books in the series, and have largely enjoyed them. The exception was the last book, which I thought was terrible. I am happy to report that Cold, Cold Bones is an improvement from the last novel.

Tempe gets pulled into a bizarre series of cases when an eyeball is delivered to her doorstep. Following her gut, she discovers that there is information etched into the eyeball, which then leads her to the next clue and the next case. In the backdrop, Ryan is largely absent, now working out of the country as a private investigator. Her daughter is back, however we don’t get to see very much of her. In fact, her absence plays a much larger part of the story than her presence. Her side story turns out to be very disappointing and a disservice to the issue that it presents.

Reich has laid out several cases with very specific details and slowly paints a path between them that gradually narrows the field of suspects. The story is interesting, and you definitely keep reading because you want to know what happens next. All of this is standard for a Temperance Brennan book.

However, there are two issues that make the book much less enjoyable. The first is that despite 20 years of experience, Tempe still makes the same stupid mistakes over and over again. She rushes into situations that are dangerous, without any kind of back up, and inevitably winds up getting hurt and usually further delaying the solving of the case. You can forgive this when you have a new amateur detective who is sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong. But at this point, it is lazy writing, and it is very irritating to see a character who is intelligent and experienced making the same mistakes year after year and book after book.

The second issue that pulls down the book, is a combination of the bad guy being unbelievably clever and having incredible foresight which they use to create a years-long crime spree that they then meticulously unfold for our protagonist. This is further complicated by the fact that this character does not seem to have nearly enough of a motive to want to commit these murders and torture Tempe with them. I knew early on who was going to be the killer, but I never got the believable backstory that made me feel it was in any way, shape, or form believable.

I continue to read this series because I have been reading it for so many years, I like the original characters, and I keep hoping that the writing will go back to the level that the series started with. For that to happen, we really, truly, need to see some character growth in Tempe. She has to stop being stupid. We, as loyal readers, deserve to be treated like we are intelligent, that we will just swallow whatever Reichs writes because we like the series.

In a North Carolina winter, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is enjoying the return of her daughter Katy. While Katy seems to be having trouble adjusting to civilian life, Tempe gets caught up in a case when an eyeball lands on her doorstep. Soon, Tempe realizes that a serial killer is trying to replicate her old cases.

If you've read one Temperance Brennan book, you've basically read them all. Kathy Reichs delivers the same formula as all her other books - Tempe has a case that nags at her, she figures it out but puts herself in a risky position, gets captured, and then is saved at the last moment. Yet, if you've managed to read this far into the series, you know what you are getting into. I will say, Cold, Cold Bones seemed to be a rather forgettable episode in the Temperance Brennan saga.

Dr. Temperance Brennan is enjoying time with her daughter Katy when a human eyeball arrives in a box on her doorstep. The discovered eyeball leads to a series of killings that appear to be reenactments of some of Tempe’s earlier cases. Who could be targeting Tempe? What is their motive and is Tempe their end game? Meanwhile, Tempe is trying to deal with her daughter’s return to civilian life. Katy shows signs of PTSD and her behavior is rather unpredictable.

Kathy Reichs did a fantastic job with this installment in the Temperance Brennan series! The suspense of how the next killing was going to be related kept me reading. I haven’t read the last few installments in this series and this book made me want to go back and do that. I fell in love with the series all over again with the twists and turns in this book. I give it a dazzling 4.5 stars. I can’t wait to read more books in the series!

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this series. The humor provides the necessary relief to the gruesome details. My knock down to four instead of five stars is due to the repetition of those details. A clever mystery that surprised me at the end.

Cold, Cold Bones follows our favorite forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan, through one of the most twisting tales of murder and revenge, which Brennan has to balance while helping her daughter return to civilian life, regular lab work, and casually discovering an eyeball etched with GPS coordinates on her doorstep. The coordinates lead Brennan and her detective partner Skinny to more of the body and deeper into the story. As the body count builds, so does Tempe's confusion. Each death seems to mimic a previous case that she has worked but the only pattern is that there is no pattern. Who could be behind this random spate of grisly murders?

Reichs expert use of science, prose, and character building will pull you right into Brennan's story. You don't have to be a long-time reader of the Bones series to follow the story, but I think you'll enjoy it more if you have a familiarity with her past. Brennan may be a forensics expert, but Reichs makes her and the science extremely approachable, explaining terms that might be difficult, describing procedures that technical people may not be familiar with. I always come away from Bones feeling both entertained and a little smarter. This is a great addition to the Bones series. Don't miss it!

Thanks to the author, Kathy Reichs, the publisher Scribner and to #NetGalley for a complimentary copy in exchange for my review.

I absolutely LOVE the show Bones so I was beyond excited to not only discover this series, but be gifted a review copy. Since I love Bones so much, I expected to love this as well. Although I wouldn’t say I loved it, I still enjoyed it & thought it was an interesting read even though I figured out the bad guy pretty early on.

It seemed like the only comparison to the show was that it’s based on a forensic anthropologist named Temperance Brennan. Besides that, there’s not many similarities.

I love returning to Temperance Brennan. I always enjoy the stories presented by Kathy Reichs. Dealing with both an eyeball turning up in her doorstep and her daughter’s PTSD this kept me interested.

From the opening sentence to the conclusion, Reichs’ latest Temperance Brennan novel keeps tension high and pages turning. As always, the technical forensic detail is impeccable, the writing tight and mystery twisting. I enjoyed the re-introduction of Katy, Tempe’s daughter, now out of the army and dealing with issues of her own. Enough backstory is woven into the narrative that this can be read as a stand alone. While I guessed the killer’s identity partway through, I had to keep reading (much too late) just to be sure. Recommended.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

A very good mystery. An eyeball shows up in a package on Tempe's doorstep and then she starts piecing together some old cases that match some new cases. Is someone after her? Who is it and why are they doing this now? Tempe's daughter has just moved into her own place, and she suddenly disappears. Tempe is concerned and thinks Katy might have PTSD. Katy is a grown woman and can come and go as she pleases, but with everything going on, Tempe is very worried. Tempe, Ryan and Slidell race to find the person behind the crimes before there are any more deaths. The killer seems to be trying to get Tempe's attention. He/she has it now.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I am rating this book based the stars due to lack of time to leave a full review.

An eyeball? An eyeball in a box delivered to Tempe sets off a tour through her history as a forensic anthropologist as someone, someone very evil, commits copycat murders just like those she's solved in the past. Luckily she's still got Skinny Slidell at her side, especially things escalate. At the same time, her daughter Katie is struggling with PTSD after her tours in the Army and then she seems to disappear. Know that this just seemed more graphic and gruesome to me than the earlier novels, although that might be because the methods of murder were varied. I always enjoy the back and forth between Tempe and Skinny. This is set mostly in North Carolina so Tempe's love interest Andrew, who is based in Montreal, doesn't appear as often as I would have liked. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I think it helps to have read at least of a few of the books in this very long running series but if you haven't you'll still find this to be an entertaining page turner for fans of the genre.

I really liked this. It was quick moving and exciting, and I really enjoyed the references to previous books, at least at first. There was also one twist that caught me completely off guard.
*
I thought the side stories were also well done, addressing issues with veteran mental health and homelessness.
*
My biggest issue is that this ultimately requires knowledge, and memory, of previous books. I actually read about 13 of the series in the past few months to catch up to this one, and I didn't remember a key case. It left me a bit confused about the ultimate motivation for the murders.
*
If you skipped previous books, or read them years ago, there's a really good chance this won't make sense. I really did enjoy this, but fair warning!

I loved the leading lady’s character. She has the smarts and the talent needed to help crack the case that her team is pursuing. I also like the relationship that she’s trying to maintain with her daughter. The suspense of the seas good.I also like that the book is a page turner. The graphic details of specific scenes were intense and awesome. They added a good visual to my imagination.