THE BONE HACKER

4 stars out of 5

Reading the latest Temperance Brennan novel is sort of like catching up with an old friend - which, in many respects, she is; I've lost count of how many I've read over the years, but it's close to all 21 of the others (and that doesn't count watching all the "Bones" TV shows). This one, I admit, didn't grab me as much - mostly, I think, because Tempe's main squeeze, former cop Andrew Ryan, doesn't appear as often as I'd have liked.

While doing her forensic anthropologist thing on some infant bones, Tempe gets called to the islands of Turks and Caicos to bring some illumination to a dead man believed to have been struck by lightning while standing on a bridge. Tempe is eager to get back home to Ryan and her cat, but other victims keep turning up under strange circumstances - like on a high-tech boat that inexplicably lost its way - that require her particular expertise so she grudgingly hangs around.

Clues turn up, including a potential weapon that may be connected to a local Jewish community, but when disaster strikes a couple of folks with ties to law enforcement, the investigations take on a whole new dimension. All in all, it's an intriguing, though complex, plot that kept me entertained throughout. Once again, I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to learn what my old friend's been up to by way of a pre-release copy. 

The Bone Hacker by Kathy Reichs (Scribner, August 2023); 336 pp.