Temperance Brennan is really nothing like “Bones’ except for
the name and the profession. I do like the Temperance in the books better. This
one starts out in Montreal with a death of an antique dealer and she is called
to assist as the face has been damaged by cats. The dealer is a Jew and so
there is a conflict about performing an autopsy. A man approaches Tempe in the
corridor outside the mortuary and gives her a photo of a skeleton that looks
like it is from an archaeological dig.
Does this have something to do with the death of the dealer
as after careful observation it is decided that this is a murder and not a
suicide. Her usual partner from the Montreal detective squad is Ryan. She has
been having an off again on again relationship with him for a while now. Both
of them try to find information about this skeleton photo and about the
circumstance that have led to the dealer’s death. She contacts an archaeologist
friend to discuss the authenticity of the photo with the skeleton. He is very
mysterious and secretive about the information he has discovered.
Meanwhile, Tempe manages to recover the skeleton from an old
friend of the dealer and is asked to transport the remains, which have been
identified as belonging to Israel and have to be repatriated to the ministry of
antiquities. Ryan has been looking for
the man who had given Tempe the photo and discovers that he is involved in
smuggling of antiques and was known to the dead dealer and his widow. But the
man has flown to Israel and Ryan has to go there to question him about the
murder. So both Tempe and Ryan are off to Israel.
The story is interesting with its usual twists of religious
intrigue, archaeological finds and conspiracy theories. Tempe and her
archaeologist friend are threatened and injured by a group of people who do not
like the disturbance of old graves and tombs. The skeleton Tempe has brought
gets stolen and the official at the antiquities is not pleased. The plot
thickens when the man they had come to question tells them he was hired to kill
the dealer. So who hired him? Who is interested in trading that skeleton?
So what is the real story of the skeleton in the photo? There
is another skeleton with a shroud found in the caves where the archaeologist
had taken Tempe. Do this cave and its inhabitants have any link to the skeleton
that was lost? How will they decide what is the truth and who is behind the
murder and threats?
Interesting plot and a complicated conspiracy theory.
However, I am not a fan of this book as the end seems a little flat and dare I
say even a letdown after all the build up?
