Small creatures—a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel—have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in a bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Ruthie, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. The perp is upping the ante. This find could be human.
Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someone’s pet. As one who has always found animal cruelty abhorrent, Tempe agrees to help apprehend the person responsible, and she acquires an equally outraged ally in semi-retired homicide detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe seeks input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries—and a shift in the perp’s focus to humans.
And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the animal killings. Subsequently, people Tempe cares about begin to go missing until it becomes clear she is being taunted, the target in a sick game that has her and Slidell racing against a ticking clock and facing a terrifying question: “What is pure evil?”
Kathy Reichs’ Evil Bones is a gripping forensic mystery that highlights the author’s mastery of suspense and killer escalation. As the crimes intensify, Reichs carefully builds tension, drawing readers deeper into the dark psychology behind each act. Some readers say Evil Bones works as a standalone novel, but with so many recurring characters in the Temperance Brennan series, that claim is hard to accept. Character history and ongoing relationships clearly matter. Without that background, key emotional moments may lose impact. Still, Reichs’ sharp prose, scientific detail and escalating danger make Evil Bones a compelling crime thriller for mystery lovers.
Overall, I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.
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