The Rendition Experience

I have always enjoyed the Bones series on TV (it is not just the fact that David Boreanaz stars on it, although that is a good contributor to my liking of the series...) so I have been looking forward to starting to read the books that inspired it all.

There are quite a few differences to start with. The character in the book is more believable as we get to hear her thoughts and doubts. Anyhow, this is about the book, not a comparison between television and book.

Temperance Brennan is a Forensic Anthropologist who specializes in determining causes of death by analyzing bones. She's middle aged divorced woman and mother to a teenage girl. She takes a position in Canada in order to take a break from her marriage and ends up staying there. 

The story starts when a mutilated corpse is found inside bin bags. After analyzing the remains, she sees a connection between the current case and one she analyzed before. The connection is faint but her instinct keeps telling her there is a connection. She has to deal with Claudel, a cynic detective who doesn't know the meaning of "being nice", scrutinizing her findings and dismissing her due to the lack of concrete evidence of a connection.

Throughout the rest of the story, she keeps finding these links to a puzzle that the police department doesn't think exists. She keeps investigating for herself, despite the admonition of her colleagues and puts herself in danger as the killer starts seeing her as a threat and targets her.

I have found this book difficult to read at times, as the mind of Dr. Brenan is a maze unlike any. The technical expertise of the author is evident when Brenan starts discussing her work with her old colleagues and a rain of technical jargon is spilled out, leaving me a bit lost. This would make it a bit tiring to read at times but did not affect the story which kept creeping surprise after surprise. The character does put herself in some stupid situations when I thought “Why are you doing that??”, but the state of mind that leads her to these is evident and helps keep it more credible.

Maybe I am a little biased because I do like the series where she is a strong confident woman who has a knack for jiu jitsu. But despite enjoying the book, it made me feel like something was missing.

I grabbed another Kathy Reichs’ one this morning. I have yet to decide whether to read it or not.

V.