Cross Bones

Book: Cross Bones
Author: Kathy Reichs
Read: October 2007
Notes: New York Times Bestseller, Author inspired Fox series "Bones"

Cross Bones follows Temperence Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, from a murder investigation in Quebec to an archaeological site in Jerusalem. After being called to investigate the murder of an Orthodox Jewish man, Temperence is given a mysterious photograph of a skeleton that is supposedly tied to the man's murder.

After some sleuthing, Temperence finds these bones and reports them to the Israeli archaeological authorities. Their intense interest in the bones leads her to look further into their origin and she soon decides to hook up with a friend in Jerusalem where she ends up in the middle of a murder investigation and conspiracy theory.

The cover of this book has a quote from the Sunday Times (London) that states "A Spirited Rival to The Da Vinci Code." Although both deal with conspiracy theories surrounding Jesus' life and death, I found Reichs' book to be very different from the Da Vinci Code.

I think that what made the Da Vinci Code so popular is that it was accessible to so many people. Brown did a fabulous job of explaining the complex to everyday readers. Reichs, however, loses me so often that I many times had to re-read pages to make sure I understood what was being said.

To its credit, this book is number eight in a series involving her protagonist, Temperence Brennan, so I can assume that a lot of the lingo Reichs uses is explained in further detail in her previous novels.

The thing that I found the most unapealing, though, was that Reichs wasn't very convincing in her conspiracy theories. I don't feel she really addressed the doubts that the reader has as to the validity of the story.

For example, the book surmises that the protagonist and her friends have found the tomb that houses Jesus and his family's remains. The only evidence to support this theory is the fact that osuaries (primative coffins) bearing the names of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and others were found along with a shrouded skeleton.

Reichs does admit that Jesus, Mary and Joseph are common names and also address several other arguments against the statement that this is the Jesus family tomb, but she brushes by them and fails to thoroughly discredit any arguments.

The end of the book was very exciting and had me turning the pages quickly, but I have to say that the high use of industry lingo and doubtful (in my opinion) conspiracy theory on which the novel is based do not leave me wanting to read more of Temperence Brennan's adventures.

What are your thoughts? I know a lot of people really liked this book. What was interesting about it to you? Or, do you share my views?