REVIEW: MORTAL REMAINS by Kathy Reichs

I have been a fan of Kathy Reich’s series since my friend, Simone gave me a copy of Déjà Vu….since then I have read  and enjoyed every single book in the Temperance Brennan Series but her latest Mortal Remains (also published under the title Spider Bones!!!!!) …did not do it for me!!!!!. It’s almost as if this book was written by someone else….it lacked depth…I just never got totally into the plot…

Why did I find this book disappointing?

*The plot – the story starts in Canada, with  a body floating in a lake which is identified as a Vietnam soldier killed in action over 40years ago. After a lot of confusing “goings on”, Temperance Brennan flies together with her daughter – more about her later – to Hawaii to follow up on the investigation…why Hawaii I have no idea…..maybe add a bit of glamour to the usual snow in Quebec and heat in North Carolina!!!!! The story moves back and forward, from one place to another. Vietnam MIA’s (see I have been influenced by all those Acronyms in this book!!) , mafia!!!!drug lords, gangs, US army, killings in Afghanistan , shark attacks, lots of murders,  an attempt on Temperance’s life – which is left in midair and we never get to find out who or why about it…., and so on…I lost track of who the bodies were…. talk about backtracking!!!!.Sub-plots, I was dizzy trying to keep up with all the characters, who was who, who fitted where. I arrived at a point where I didn’t care what happened to whom!!! I lost the plot halfway through and really struggled to finish the last page.

*The characters – I have grown to like Temperance and to an extent Ryan and always hoped that they would finally sort out all their problems and get together. But geez….where is the sexual tension between the two here????? The time they spend together in this book is so damn boring….all that angst and jealousy…they are almost well-known strangers!!!! Isn’t it about time that they get it together???  T

*All those abbreviations – the story is filled with lots and lots of JFT, CIL, POW, MIA, JPCA and more…and then we have to read the explanation of each ONE!!!!!!  I was so confused about who was what that I gave up trying to remember what each one was…

*Usually I don’t have a problem when the author gives a description of the procedures in the world of forensics but  I gave up after a few chapters and skimmed over the explanations in this book….it just went on and on….and what about the travelogue on Hawaii….each tourist attraction was given a long winded explanation….I now know all about Hawaii….no need for travel books or internet searches!!!!!

*The daughters – two absolute twits – Temperance’s daughter is supposedly depressed after the death of a friend….who she had never been remotely involved with…she spends her time sulking, moaning, moping, looking into space, complaining about her friend’s family cutting her off from attending his funeral, writing on her blog, which becomes an instant hit, and being an absolute brat towards her mother….. Ryan’s daughter – oh yes I forgot to mention this….Temperance had invited Ryan and his daughter to join her in Hawaii….all that the two girls would have a great time together…Right!!!! On with more on his daughter….she’s a bit more interesting with all those short skirts and big shoes…and naturally the two hate each other on sight but by the end of the book…..yes you guessed right…they are the BEST OF FRIENDS….was it necessary to have so much about these two??? It felt as if it was just a bit of page fillers!!

*The writing style – not mad about it!! It’s so different from the previous books…. All those short, choppy sentences…are they really necessary to build tension in the story!!!!!  

This is what I mean… -

A minute passed with no response.

What the hell!

I called Katy’s cell.

Got voice mail.

Terrific. She’d turned off or was ignoring her phone.

Seconds passed. A full minute.

Scrub.

Glasses on.

Scrub.

Repeat.

Despite the difficulty I had finishing this book, I will probably read the next book in this series….I want to know if Temperance and Ryan finally get it together!!!!