Review of A Conspiracy of Bones (Temperance Brennan #19) by Kathy Reichs

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a new riveting novel featuring her vastly popular character forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who must use all her tradecraft to discover the identity of a faceless corpse, its connection to a decade-old missing child case, and why the dead man had her cell phone number.

It’s sweltering in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance Brennan, still recovering from neurosurgery following an aneurysm, is battling nightmares, migraines, and what she thinks might be hallucinations when she receives a series of mysterious text messages, each containing a new picture of a corpse that is missing its face and hands. Immediately, she’s anxious to know who the dead man is, and why the images were sent to her.

An identified corpse soon turns up, only partly answering her questions.

To win answers to the others, including the man’s identity, she must go rogue, working mostly outside the system. That’s because Tempe’s new boss holds a fierce grudge against her and is determined to keep her out of the case. Tempe bulls forward anyway, even as she begins questioning her instincts. But the clues she discovers are disturbing and confusing. Was the faceless man a spy? A trafficker? A target for assassination by the government? And why was he carrying the name of a child missing for almost a decade?

With help from a number of law enforcement associates including her Montreal beau Andrew Ryan and the always-ready-with-a-smart-quip, ex-homicide investigator Skinny Slidell, and utilizing new cutting-edge forensic methods, Tempe draws closer to the astonishing truth.

But the more she uncovers, the darker and more twisted the picture becomes...

My Review:
5 Stars

Temperance has always been like an everyday superhero. Seeing what nobody else saw and solving crimes with the best of them. In this book she takes on a more human quality. She's still her badass self, but with the real quality of recovering from a serious medical ailment. 

Even brain surgery can't keep Tempe down. Delving into a mystery that her boss seems content to keep her out of, she takes the law into her hands, consequences be damned. 

An enthralling and snarky story. Combining intrigue, murder and witty banter. It may be the 19th in the series, but it still packs quite the punch.