Series Name:
Temperance Brennan #22
Review By Kayleigh
The Bone Hacker is a thrilling romp into the mind of a killer in paradise.
Favourite Quote:
The season had been a long time coming. Knowing it wouldn’t tarry long, the populace was embracing it with a gusto lacking in my native North Carolina.
But there’d be no strolling, lemonade sipping, or picnicking for me today. I was heading to an autopsy room to examine dead babies.
Feeling melancholy. On the Fourth of July.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Called in to examine what is left of a person thought to have been struck by lightning, Tempe traces an unusual tattoo to its source and is soon embroiled in a much larger case. Young men—tourists—have been disappearing on the islands of Turks and Caicos. Seven years earlier, the first victim was found in a strange location with his left hand hacked off; subsequently, two other visitors vanished without a trace. But, recently, tantalizing leads have emerged and only Tempe can unravel them.
Maddeningly, the victims seem to have nothing in common—other than the odd places where their bodies turn up, and the fact that none seems likely to have been involved in criminal activity. Do these attacks have something to do with the islands’ seething culture of gang violence? Tempe isn’t so sure. Disturbingly, she discovers evidence that what’s at stake may actually have global significance.
It isn’t long before the sound of a ticking clock grows menacingly loud. Then Tempe herself becomes a target.
I always love returning to Temperance (or Tempe as her friends call her), Brennan’s world. After 22 books, she is a character who I always look forward to seeing what kind of crazy adventures she’ll get into next. The Bone Hacker is an excellent return to Tempe’s world. As always, these books can be read as a standalone – you get enough insight into her world to read this book without reading the others.
In The Bone Hacker, Tempe is settling into her new apartment in Montreal, Canada, with her longtime love, Ryan. The two of them are finally starting to cohabitate after many years. While Tempe splits her time between North Carolina and Montreal, we see her in Montreal in this book. I love seeing a city I adore through her eyes: her neighbourhoods are familiar to me. Watching her navigate the Quebecois system as an American is also always a delight. I love watching her and Ryan together – they seem so settled and strong now, and I relish seeing a slice of their domestic life together up in Canada. Of course, being a Tempe novel, she gets pulled into a suspicious murder that has her travelling to the Turks and Caicos and away from her love.
There’s a lot of murder, mystery and mayhem in Turks and Caicos when Tempe arrives: the bodies pile up quickly. She’s pulled in very unwillingly to a whole nest of issues. There’s a wild cast of characters that span the Turks and Caicos police force, the experts they have to pull in from Miami, plus the expats living on the island who all seem to be keeping secrets. I enjoyed seeing the island and learning a little about the challenges of dealing with big issues on a tourist-facing island with limited resources.
The mystery is engaging in The Bone Hacker, but not very difficult for the reader to solve, in my opinion. Everything wraps up very neatly in the end. Almost too neatly. It didn’t really take away from my enjoyment of the read, though. Even though I was pretty sure I had figured out the who early on, I still didn’t understand the why until Tempe found out.
All in all, The Bone Hacker is an excellent addition to the Temperance Brennan series.
Thank you, Simon and Schuster Canada, for the ARC in return for an honest review.
