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The Bone Code

A Temperance Brennan Novel

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About The Book

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs’s twentieth “brilliant” (Louise Penny) thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose examinations of unidentified bodies ignite a terrifying series of events. “This is A-game Reichs, with crisp prose, sharp dialogue, and plenty of suspense” (Booklist).

On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many of the details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec fifteen years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she travels to Montreal to gather evidence.

Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh-eating contagion spreads. So focused is Tempe on identifying the container victims that, initially, she doesn’t register how their murders and the pestilence may be related. But she does recognize one unsettling fact. Someone is protecting a dark secret—and willing to do anything to keep it hidden.

An absorbing look at the sinister uses to which genetics can be put and featuring a cascade of ever-more-shocking revelations, The Bone Code is “a murder mystery story that races across America at the speed of fright” (James Patterson).

Excerpt

Chapter 1 1
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5

The kid was dead. No doubt about that. The 911 caller thought so. The ER reported her DOA. The toxicologist showed cause. The ME signed the certificate.

The kid was dead. That wasn’t the question.

The phone rang. I ignored it.

Beyond my window, the sky was a chaos of gunmetal, smoke, and green. The wind was blowing angrier by the second.

I’d have to go soon.

The palette on my screen mirrored the turmoil outside. Within the gray backdrop of flesh, the bones burned white as Arctic snow.

I’d been analyzing the X-rays for almost two hours, my frustration escalating with the storm.

One last glance at the final plate in the series. The hands. Then it was adios.

I forced myself to concentrate. Carpals. Metacarpals. Phalanges.

Suddenly, I sat forward, the gusts and thickening darkness forgotten.

I zoomed in on the right fifth digit. The left.

The phone rang. Again, I paid no attention.

I shifted back to the cranial views.

A theory began to take shape.

I was poking at it, twisting the idea this way and that, when a voice at my back caused me to jump.

Framed in the doorway was a woman not much bigger than the subject of the films I was viewing. Standing maybe five feet tall, she had gray-streaked black hair drawn into a knot at the nape of her neck. Thick bangs brushed the top of tortoiseshell frames not chosen for fashion.

“Dr. Nguyen,” I said. “I didn’t realize you were still here.”

“I was completing an autopsy.” Slight accent, mostly Boston but with an undercurrent of something more exotic.

Nguyen had taken charge at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s office only recently, so she and I were still testing the waters with each other. Though not exactly effervescent, she seemed organized, fair, and earnest. So far, so good.

“Is that the Deacon case?” Nguyen’s gaze had shifted to my screen.

“It is.”

“You’re advising the family?”

“Yes.” Seeing her raised eyebrows, I added, “The request came from an attorney named Lloyd Thorn. I hope you don’t mind me viewing the films here.”

“Of course not.” Nguyen flicked a wrist, as though to brush away the thought. Maybe to help her change tack. “Inara is now a Cat Three storm and moving faster than predicted. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for all coastal counties, and it’s expected to sweep inland.”

“Ain’t climate change grand?”

Nguyen ignored my quip. “I’m closing the lab. Mrs. Flowers has already left. She plans to head into the mountains to stay with a cousin.”

Eunice Flowers has been the MCME receptionist since Gutenberg began cranking out Bibles. The first to arrive each day, she is normally the last to depart.

“There’s a woman in the lobby who wishes to see you. Mrs. Flowers told her you were unavailable, but she insists on waiting.”

“Who is she?” A glance at the phone showed the message signal flashing red.

“I’ve no idea. Or why she ventured out in this weather.”

“I’ll talk to her.” Feeling a flicker of guilt for disregarding Mrs. Flowers’s calls.

“Don’t linger too long,” Nguyen warned.

“No worries.” Moving the cursor to close the X-ray file. “My cat is probably dialing a rescue hotline as we speak.”

“I’m certain Charlotte is safe.” Lacking conviction. “We’re much too far from the coast.”

I said nothing, recalling similar thinking back in ’89. And Hurricane Hugo.

Though it was only 3:20 p.m., little light filtered in through the lobby doors or windows. All was quiet inside the building. Save for the security guard, not in evidence but undoubtedly present, I seemed to be the only person left on the premises.

The woman sat in the chair opposite Mrs. Flowers’s command post. Her feet, shod in sensible oxfords, rested primly side by side on the carpet. She appeared to be studying the laces.

My first thought: the woman was the dowdy aunt from Peoria. A ratty shawl wrapped her from shoulder to calf, and a floral print scarf, tied babushka style, covered her hair. A curved-handled umbrella hung from one wrist, and a frayed tweed tote sat centered on her lap.

My second thought: why the cold-weather gear when the thermometer that day had registered an unseasonable eighty degrees?

Upon hearing my footfalls, the woman lifted her chin, and her babushka’d head rotated slowly, tracking my approach. The rest of her body seemed clenched in a knot.

Drawing close, I noted that the woman’s eyes were pale—not the usual blue or green but a shade closer to that of honey in a jar. I estimated her age at sixty-five minimum. Mostly based on the attire. The scarf hid much of her face.

“I’m Temperance Brennan. I apologize for your wait.”

One hand rose to clutch mine. Though blue-veined and knobby, the intensity of its grip took me by surprise.

“Thank you so much. Thank you. I understand. Yes, of course. I’ve waited a long time. I don’t mind a bit more.”

Using the umbrella for support, the woman started to push to her feet. I gestured her back down. “Please. Don’t get up.”

I placed my briefcase on the floor and perched on the adjacent chair, pointedly not settling back.

“So, then. You are…?”

“Oh, dear me. Excuse my rudeness. I should have introduced myself at the outset. My name is Polly Susanne Beecroft.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Beecroft. I—”

“It’s Miss. Don’t give a patoot about titles.” The breathy “p” fluttered the silk framing her face. “If one never married, what’s the harm in saying so? Don’t you agree?”

“Mm.”

“But please, call me Polly.”

“How can I help you, Polly?” I asked, wanting to wrap this up quickly.

“I hope you will excuse my rather cheeky approach.” The honey eyes locked onto mine. “I’ve come to implore your help.”

“I am a forensic anthrop—”

“Yes, yes, of course. That’s why I believe you’re the person I need.”

“I’m listening.”

“It’s a bit of a tale.”

I gestured encouragement I didn’t feel.

Beecroft drew a quick breath, as though to begin. Seconds passed. No words left her lips.

“Don’t be nervous,” I reassured.

Tight nod. Then, “My twin sister died last year, bless her soul. She was seventy-three years old.”

I now knew where this was headed. Still, I didn’t interrupt.

“Harriet married but was widowed young, so she never had children. She began studying art in her thirties, from then on was totally caught up in her painting. I’m afraid she and I were not fruitful like the Bible instructs.” Quick grin. “Following Harriet’s death—”

“Miss Beecroft—”

“Polly. Please.”

“I’m very sorry for your loss, Polly. But if you have issues regarding your sister’s passing, you must raise them with the coroner or medical examiner who signed the death certificate.”

“Oh, no. Not at all. Harriet died in hospice of pancreatic cancer.”

OK. I was wrong about the purpose of Beecroft’s visit. Realizing that and, I’ll admit, a tad curious, I said nothing.

“Since I was Harriet’s only kin, it fell to me to clear out her home. She lived in Virginia, in a small town not far from Richmond. But that’s unimportant. While going through her things, I discovered several items that have troubled me greatly.”

The overhead lights wavered, then steadied.

“Oh, my.” One liver-spotted hand fluttered up and hovered, like a moth suddenly free and confused.

“Perhaps this could wait a day or two, until the storm has passed?” I suggested gently.

But Beecroft wasn’t to be dissuaded. “May I show you what I found? I’ll be oh so brief. Then it’s off I go.”

An image fired in my brain. My near-octogenarian mother struggling to control an umbrella in a gale.

“Did you drive here, Polly?” I asked.

“Oh, heavens. No. I came by taxi.”

Crap.

“Do you live in town?”

“I have a condo at Rosewood. Do you know it?”

I knew it well. Mama had recently moved to Rosewood. I now had an inkling how Beecroft had made her way to me.

I also had an inkling that the frumpy garb was misleading. Rosewood is a nine-acre complex modeled on George Vanderbilt’s nineteenth-century getaway in Asheville. Life in the three-towered extravaganza did not come cheap. Beecroft had means.

“Taxis may be scarce in this storm.” Crap. Crap. “How about you outline your concerns as I drive you home?”

“I couldn’t possibly impose.”

“It’s on my way.” It wasn’t.

“That’s so terribly generous. I knew you would be a kind person. Very well. But first you must see something.”

The kind person watched Beecroft dig an envelope from the tote and draw three photos from it. Withholding two, she offered one to me.

“This was made in 1966. I’m with my sister. We were feeling a bit naughty that afternoon.”

The picture was in color though somewhat faded. A close-up and obviously posed, the shot had been snapped outside on a sunny day. Two teenage girls stood behind a wall with only their heads visible, chins and forearms resting on the top row of bricks. Each had chestnut hair, worn center-parted and ear-tucked. Each had the odd honey-colored eyes.

Both girls grinned mischievously while staring straight into the lens. They looked identical.

I studied the image, feeling a vague sense of unease. Of recognition? But that was impossible.

Beecroft’s words cut into my thoughts. “—didn’t take as many photos back then. Not like today, with young people capturing every second of their lives, posting images of themselves flossing their teeth or cleaning the pantry or torturing the cat, or whatever. Really. Does anyone care about such triviality? But do forgive me. I digress.

“The quality has deteriorated, but our faces are still quite clear. I’m on the left, Harriet is on the right. We were eighteen at the time. We’d just graduated from high school and been admitted to Vassar. But that is also irrelevant. How I do go on.”

Beecroft offered another photo, this one encased in a protective sleeve. I laid the first on the table beside me, took the second, and observed it through the plastic.

The sepia tones and white cracks suggested that this image was considerably older. As did the formal pose and style of clothing.

But the subject matter was similar. Two teenage girls looked straight at the camera, one seated, one standing with her hand on the chair back. Both wore high-necked, long-sleeved dresses with complexly draped ankle-length skirts. Neither smiled.

The resemblance to Polly and Harriet Beecroft was uncanny.

I looked up, seeking explanation.

“That’s my grandmother and her sister,” Beecroft said. “They, too, were twins.”

My eyes dropped back to the picture.

“That portrait was made in 1887. They were seventeen years old.”

“They look exactly—”

“Yes,” Beecroft said. “They do. Did.”

Then Beecroft handed me the final photo.

Hollow silence echoed around us, punctuated by the rumbles of the mounting tempest.

I heard nothing. Saw nothing but the image in my hand.

I swallowed, too shaken to speak.

Reading Group Guide

This reading group guide for The Bone Code includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

On the way to the hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical-waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec years earlier. Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh–eating contagion spreads. So focused is Tempe on identifying the four container victims that initially she doesn’t register how their murders and the pestilence may be related. But she does recognize one chilling fact. Someone is protecting a dark secret—and willing to do anything to keep it hidden.

An absorbing look at the sinister uses to which genetics can be put, and featuring a cascade of ever-more-shocking revelations, The Bone Code is Temperance Brennan’s most astonishing case yet.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. How does the novel present the relationship between science and ethics? Did reading the novel raise any questions or concerns for you about genetic testing and the companies that provide genetic services?

2. This novel begins with Temperance preparing to shelter from a hurricane. What foreshadowing or metaphorical connections does the image of a hurricane have in relation to Temperance’s case?

3. This book was written and published amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and deals with topics quite relevant to the book’s historical context. How has your experience with vaccines and the recent pandemic affected your understanding of the story? Did reading this inform your understanding of how vaccines are created? Did the novel make you less likely, or more likely, to want to be vaccinated in the future?

4. Temperance suggests that they must “follow the money” to determine what is going on. How does money impact scientific development and ethics? To what extent did a desire for profit drive the characters in the novel?

5. In one scene, Detective Vislosky is working crowd control at a near riot over the capnocytophaga outbreak. How did news and advertising affect the crowd? Are news outlets and reporters at all responsible for the actions of their frequent listeners?

6. How does the death mask figure into the book’s larger narrative?

7. Genetics play a large role in the action of this novel. Several characters are revealed to have familial connections. What role does the family play in the novel, and what is the significance of the genetic relationships between characters? What is the role of genetic relationships for us today?

8. All four victims in this case were never reported missing—nobody ever looked for them. What were the special circumstances that allowed their disappearance to go unnoticed? In a totally wired world, how do people just disappear?

9. Technical and scientific language appears frequently throughout The Bone Code. Tempe is investigating a case about genetics and vaccine development, and we’re introduced to a world of unfamiliar acronyms and terms, including “CRISPR,” “neuraminidase,” and “M2 ion channel,” among others. How does the frequent use of these concepts shape your experience as a reader?

10. The novel takes place in two primary locations: Montreal, Canada, and Charleston, North Carolina. How do these two settings influence the novel’s plot? What cultural and geographic characteristics do the cities share, and in what ways do they differ? Does either of them offer a true home to Tempe?

11. Tempe’s longtime friend Anne Turnip plays a supporting role in this novel. What is their relationship? How do they communicate with each other? How does Tempe respond to Anne’s house being damaged by the hurricane? Would you want to be friends with Temperance Brennan? What kind of friend do you think she is?

12. When Temperance first meets Detective Tonia Vislosky, they don’t have a warm or collaborative relationship. By the end of the novel, they’re sharing Thanksgiving dinner. What changed over the course of the novel to transform their relationship? In what ways are these women similar, and how do they regard each other? Compare Tempe’s relationship with Vislosky to hers with Detective Claudel in Montreal.

13. The victims in this case are young women and mothers. How does Tempe’s relationship with her daughter potentially influence her response to this case?

14. Patience and waiting are themes throughout the novel. Temperance is often waiting for results or further information. Her job seems to require patience. How does her personality conflict or coincide with her working life? How does her patience, or lack thereof, change her interpersonal relationships as well?

15. What are Dr. Aubrey “Sullie” Sullivan Huger’s motivations? How does your understanding of his motivations change throughout the novel? Can we justify Sullie’s actions, or he is clearly a villain through and through?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Discover your family tree! Go online to a genealogy website and follow your family’s history back generations.

2. Read Déjà Dead, Temperance Brennan’s first thrilling adventure, in which she races against time to obtain justice for a murdered woman and stop the serial killer who took her life from striking again.

3. Try Fox’s Bones series, inspired by the Temperance Brennan novels, and look for episodes about genetics (hint: season 9, episode 8, “The Dude in the Dam”).

About The Author

Photograph © Marie-Reine Mattera

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Evil Bones is Reichs’s twenty-fourth novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on X @KathyReichs, Instagram @KathyReichs, or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner (July 6, 2021)
  • Length: 368 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781982139964

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Raves and Reviews

“Readers have come to expect certain things from a Brennan novel: a strong protagonist, a cast of well-drawn supporting characters, an intriguing mystery, a surprising resolution, and at least one really good scene in which Brennan puts someone in their place…Fans will happily check all those boxes here: this is A-game Reichs, with crisp prose, sharp dialogue, and plenty of suspense.”
Booklist

“As usual in this venerable franchise, the forensics are grimly detailed, the cliffhanger chapter endings nonstop, and the range of incidents competing for attention with the issues the newest remains have thrown into the spotlight dizzying….Comfort food for fans who are far past the point of being easily shocked.”
Kirkus Reviews

“Few crime writers are as edifying and terrifying as Kathy Reichs. She never lets you forget that “folk do the damnedest things.”
The Times (UK)

“A strong story told in a breezy fashion with an interesting [array of] memorable minor characters.”
Evening Standard (UK)

“I await the next Kathy Reichs thriller with the same anticipation I have for the new Lee Child or Patricia Cornwell. The Bone Code over-achieves. Temperance Brennan uses all her skills as a forensic anthropologist to solve a murder mystery story that races across America at the speed of fright.”
—James Patterson

The Bone Code is a brilliant entry in a ground-breaking series and does Temperance Brennan proud. The story has all the elements we’ve come to expect—it’s smart, gripping, and builds to a heart-stopping crescendo. More than twenty years ago, these wonderful novels began paving the way for other writers, especially Canadians like me, to be noticed. I owe Kathy and Tempe a debt of gratitude, not just for helping to make my own writing life possible but for hours of white-knuckle reading.”
—Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of All the Devils Are Here

"Kathy Reichs is expert at making science both scary and thrilling, and she's in top form in The Bone Code. The story moves at such a relentless pace I couldn't stop turning the pages!"
—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of Choose Me

“Over the course of twenty books, Kathy Reichs and Tempe Brennan have thrilled readers with pacey, mazey tales grounded in real science, with plots springing from the author's prodigious knowledge and passion for truth and justice. We readers are truly grateful—and looking forward to the next twenty!”
—Ian Rankin, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus novels

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