Spider Bones and Thunderhead

Dear Reader,

Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs is a book that I purchased and had given to Lianne for her birthday, or was it Christmas.  Either occasion is always good for bestowing a book or two.  As I was purchasing this book for her, I had no thoughts about reading it myself, it was just a book on her list, she wanted it so, I got it for her.

As I'm sure I have mentioned before, I have many, many books of my own, waiting to be read. Between my last blog and this one I read a book that I did not actually post a blog about, for that I apologise, but I'm sure it will happen time and time again as we move forward.

The book that we missed is called Thunderhead by Douglas Peston and Lincoln Child, yes that is correct Dear Reader, Preston and Child are the authors of the Pendergast series that I am slowly re -reading, good memory.

Thunderhead takes place in southwester Utah, where Nora Kelly, and archaeologist, leads a team into a maze of canyons looking for treasure. After receiving a letter from her father who disappeared 16 years earlier describing the long lost path that leads to the treasure.  Nora assembles her team, hires horses and follows the path her father took all those long years ago.  Did Nora find the treasure, did she find her father, you will have to read the book to find out.  I will tell you that we all must be careful of what we wish for and be prepared to face the consequences and responsibilities of what we aspire to.

After finishing Thunderhead, I was reviewing my choices for my next read, in my E-reader I have the next 3 Pendergast novels, I have one other Preston novel,  something by Tom Clancey, as well as a few paper books waiting, not to mention my bag-o-books from MI.  So I pick one of Lianne's books instead of one that has been waiting patiently for me, for, well for ever it would seem.  Lianne told me that she saw it on one of the ten best novels list in the Globe and thought it looked interesting.  Ok I think let's try a new author, I say, and I am glad I did.

Spider Bones is a mystery, not quite a "who done it" mystery, but a "who is it" mystery.  Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, is asked to review the remains of a Vietnam Solder who had died in the Vietnam war and was buried in the USA in 1968. She was asked to investigate the remains because, a person with the same fingerprints was found dead, floating in a Quebec river.  If he died in Vietnam, and is buried in North Carolina, how could he be floating in a river in Canada?

The mystery grows larger, as we are following the trail of bones from one grave, perhaps with the wrong person in it, to Hawaii to seek the help of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), whose mission is to find the remains of American war dead,  and identify them.   The JPAC actually exists, check out this link.

Why is the wrong body identified in this grave, or is it the right body and the finger prints from the dead river dude  are wrong?  Could it be a mix up in Vietnam, could someone have miss identified the person, but wait, we now have two more skeletons, as yet not identified, and they all seem to fit together, did they all died in the same helicopter crash in 1968?

Our good Doctor Brennan runs into family members of dead US solders who refuse to provide DNA samples to assist in positively identifying their sons, and brothers, she finds herself getting chased by bad guys, gets run off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean, not the deep part of the ocean, but near the shore where is a little shalower, we can't have our star bone expert drowning now can we.

Who is in the grave in North Carolina, who's bones are in storage in Hawaii, why will no one provide DNA.

Kathy Reichs in real life is a Doctor, she teaches FBI dudes how to deal with dead bodies, bones etc, and her novels are the basis of the TV show Bones.

Spider Bones is a great read, easy to follow and alot of fun.

Next up is  a book I received from "the boy" How To Do Everything: (From the Man Who Should Know) by Red Green.

 bfn Brian