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Cross Bones
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Read Cross Bones
Temperance Brennan Novels: Book 8

Cross Bones (2005) (edit title/settings)

by Kathy Reichs (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The key to a modern murder lies in the sands of history. Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an Orthodox Jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary Montreal murder. When a... read more

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Summary edit see section history

Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an Orthodox Jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary Montreal murder. When a stranger slips Tempe a photograph of a skeleton unearthed at an... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an Orthodox Jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary Montreal murder. When a stranger slips Tempe a photograph of a skeleton unearthed at an archaeological site, Tempe uncovers chilling ties between the dead man and secrets long buried in the dust of Israel. Traveling there with Detective Andrew Ryan, Tempe plunges into an international mystery as old as Jesus, and centered on the controversial discovery of Christ's tomb. Has a mastermind lured her into an elaborate hoax? If not, Tempe may be on the brink of rewriting two thousand years of history -- if she can survive the foes dead set on burying her.

Characters/People edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “When hungry, the most docile among us grow cranky. When starved, we grow desperate. Id overrides ethics. We eat. We survive. That common instinct drives herd animals, predators, wagon trains, and soccer teams.”
  • “My job is to restore the identity death has erased.”
    Brennan.
  • “There's one advantage to flying into a war zone. Seat availability.”
    Brennan, while making arrangements to fly to Israel.
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • “Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which to die.”
    Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers
  • “The Torah, the Bible, the Koran. Each offers a recipe for spiritual contentment, for hope, for love, and for controlling basic human passions, and each claims to have gotten the recipe straight from God, but via a different messenger. They’re all just trying to provide a formula for orderly, spiritual living, but somehow the message gets twisted, like cells in a body turning cancerous. Self-appointed spokesmen declare the boundaries of correct belief, outsiders are labeled heretics, and the faithful are called upon to attack them.
    Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers
  • “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” “Will Rogers,” I identified the quote.
    Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers
  • Israel is a place where the wonder of the past slams daily into the bitter reality of the present.
    Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers
  • “Saint Jerome and his cronies cooked that one up in the fourth century. Jesus’ pal Mary Magdalene became a prostitute. Jesus’ mother became a virgin. Good women don’t have sex. Bad women do. The idea appealed to the misogynist male ego. The concept became dogma, and the Vatican’s been championing it ever since.”
    Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers
  • “Wahhabis aren’t simply interested in minds and souls. The sect has an ambitious political agenda focused on the replacement of secular leadership with a fundamentalist religious governing group or person in every Muslim country on the planet.”
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • Another advantage of mitochondrial DNA is that it’s inherited only through female lines, so the genes aren’t scrambled and recombined every time conception takes place. That means that if an individual isn’t available for direct comparison, any maternally related family member can provide a reference sample. Your mitochondrial DNA is identical to that of your mother, your sisters, your grandmother.” “But my daughters would have their mother’s mitochondrial DNA, not mine.”
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • “Wahhabism is an austere form of Islam that blossomed on the Arabian Peninsula. For over two centuries it’s been Saudi Arabia’s dominant faith.” “What distinguishes Wahhabism from mainstream Islam?” “Insistence on a literal interpretation of the Koran.”
    Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
  • “Osama bin Laden is Wahhabi, as were the members of his nine-eleven teams. These fanatics are engaged in what they call the Third Great Jihad, or holy war, and anything, anything is fair game if it advances their cause.”
    Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers
  • For a full discussion of the facts behind Cross Bones, watch for James Tabor’s upcoming book, The Jesus Dynasty (www.jesusdynasty.com).
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
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Setting & Locations edit see section history

After an investigation in Montreal, a little more than half of the book takes place in Israel.
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Organizations edit see section history

  • American Academy of Forensic Sciences: Included among the Academy's members are physicians, attorneys, dentists, toxicologists, physical anthropologists, document examiners, digital evidence experts, psychiatrists, physicists, engineers, criminologists, educators, digital evidence experts, and others. Publishes Journal of Forensic Sciences.
  • Israel Antiquities Authority: An independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities.
  • Rockefeller Museum: An archaeological museum located in East Jerusalem.

First Sentence edit see section history

FOLLOWING AN EASTER DINNER OF HAM, PEAS, AND CREAMED potatoes, Charles "Le Cowboy" Bellemare pinched a twenty from his sister, drove to a crack house in Verdun, and vanished.

Table of Contents edit see section history

The Facts
Chapters 1-41

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 8 of 15 in Temperance Brennan Novels. (standard series)

Preceded by Monday Mourning, and followed by Break No Bones.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Kathy Reichs (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Scribner
Country: United States
Publication Date: June 28, 2005
ISBN: 978-0743233484
Page Count: 368

Classification edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • Déjà Dead
  • Death du Jour
  • Deadly Decisions
  • Fatal Voyage
  • Grave Secrets
  • Bare Bones
  • Monday Mourning

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