Temperance “Tempe’ Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who splits her time between North Carolina & Montreal, is finishing up a review of a wrongful death case in Charlotte, and an elderly woman is patiently sitting in the waiting room at the coroner’s office, hoping Tempe can help her solve an old mystery. Meanwhile a hurricane is bearing down on the Carolina’s as Tempe rushes to get home to secure her residence and soothe Birdie, her cat.
While conducting hurricane clean up, then heading to the coast to assist her friend Anne with the same, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston, SC County coroner, asking for her assistance. Apparently during the storm, a plastic container washed ashore and was found to contain two bodies, wrapped in plastic and bound with electrical wire – the tableau eerily similar to a case of Tempe’s from Montreal several years ago. Joining the investigative team for the autopsy the next morning, Tempe also gets a look at an unusual illness that seems to be spreading in Charleston, seemingly passed to humans from their pets. As they begin work on the bodies from the container, Tempe again feels déjà vu due to the similarity in these cases.
As Tempe vows to identify these current victims, she forms an unlikely alliance with the investigating detective from Charleston, and her lover Andrew Ryan is able to find and send her the files on the Montreal deaths. More certain than ever that the cases are somehow related, Tempe returns to Montreal with a plan to exhume to bodies – in hopes that advances in DNA and consumer use of ancestry sites will allow them to finally identify the past victims. Within a few days, Tempe gets a call telling her that that the one of the bodies from Charleston is related to one from Montreal.
As both investigations ramp up into high gear, connections are made to a Canadian Vaccine Manufacturer and a DNA Service. As Tempe keeps digging, slowly putting pieces together, she soon finds her own life in peril, as someone will stop at nothing to keep her from the truth…
This has probably been my most favorite Brennan novel yet! My interest was captured immediately, and I found the story to be fast-paced, suspenseful and difficult to put down, Filled, as always, with intrigue from the scientific world, along with the amazing advances in DNA technology, I found it very relevant and educational with regard to challenges facing the world today. While filled with scientific information, the author does a great job in explaining it in terms a layperson can understand, surrounded by a fascinating story. Well worth the read!!
I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from #Netgalley & Scribner in exchange for an objective review. Do you love to read?? Visit Netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!
Tropical Delusions...... 