#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, magnetic âthriller of the highest orderâ (Bookreporter) featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself enmeshed in a series of grisly animal killings that escalate into something far more sinister.
Small creaturesâa rat, a rabbit, a squirrelâhave been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in a bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Ruthie, sheâs diverted by a disturbing call. The perp is upping the ante. This find could be human.
Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someoneâs pet. As one who has always found animal cruelty abhorrent, Tempe agrees to help apprehend the person responsible, and she acquires an equally outraged ally in semi-retired homicide detective Erskine âSkinnyâ Slidell. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe seeks input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveriesâand a shift in the perpâs focus to humans.
And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the animal killings. Subsequently, people Tempe cares about begin to go missing until it becomes clear she is being taunted, the target in a sick game that has her and Slidell racing against a ticking clock. In this âgrisly mystery that keeps us guessingâ (Booklist), Tempe faces a terrifying question: âWhat is pure evil?â
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, magnetic âthriller of the highest orderâ (Bookreporter) featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself enmeshed in a series of grisly animal killings that escalate into something far more sinister.
Small creaturesâa rat, a rabbit, a squirrelâhave been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in a bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Ruthie, sheâs diverted by a disturbing call. The perp is upping the ante. This find could be human.
Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someoneâs pet. As one who has always found animal cruelty abhorrent, Tempe agrees to help apprehend the person responsible, and she acquires an equally outraged ally in semi-retired homicide detective Erskine âSkinnyâ Slidell. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe seeks input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveriesâand a shift in the perpâs focus to humans.
And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the animal killings. Subsequently, people Tempe cares about begin to go missing until it becomes clear she is being taunted, the target in a sick game that has her and Slidell racing against a ticking clock. In this âgrisly mystery that keeps us guessingâ (Booklist), Tempe faces a terrifying question: âWhat is pure evil?â