I have read every single Temperance Brennan novel written by Kathy Reichs, and I own most of them. I enjoy reading them; each novel ends up involving multiple, interesting mysteries and they are fast paced. Each chapter ends on a cliff-hanger to keep the momentum going, meaning I stay up way too late reading because it is hard to put these novels down. The character of Temperance Brennan has a dogged determination I cannot help but admire, and she is quick witted.

The Bone Code started out good; I was enjoying it as much as I have ever enjoyed a Temperance Brennan novel. Temperance is asked by a coroner in Charleston to examine two decomposing bodies found in a medical waste container that washed ashore after a hurricane. The bodies are wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. This is similar to a case that Temperance was involved with 15 years earlier in Montreal. How likely is it that she would end up investigating in two similar cases in two different countries, and that the victims from both cases are related? Not likely, but buckle in for a wild ride and just go with it.

I was ready to toot this novel’s horn, until Temperance discovers that a couple of the people involved in her investigation work for a Montreal company that manufactures vaccines. At this point I was thinking, oh no, there is no way that Kathy Reichs is going to go there. But she did. WARNING, SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ONE OF THE (MANY) PLOT TWISTS:

The bad guys tamper with vaccines to make people susceptible to disease.

Really, Kathy Reichs? You are going to release a book during a pandemic, that relies on people getting vaccinated for it to be over, that involves TAMPERING WITH VACCINES?? WTF?? What was her motivation for doing this? What was her publisher thinking? Read the room, people. This book should have been shelved at least until the pandemic is over.

And the COVID pandemic is even mentioned in The Bone Code. The novel is set in the future, in October and November 2021, and in the novel the pandemic appears to be over. Ha, wouldn’t that be nice if it was all over by October?

I am not impressed with how this novel turned out. The vaccine twist ruined the entire novel for me. We are now living in the “pandemic of the unvaccinated”. Not a good time to be releasing a novel that could add fuel to the anti-vaxx sentiment. Let’s just hope anti-vaxxers do not like to read.