The 14th Temperance Brennan (Bones) thriller from author and world-class forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs.

In the run up to the biggest NASCAR race week of the year, Dr Temperance Brennan is called to a landfill site backing onto the Charlotte speedway track in North Carolina. Someone has discovered a barrel of hardened asphalt with a human hand poking through the top.

With the country's press trained on Charlotte, it is up to Tempe to try to release and identify the body in the barrel. But there is more than one potential victim: the brother of a girl who went missing with her boyfriend ten years before comes forward, and the trail he sets in motion leads Tempe to one of America's largest fascist organisations.

But before she can discover anything, the FBI confiscate the body and destroy it. What terrible secret could they be hiding? As tension at the speedway mounts, Tempe tries to unravel the conspiracy of lies surrounding the missing couple, the body in the barrel, and the horrific death at the track of yet another victim…

The TV show ‘Bones’ is based on Kathy Reichs books.

Reviews

`the discovery of a skeleton at a Nascar track gives the usual mix of CSI-style entrail probing and sleaze-ball characters a degree of novelty…the formula is subtly evolving – once known for long, gruesome descriptions of corpses, Reichs now specializes in sparky dialogue, whether her heroine is tussling with suspects or bantering with colleagues.' –Sunday Times

‘There's plenty more to Reichs than just insider info. She's very good on character – Brennan, an alcoholic cat-lover, is an engaging mix of bullishness and vulnerability – while her plots are delicately knotted and full of tension. ..The body count is reassuringly high, the denouement satisfactorily shocking, the autopsy descriptions guaranteed to turn the most cast-iron stomach.’ –Spectator

‘An intriguing tale embroiling southern redneck militia and NASCAR racing’ –Sunday Express

‘It's vintage Tempe: the Southern belle snaps out her usual one-liners as she deals with beaus past and present, a rising body count, missing bones and her beloved pet cat Birdie.’ –Press Association

‘Broken into short, sharp characters and told in a lively diary-style narrative, the action moves as fast as the cars around the ill-fated speedway.’ –Edinburgh Evening News

`If you haven't yet discovered feisty forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan – on hit TV show Bones or through one of Reichs' 13 bestselling novels – Flash and Bones is a great place to start.' –Brighton Argus

“Reichs imbues this fusion of past and present with her signature blend of forensic know-how and deeply felt characters.” –Publishers Weekly

‘Reichs knows what her readers like, and she has another hit with Flash and Bones … a compelling read that will appeal to anyone who likes reading forensic thrillers’ –Associated Press

‘Welcome to Bones 101…writing novels seems to be embedded in [Reichs’] family's DNA.' –USA Today

“A fine entry in a consistently solid series.” –Booklist

‘Knowledge of the earlier books in the series isn't a requirement to enjoy this thriller, an intriguing puzzle that reads like a mixture of Agatha Christie and “CSI”.’ –Huffington Post –This text refers to the Paperback edition.