No one speaks the language of suspense more brilliantly than Kathy Reichs, author of the acclaimed Temperance Brennan series. In Speaking in Bones, the forensic anthropologist finds herself drawn into a world of dark secrets and dangerous beliefs, where good and evil blur. Professionally, Temperance Brennan knows exactly what to do—test, analyze, identify. Her personal life is another story. She’s at a loss, wondering how to answer police detective Andrew Ryan’s marriage proposal. But the matter of matrimony takes a backseat when murder rears its head. Hazel “Lucky” Strike—a strident amateur detective who mines the Internet for cold cases—comes to Brennan with a tape recording of an unknown girl being held prisoner and terrorized. Strike is convinced the voice is that of eighteen-year-old Cora Teague, who went missing more than three years earlier. Strike is also certain that the teenager’s remains are gathering dust in Temperance Brennan’s lab. Brennan has doubts about working with a self-styled websleuth. But when the evidence seems to add up, Brennan’s next stop is the treacherous backwoods where the chilling recording (and maybe Cora Teague’s bones) were discovered. Her forensic field trip only turns up more disturbing questions—along with gruesome proof of more untimely deaths. While local legends of eerie nocturnal phenomena and sinister satanic cults abound, it’s a zealous and secretive religious sect that has Brennan spooked and struggling to separate the saints from the sinners. But there’s nothing, including fire and brimstone, that can distract her from digging up the truth and taking down a killer—even as Brennan finds herself in a place where angels fear to tread, devils demand their due, and she may be damned no matter what.


沒人比知名小說《Temperance Brennan》系列的作家凱斯‧萊克斯更擅長描寫懸疑情節了！本書中，法醫人類學家貝倫發現自己身陷一個充滿黑暗秘密與危險信仰的世界，在那裡善與惡的界線已然模糊。在工作上，貝倫清楚知道該做什麼：檢測、分析、確認。但對於私生活，她卻迷茫不已，不知該如何回應警探安德魯‧萊恩的求婚，不過當有緊急兇殺案在手，婚姻大事就可以先暫緩。「幸運的」海佐‧絲翠克是名言辭犀利的業餘偵探，專門在網路上挖掘懸案線索，此時，她帶著一段記錄著一位不知名的少女受到囚禁、恐嚇的錄音來找貝倫。絲翠克確信，錄音檔中的少女就是十八歲的可拉‧提格，她早在三年前就失蹤了。絲翠克也確定提格的遺體就塵封在貝倫的實驗室中。貝倫起先不太願意與這名「自成一格」的網路偵探合作，不過證據似乎支持了這名偵探的說法，貝倫接下來得走訪尋獲這段可怕錄音的地方，那裡也可能是埋藏可拉‧提格屍骨的地點，一個危險又人煙稀少之地。然而，在貝倫到現場勘察後，案情卻越加撲朔迷離，更多不尋常兇案的駭人證據一一出現。儘管當地夜裡流傳著詭異的現象，邪惡的撒旦膜拜盛行，但真正驚駭到貝倫的是一支狂熱的秘密教派，這個教派叫她難辨善惡。但是，即使是這樣一個天使不來、惡魔橫行之處，即使她可能受到詛咒，就算得經歷地獄般的磨難，都無法阻止貝倫不計一切挖掘真相、緝捕真兇的決心。