I can't believe Kathy Reichs wrote this - compared to her earlier novels, which I enjoyed, it is a disaster. I can't recommend anyone to bother reading it.
This is such a disappointing book. I liked the original Cornwall books, and then when she lost the plot (remember Hornets Nest!!), Kathy Reichs took over with much better written and well researched books, with great scientific content. The first four Tempe novels were terrific, but Cross Bones is a poor effort.
Here, as has happened once or twice before (Deadly Decisions, for example), she gets bogged down in bones. The only difference is that this time they're about 2000 years old. She delves into (so many) complicated histories, Biblical and archaeological, and just ends up muddying the waters. There's a lot to get your head around (which bones went where? When? Why? I thought that was another set of bones?...you mean there were 25 sets of bones??? No, 27???), to sort out and mentally shelve so that you know what's going on. And it's not that interesting anyway. One more conspiracy theory among many, and Reichs can't actually herself provide any definitive "answers", so at the end you're still exactly where you started. She spends so much time trying to explain (and failing!), and delving into forensics in her usual way (which means through dialogue, with Tempe explaining the most tedious of forensic practices to other characters), that the plot just ends up dragging.

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