Review/ Virals by Kathy Reichs

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.  As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their new found physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot--if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent. Fortunately, they are now more than friends--they're a pack. They are Virals. (Publisher's comments from Amazon)

 As a big fan of the TV series Bones, when I first read the summary for Virals I was pretty sure that I would like it. I was wrong...I loved it. Virals is a riveting adventure that pulled me in and had me reading all 446 pages in one sitting. I am hooked and I want more.

Tory narrates this fast paced story and is the leader of a group of three other boys all living on a South Carolina island owned by S.C. University. She is smart, confident, and filled with curiosity. Plus, she has a way of talking the guys into doing things they might not ordinarily do.When the four teens stumble across an old dog tag, an investigation into its owner changes their lives forever and nearly gets them killed.

Reich’s plot is multi-layered and the mystery of the disappearing girl is only one part of the complex plot that had me flying through Virals' pages. Tory was a terrific narrator, and Reich’s dialogue made not only Tory come alive for me but Ben, Shelton, and Hi too. All four of the characters are smart in varying ways, but not so geeky that they are over the top. As the mystery unfolds, the four also begin to realize that they each are developing unusual physical abilities turning their friendship into something more.

Virals is the first of what I hope will be a great new YA series, where each of the characters Reich has introduced are involved in solving more mysteries. This is definitely a book that I will be recommending not only to my students, but as an addition to next years book battle list. Virals is due for release  November 2, 2010.

Source: Received ARC copy from Traveling ARC Tours

About the Author:

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead catapulted her to fame when it became a New York Times bestseller and won the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Her other Temperance Brennan novels include Death du Jour, Deadly Décisions, Fatal Voyage, Grave Secrets, Bare Bones, Monday Mourning, Cross Bones, Break No Bones, Bones to Ashes, Devil Bones, and 206 Bones, Spider Bones (August, 2010). Dr. Reichs is a producer of the hit Fox TV series, Bones, which is based on her work and her novels. Virals is Reichs' first YA novel.

From teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains, to separating and identifying commingled body parts in her Montreal lab, as a forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs has brought her own dramatic work experience to her mesmerizing forensic thrillers. For years she consulted to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina, and continues to do so for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec. Dr. Reichs has travelled to Rwanda to testify at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, and helped exhume a mass grave in Guatemala. As part of her work at JPAC (Formerly CILHI) she aided in the identification of war dead from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Reichs also assisted with identifying remains found at ground zero of the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Dr. Reichs is one of only eighty-two forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. She served on the Board of Directors and as Vice President of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, and is currently a member of the National Police Services Advisory Council in Canada. She is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte, NC and Montreal, Québec. (From Kathy Reichs' website)