Virals by Kathy Reichs

Virals is the first book in a new young adult series by Kathy Reichs, who you might know as the producer and inspiration for the TV series Bones. This book is about world famous forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan's niece, Tory. Tory and her other science-geek friends accidentally get exposed to a virus, which gives them special abilities. They also stumble upon a cold case murder. Soon, they are using their new-found abilities to fight for their lives, because someone is trying to kill them before they can solve the murder.

This book was totally fun to read. I loved Tory. She was smart, brave, and bossy-- far from you typical young adult heroine. I also loved the mix of the science fiction-y super virus and the murder mystery thriller, with some real science stuff thrown in. And the end, well I totally didn't see it coming. (Although maybe that's because it was almost a little too unbelievable.) All in all a good book.

The only problem I had was, I'm not sure if it needed to be tied in to the Bones storyline. I mean, I don't think the fact that Tory was Bones' niece really added to the story at all. And it felt like a stretch to fit that in. I think what I'm saying is that this book was strong enough on it's own, and it didn't really need a crutch. But, I guess it did help to explain Tory's geeky/quirkiness... and maybe it did make her more of a believable character. Besides, people do love a good spin off series. And also- I haven't read any of Kathy Reichs other books- so really I'm making an uninformed judgement here. So, don't take my word for it.

But either way, it's still a good book. And it's the beginning of a series, which means more books to look forward to!