Kathy Reich - Deadly Decisions

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 9781448106608

My rating: 3/5


The third gripping Temperance Brennan novel from world-class forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, the international no. 1 bestselling crime thriller writer and the inspiration behind the hit TV series Bones. A nine-year-old girl is killed in crossfire on her way to ballet class. Soon afterwards, the body of a teenager killed in North Carolina is found hundreds of miles away. Forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan knows she must stay professional, but when the young girl's body is wheeled into the morgue she cannot help but react. And when an exhumation reveals the bones of yet another innocent in a hidden grave close to a biker gang headquarters, Tempe begins a lone and risky investigation into the lawless underworld of organised crime.

 

My thoughts

Number 3 didn't really rock my world.

It's all about Motorbike gangs and the accidental death of a young girl. I have to admit, it took me a while to get my head around the story. As much as I like the extra details Reichs gives in regards to pathology or in this book blood spattern, IMHO there's right and there's too much. I thought it was all a bit too much. Everything was in too much detail, I thought.

The rest of the story is the same as previously - add a family member (BTW - the nephew Kit is a hoot!) and put Brennan in a dangerous situation - voila, another Brennan story. Well more or less.



#1 Kathy Reichs - Deja Dead

#2 Kathy Reichs - Death Du Jour

#4 Kathy Reichs - Fatal Voyage

Kathy Reichs - Deja Dead (Brennan #1)

Publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 978-2702818329

My rating: 3/5



Her life is devoted to justice — for those she never even knew.
In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Tempe detects an alarming pattern — and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. But her investigation is about to place those closest to her — her best friend and her own daughter — in mortal danger…. (www.kathyreichs.com)



My thoughts

I finished the book a few days back but still haven't decided what to think of it. It certainly wasn't a book that kept me hooked until late nights or even early mornings - okay, it did for the first 100-something pages, but then lost me as it dragged on.

Brennan is leaving behind a failed marriage and takes up a full time job in Montreal (extra kudos for the location!) And within the first few pages we have our first victim and a few further pages we have Brennan wondering whether there’s a serial killer out there ... with a lot of testosterone driven cops around her, so she’s left with finding evidence to prove the killer’s existence.

So once Brennan goes of to do exactly that .... the story loses my interest, it's long, drags on and the constant solo investigations were irritating. But it’s also the scientific terminology that I had problems with. Even though Reichs own background, I thought it was an overload.

I did like the cops, though, and thought Reichs did well “portraying” them in their coolness and “protectiveness” of their area of expertise – finding the killer! Claudel is a hoot!

Overall I thought a great first novel for Reichs, yet I expected more.