Review: Deadly Decisions

Deadly Decisions  

Kathy Reichs

395 pages

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Kathy Reichs' forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is arguably the best of the current crop of thriller pathologists; her third outing, Deadly Decisions, pits her reconstructive skills against a bunch of Hell's Angels with a taste for ultra-violence. Hardly has she pieced together the jigsaw fragments of identical twins, before she finds herself engaged in identifying the teenage girl whose skull and long bones turned up near the grave of some earlier victims of inter-gang strife. Her sweetheart Ryan is under investigation for corruption; her nephew is sleeping on the sofa and showing an unholy fascination with bikes and bikers; and Tempe is having a series of really bad hair days. In addition to the usual fascinating material about the identification of human bones, Reichs tells us all about the way in which biker gangs have become a serious part of the criminal underworld, a subculture with a taste for mayhem and with rules it is death to break. Tempe is on her usual brittle good form--a woman torn between her cold clinical intelligence and a crusading desire to avenge the helpless that regularly brings her into conflict with more quietly committed colleagues. This is an excellent thriller that combines real intelligence with a radical social anger. --Roz Kaveney 


My Thoughts:
It's been a couple of weeks since I read this book, as I went right into the fourth book in the series before writing reviews.  I was watching Bones on my day off, and it reminded me how much I enjoyed Kathy Reichs' novels.  Deadly Decisions was no different.


I enjoyed this novel quite a bit as it combined mystery, science, and a unique approach to Tempe Brennan.  Different than the other two novels, the story was interesting and unique in it's concept of biker-related crime.  As Tempe's  main go-to guy Ryan was under investigation, she was forced to go through different channels for investigation, making the plot less predictable.


As I have read from other reviewers, the mystery is a bit far-fetched in some of the connections.  But, as I have said before, I always think mysteries are full of random connections.  This novel was a bit different in that though a family member was involved, the outcome of that involvement was not the same as the beginning two.  I'm sure this is making no sense, but without spoilers, just take me on my word that this one is different.


I think the major part of enjoyment for me in this novel is the science that is applied to solving a mystery.  Though others may disagree with me, it's why I love Bones as well.  I find the different approaches to studying the bones interesting, especially as Tempe looks into a twins and systematically searching for bones underground.  Though Ms. Reichs did not add the normal, fun romance intrigue into this novel (as Ryan is busy being under investigation), the novel did not suffer.  I still found it to be fast-paced, generally unpredictable, and scientifically interesting.


I rated this novel a 4 out of 5 because I read the entire thing in one day and I greatly enjoyed it.  After having read several of Reichs' novels, I can happily say that in a couple of years I will want to read them again (having forgotten all of the little details).  I loved Deadly Decisions, and I would rate Kathy Reichs as one of my favorite mystery novelists.  Though it had flaws (hence no 5), I would recommend it to any mystery lover and fan of crime TV shows.  It's like having your own script and backstage pass to any mystery show for you to enjoy at your leisure.

Death Du Jour

Death du Jour

Kathy Reich

384 pages

Rating: 4/5

Readers of Kathy Reichs's cool and clever first forensic thriller Déjà Dead will recognize the ironic voice of Tempe (short for Temperance) Brennan, the North Carolina-born scientist who winds up working at the Laboratoire de Médicine Légale in Montreal. Here she bristles at the conservative attitudes of some of her Canadian colleagues.

Despite the cold weather, Tempe's workload quickly becomes heavy: the bones of a long-dead nun now up for sainthood have been moved and tampered with; a deadly house fire turns out to be arson; and a university teaching assistant disappears after joining a cult. Tempe must figure out where (and why) all the bodies are buried in the hard Canadian ground. Her investigations take her home to North Carolina, and to a strange colony living on an offshore island.
--Dick Adler 

 My Thoughts:
As anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, I've lived under a rock called nursing school for the last couple of years.  Needless to say, these books have been out a while.  Bones has been popular and run six seasons already.  But I only found Kathy Reichs this year, so I will continue to gush about how much I love her and her character Temperance Brennan.  Perhaps there is someone else who has lived under a rock or just newly decided to explore the mystery genre.

I officially love Kathy Reichs.  I greatly enjoyed this second book of hers that I read.  The first book I struggled with the writing a tad.  I believe I got used to her way of writing, because I was not caught up in the writing at all.  In fact, I enjoyed it greatly.  Her way of describing forensic procedures took me under and I was cast under the spell of Tempe.  I simply could not put this novel down.  I went to the library the next day and squealed when I saw that the third book was in for checking out.  That was how much I enjoyed it.

I have read several reviews discounting their ratings due to the incredible number of "coincidences" that happened in the book.  Yes, the novel takes place in both Quebec and North Carolina.  The stories end up entwining, which could be a bit of a stretch of a coincidence.  But this did not bother me as much as it seemed to both other readers.  I guess I always find mysteries a bit too coincidental.  Of course the author is going to bring in clues that will end up fitting together - it's a mystery that has to be solved at the end.  And as opposed to other mysteries I've read, I didn't predict this one.  I did not know how they would fit together.  And I appreciated that everything did not fit together as snugly as a puzzle.  There were story lines and such that were not a part of the large mystery, and that made it have a more realistic feel to the novel being a story of Tempe's life.

The mystery basically revolves around several bodies found in a fire, with one having died by a bullet not by the flames.  Other bodies are found, and Temperance and her police counterpart Ryan are thrown together to solve the mystery.  We met another half of Tempe's family, Harry, her sister, and Katy, her daughter.  We are also introduced to more of Tempe's work.  As she divides her time between teaching and working with the police in Quebec, Reichs introduces us to several different cases that Tempe works on at once, some of which fit into the mystery and some that don't.  I enjoyed reading about her work, and I felt that I was transformed into the forensic anthropology world for a bit.

I don't want to go on in my gushing, as I am terrible about revealing spoilers.  But I will say that I loved getting to know further the characters is Tempe's life and Tempe herself.  The mystery had me stumped, and I loved getting lost in the forensic world for a while.  Anyone who loves mysteries will love Temperance Brennan, both in Deja Dead and Death du Jour.  I believe that this second novel could be read separately from the first in the series, but I enjoyed it greatly as a sequel.  I felt that the series is only getting better, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Deja Dead

Deja Dead - Kathy Reichs

532 pages

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Blurb:
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...

My Thoughts:

Perhaps I am a little slow on the uptake, as this book already has a tenth anniversary edition, but I don't care.  Maybe there are others like me who are slow in the trending world and have yet to find out about this amazing series.

I recently got into the TV show Bones.  After I finished nursing school, I found I could not enjoy my once-oh-so-loved medical dramas because they were so unrealistic (and the medical flaws really bug me).  So I went in search of other types of TV shows to watch.  It was then that I found crime TV.  Again, a little slow on the trend, but I have to admit that I love crime TV series.  So far, Bones and Criminal Minds are my favorites, but I'm trying out The Mentalist and others.  I love watching the mysteries, the clues, and figuring out the way these people think.  So, when I heard that Bones was inspired by a book series, I instantly had to get my hands on those books.  I was not disappointed.

Let me preface this by saying that the TV show is inspired by but not based on the books.  Once you realize that it will not all be the same, you will enjoy it so much more.  I learned to love Tempe and her crazy ways just as much as I love Brennan and Booth.  To me, the only thread that ties the two is their common jobs.  Other than that, the characters are very different.

I loved this book.  So much so that I am putting off picking my next book to read because I feel that it is sure to be a let down.  I enjoyed reading about the forensics behind the murders and the different ways they followed clues.  I also enjoyed the writing of the character Temperance Brennan.  The book is written in first person (which is not my favorite), but it really worked for this novel.  I especially loved the way the author would write about Tempe's thoughts, not in an it's-all-written-in-italics-way, but in a way that I could imagine her journal writings would be.  She provides insight in the right places, and the character even gets on to herself at some points.  I enjoyed that because it reminds me of me and the way I think.  The writing seemed realistic in first person, because it was written almost in the pattern of natural thoughts (or at least my natural thoughts).  I really enjoyed it.

The plot of the novel was great.  Though I foretold part of it, the mystery stays present in that you do not know who the killer is until the end.  Reichs takes small details, and she brings them into play as Tempe investigates them.  Then all the small details are combined at the end when the killer is caught.  Because the novel is told in first person, you are alongside the ride of Tempe as she knows something is wrong but cannot quite figure it out.  It was quite an enjoyable mystery.

I gave this novel a 4/5 simply because at times I felt that it was a tad too detailed.  I got lost at some points when Reichs was describing the processes to get the evidence and the landmarks around the city.  I have only been to Canada once, so the descriptions of Montreal were completely lost on me.  And I did not want to take time away from reading to try and navigate the map in the front of the novel to figure out where she was going.

Ultimately, this novel is a great read for anyone who loves mysteries and thrillers.  I would not recommend it for the light-hearted, as it deals with serial killer-stuff and dead bodies.  But those who love crime TV shows and Bones will greatly enjoy fresh plots and good mysteries.  I hope to get the next book in the series very soon!