Customer Reviews

Grave Secrets

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Grave Secrets , the fifth Temperance Brennan novel, is another excellent addition to the series which has blasted Kathy Reichs to fame.

This time, Tempe is sent to Guatemala to recover the bodies of the dead (known as "the Disappeareds") massacred during that country's vile civil war. It is in the village of Chupan Ya that she uncovers 28 dead bodies, and on the way to the site, two other forensic scientists are attacked on the road, shot, and left for dead. It is the beginning of an investigation which will haunt Tempe in the coming weeks.

Shortly after, her help is sought by the local police. Four teenage girls have gone missing in Guatemala City, and one of them is the daughter of the Canadian Ambassador. Is there a serial killer at work? Soon after, a decomposing body is found in a septic tank of a local hotel, and the investigating begins in earnest.

Reichs' writing is sharp; the plotting tight and complex. Her characters are interesting, often drawn with only a few choice words, and her descriptions of the dead are brilliant. Reichs' books ring with authenticity, as she has been and done the same sorts of things as her main character. This fuels the writing with realism and a relentless compassion for the dead, which really comes out in the story. She never lets you forget that these people walked, breathed, laughed, talked...that they used to be us.

Her use of forensic detail is interesting, and the way she writes about science doesn't make you feel as if you're reading a textbook. (In this area, she is almost on a par with Cornwell.) However, with this book there is one too many plot lines, leading them to become confused in the mind of the reader. However, careful reading does tend to remedy this.

Guatemala is described well, the horrors of the war still brood over the landscape.

Tempe's relationship with Ryan develops and complicates with this book when she also finds herself attracted to a Guatemalan police officer, who once knew Ryan. Tempe's conflict is done well and serves to bolster the roundness of her character. Being a devout Cornwell fan (I even liked Isle of Dogs ) it is hard for me to say, but Tempe is a more realistic, well drawn, and likeable character than Kay Scarpetta.

The... conclusion... is chilling, and brings the book to a satisfying close. While Grave Secrets is not quite as good as last year's offering (Fatal Voyage), it is still first class.

Between the years of 1962-1996, Guatemala was involved in a bloody civil war and many of the peasants who were thought to be rebels were killed or disappeared. In the present, the government is now sending in forensic teams to find and identify the victims so they can be given a proper burial. Dr. Temperance Brennan, a famous forensic anthropologist, is one of the members who are trying to sort out the body parts on the site of a massacre.

While doing her work, she is asked by an honest policeman to examine the body of a woman who was found in a septic tank. It seems that in the past few months, four young women have gone missing and the authorities fear they have a serial killer on their hands. While working the case, Temperance finds herself in danger from an unexpected source and only a miracle will save her life.

Kathy Reichs is a fantastic writer of crime thrillers and her latest work GRAVE SECRETS is even better than usual because of its locations. Based on facts and true events, readers get an inside look at a Central American country where genocide on the local people occurred for more than three decades. Temperance is the kind of heroine most women aspires to be.

Harriet Klausner

I thoroughly enjoyed the previous books in this series, but I was disappointed in "Grave Secrets." The story was confusing at times with too many characters and sub-plots. The writing style was flippant with too many one-liners and the on-going romance was immature and unsatisfying. I wanted more forensic detail and flowing description which I thought was missing entirely from this book. I hope the next book gets back to the basics which previously made this series so successful and a pleasure to read.

With numerous film, television and stage appearances to her credit veteran actress Katherine Borowitz knows how to deliver - and deliver she does in her reading of
Kathy Reichs's fifth novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

This time out we find Tempe in Guatemala where she is assisting in exhuming a mass grave, the final resting place of women and children who were raped and slain by soldiers during a 1982 attack on their village. No one knows for certain who is in the grave; no records were kept. To the families of those missing their loved ones have simply disappeared.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala City, where four young women have been reported missing recently, remains are found in a septic tank. Could those remains be the Canadian Ambassador's daughter? Tempe is asked for help by the Guatemalan police. But as she investigates further she finds herself almost trapped in a web of crime and coverup.

As always, Reichs, who is a forensic anthropologist herself, laces her suspenseful tale with authentic medical description. The author's expertise simply makes her stories more shudderingly real. Reichs tops the list in her genre.

- Gail Cooke

We eagerly dived into this fifth book about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, having thoroughly enjoyed the earlier four stories about her crime solving from a rather different perspective. From the study of bones, sometimes long buried skeletons, Tempe, as in real life does author Dr. Kathy Reichs, is usually able to determine age, race, and gender of the victim; often the means and manner of death; and sometimes even enough clues to pursue the perpetrator. While reminiscent of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, the Montreal, North Carolina, and sometimes other settings, coupled with supporting characters in each location, plus the somewhat unique challenges of the analysis involved, lead to entertaining stories and characters we have come to enjoy.

In Grave Secrets, Tempe is stationed on assignment in Guatemala, where much of the book is devoted to first her unearthing, then her aiding in the identifying, of two dozen remains of executions of women and children from during the long, 34-year Guatemalan civil war. The atrocities described to us during that period darkened the whole book; presuming this is mostly if not completely fact based, surely a depressing recounting of human cruelty and suffering. Meanwhile, two other stories compete for Tempe's (and our) attention: the case of a skeleton found in a septic tank, and all the interesting technical feats involved in ID'ing the victim; and the disappearance of four missing young women. Pursuing and resolving these cases involved the participation of two leading men in the story - detective Galiano, whom Tempe comes to like, of the Guatemalen PD; and long-time Canadian associate and romantic interest Andrew Ryan, who just "happens" to be old buddies with Galiano and is apparently free to run back and forth to Canada with little restraint. That one of the missing women is the Canadian ambassador's daughter opens the rationale for much of the goings-on as well as much of the suspense. The book concludes with a bedtime cliffhanger in the style of Janet Evanovich, which we weren't sure we really appreciated, but will certainly help sell Book 6!

To get to the point, we're not as enthused about this fifth book as Reich's earlier work. We felt much of the chasing around had little or nothing to do with Tempe's skills (let alone her job per se); and too many sub-plots required too many (relatively shallowly developed) characters to populate them adequately. Each successive story element only seemed to subtract from the strength of the novel; and when we were all done, we wound up with a living room dusted and vacuumed, but still cluttered beyond good taste. While Reichs credits her publishers with helping making her book compelling, to us the editors should have carved much of the detail at several points, simplified the story lines, axed some situations that did nothing for the cause, and in general tightened up the whole convoluted tale. We think her other books are better, and urge a little more caution for her next outing, which still we will no doubt anxiously await.

Admittedly i am a fan of very long books, but i found this one to be a bit thin (physically and metaphorically). It is still a good mystery, but a few things about it bothered me: (i) the characters were pretty sketchy, except for the regular characters to whom we bring the history of the prior books; (ii)there is not real DEVELOPMENT of the existing characters; the events that occur don't seem to change them at all; (iii) the various plot elements are tied up in a big bow in a rabbit-out-of-a-hat kind of way, and the pace at the end of the book is too swift compared to the rest of it. Almost an Hercule Poirot abruptness to the ending. It was, nevertheless a "good read" and unlikely to be more than a little disappointing to fans.

The bulk of the story is set in Guatemala, where Temperance Brennan is helping sort out the 20-year-old remains of the massacre of a village of indigenous Aztecs. Because members of the ruling government were involved in the bloody killings of women and children, the forensic anthropologist's work is frowned upon, and gunmen attack two members of the excavation and identification team. While sorting out this ugly reminder of the past, Temperance is asked by the local police to help in the investigation of a body found in a septic tank. On thing leads to another, and soon Brennan cannot decide if she is dealing with a serial killer or someone more politically motivated.

A red herring is a writing device intended to appear as if it were a clue, but which, in fact, is really just a distraction that keeps the reader from jumping to the right conclusion. When used in moderation, it is an adroit tactic that can add interest and suspense. When used to excess, it leaves the reader feeling tricked as the plot seems to dissolve away. 'Grave Secrets' is right at the limit, and perhaps somewhat beyond it. It would be giving away too much to list the herrings, but you will have to accept my assurances that there are many layers of literary subterfuge, few of which contribute materially to the story.

The book isn't a failure, but it is certainly not a wholehearted success. When the story is over, and the last 'cute' trick is played, one wonders what will happen to the series from this point onwards. Reichs hints loudly that changes are coming, but I fear that another talented writer is going to fall victim to what I call Editor's Disease, where the author is gradually convinced to make become a formula writer - one dollop of blood, two dollops of sex, etc., etc. Hopefully this is a temporary aberration and not a portent of things to come.

Kathy Reichs' Dr. Temperance Brennan (Tempe) is one of the more complicated main mystery characters being written today. She is a combination of strength (in this book she must spend a day digging around in a septic tank) and emotional caring that makes for an interesting person that is not cookie-cutter like so many of today's 'sleuths.'

The mystery begins with Tempe working in a remote Guatemalan village uncovering long buried victims of a junta's attack. She is then dragged, somewhat unwillingly, into investigating the disappearance of four young women in Guatemala City, leading to complications in which the government is involved. The action moves from Guatemala to Canada and back again. There is romance involved, as well, as she begins to be attracted to the Guatemalan detective with whom she is working (he is also an old friend of Tempe's sometime boyfriend Andrew Ryan which provides further drama).

I enjoyed this book as I have all of Reichs mysteries. One thing did stick out in my mind though as I was reading: several times Tempe is complaining (which she has toned down since her first book appearance) about being constantly surronded by death. I could not help but think, "Well, that is your chosen profession. Sure it must be disheartening at times but if it is creating that much travail, change jobs." I guess my feeling was a throwback to that first book in which Tempe came across as somewhat whiny.

That aside, I will definitely be reading the next books in the series.

Started out very well, very interesting mystery. However, all of the questions were answered in the last few pages and the reader has no way to guess all the complicated relationships. It is like the author had to unravel all the mystery in two pages! There is also a romantic angle to this and the author withholds who ends up with the heroine.
I was very disappointed in the ending in all aspects.

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs is a novel involving Tempe Brennen, the multi talented forensic anthropologist, who works both in the United States and Canada, and in this novel, Guatemala. Brennen is helping colleagues unearth remains of massacred villagers when she is summoned to Guatemala city. Skelatal remains have been found in a septic tank and police believe it could be the work of a serial killer, since 4 girls of the same age have gone missing...and one of them is the Canadian ambassador's daughter.

When two of her colleagues are attacked and murdered, Brennen realizes she maybe looking at more than just a serial killer murder. Brennen must work with and around the Guatamalen authorities, and Andrew Ryan appears later in the novel when the Canadian ambassador becomes a suspect. Reichs throws in a nosy reporter who may have figured everything out, some interesting forensics, a short out of place rant about stem cell funding, and a lot of twists and turns.

The plot of the novel, as with Monday Mourning, isn't always at the forefront. Instead, Reichs builds suspense by focusing on Brennen's investigation and what her discoveries may lead to.

In the end, I found this globetrotting novel to be a bit disappointing. The revelation of the bad guy made me realize the plot could have taken place anywhere and setting of Guatemala really only added an Hispanic flavor to the plot, nothing more. Still, Reichs has proven that she can write a good novel and I plan to read her again.