Review: Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs

Title: Déjà Dead
Author: Kathy Reichs
Genre: Crime Thriller
Part of a series: Yes, Temperance Brennan, #1
Publisher: Arrow Books
Release Date: June 1989
This book was: My own book
This is the summary off the back of the book.

It's June in Montreal, and Tempe, who has left a shaky marriage back home in North Carolina to take on the challenging assignment of director of forensic anthropology for the province of Quebec, looks forward to a relaxing weekend.

First, though, she must stop at a newly uncovered burial site in the heart of the city. One look at the decomposed and decapitated corpse, stored neatly in plastic bags, tells her she'll spend the weekend in the crime lab. This is homicide of the worst kind. To begin to find some answers, Tempe must first identify the victim. Who is this person with the reddish hair and a small bone structure?


This is what I think of the book.
I only read this book because it is the inspiration for the TV show Bones but what I found out was that the show was VERY loosely based on the book.
The only thing that is the same is the her name and the fact she is an anthropologist so I have made a decision I will ignore the fact this book is also a TV series and treat it as if Bones is not anything to do with this book or any others in this series..

I kind of fell in love with Tempe, she was flawed and very human. I loved the fact she was tenacious and didn't let the cops put her off taking the initiative. The story was a little wordy and there was a description of some maggots that will stay with me and made my skin scrawl that I could do without, but I think with experience the author will find the balance between to vivid a picture and allowing the reader to paint the picture for themselves.

This took a long time to really get going but the journey was worth it and there was enough going on to keep my interest and I had enough questions to keep me reading. I felt engaged with the cast of characters and although what happened with Gabby was telegraphed from quite early on it didn't detract from the plot, if anything it enhanced the emotions that are pulled from you because you really think she is a flake and are not surprised at her fate but you do feel for Tempe.(That is as near as I am getting to a spoiler)I have ordered the next book form my local library and will be reading a lot more of Tempe Brennan.




My Rating: I really liked this.