Deadly Decisions - Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs’ third novel is Deadly Decisions and I am pleased to report she is succeeding where many authors fail. In a similar way to singers, writers need to put their own ‘stamp’ on their work. You need to be able to tell it’s a book by that author by the style, content and general feel. But this can often mean an author will re-use the same old formula, re-tell the same old story, and re-hash the same old characters. Reichs has managed to juggle all this beautifully. You can tell it’s one of her novels, but she changes enough for you to feel it’s a fresh story, while retaining just the ... more

I'm a big fan of Kathy Reichs after reading and reviewing several of her other books, so I was looking forward to Deadly Decisions. Her writing style is something of an acquired taste perhaps, and some will argue that there's too much in the way of science and long words that distracts from the ease and enjoyability (is that a word? It is now!) of reading. I, however, find it more interesting than annoying and Deadly Decisions is another example of her classic style. The front of the book says that this is 'The No.1 International Bestseller', and something like that always tempts me to judge ... more

It’s book review time again, folks. Deadly Decisions is the first book I have read by Kathy Reichs. It is the third in her series of books about Dr Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist. Maybe I should have started with the first one, but hey, life’s like that. Anyone who has read any of the Kay Scarpetta books by Patricia Cornwell will be on familiar ground here. Temperance (Tempe for short) is female (like Scarpetta), spends most of her days performing autopsies (like Scarpetta), lives alone, fights the male establishment, gets herself in dangerous situations and has a ... more

Montreal 2000. There is a war going on amongst the city's outlaw motorcycle gangs, who are now controlling the drug trade. Gang members are bumping each other off left, right and centre, and an innocent young girl crossing the road has been killed in the melee. Enter Montreal Chief Coroner and forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan to cut up the bodies and help solve the crimes. Brennan is not only a woman in a man's world, but also an American in a French-Canadian one. Add to this the fact that her bike loving cop boyfriend has been suspended and left her for the bikers, and her teenage bike ... more

Deadly Decisions is the third book in Kathy Reichs series featuring the life of Temperance Brennan. I wasn’t going to write a review for this book to start with, but as the book went on I felt that I would do. The book has a dramatic beginning: ‘Her name was Emily Anne. She was nine years old, with black ringlets, long lashes and caramel coloured skin. Her ears were pierced with tiny gold loops. Her forehead was punctured by two slugs from a Cobra 9-mm semiautomatic’. This really made me want to read on, but actually, this is the last real mention of Emily. She was killed because she was in ... more