Knochenarbeit

Temperance Brennan #2

by Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs übt einen ungewöhnlichen Beruf aus. Sie ist eine von insgesamt 50 forensischen Anthropologen in den USA und Kanada. In ihrem zweiten Roman Knochenarbeit läßt sie erneut ihre Hauptakteurin Tempe Brennan als Anthropologin agieren und sich in eigenartige Ritualmorde verwickeln. Sieben Menschen werden verbrannt in einem Haus in St. Jovite gefunden. Vor allem der grausige Fund der Zwillingsbabies, die brutal zugerichtet wurden, gibt Tempe Brennan Rätsel auf.

Die Autorin webt zu Anfang ein sehr dichtes Geflecht um diese Morde, um die Exhumierung einer Ordensschwester auf dem vergangenen Jahrhundert, einem verschwundenen Mädchen und einer seltsamen Professorin, die in dem Fall der Nonne Elisabeth Nicolet weiterhelfen soll. Es bedarf sehr starker Nerven, um die akribische und wenig appetitliche Arbeit einer Anthropologin mitzuverfolgen. Die Autorin flicht ihre kompetenten Erkenntnisse mit ein und läßt bei der Schilderung der Routinetätigkeit von Tempe Brennan Emotionen und somit Menschlichkeit miteinfließen. Teilweise beschleicht den Leser das Gefühl, daß sich die Autorin ihre eigenen Traumata von der Seele schreiben will.

Bis zum eigentlichen Kern der Handlung, dem Plot, baut Kathy Reichs eine sich langsam steigernde Spannung auf, der sich der Leser kaum entziehen kann. Steckt eine Sekte hinter den mysteriösen Verbrechen, denen immer mehr folgen? Warum wird die Anthropologin selbst bedroht? Zwischen diese Stränge schiebt die Autorin zur Auflockerung leichte romantische Anwandlungen der Hauptdarstellerin, um sie auch als Mensch und nicht nur als Karrierefrau darzustellen. Ein intelligenter Roman um die Fänge einer Sekte, der gleichzeitig auf eine unterhaltsame Art viel Wissenswertes aus dem Alltag einer Anthropologin schildert. --Corinna S. Heyn

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Audiobook

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 1999

About the author

Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best First Novel (1998): Deja Dead

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

This was a good read. I'm a sucker for forensics so I don't mind some gritty details. I'm going to be upfront (mild spoiler...)

Death du Jour may not be for everyone as it involves dead infants that happened off the pages, but they went through autopsy. There are many mysteries going on at once; arson that killed a whole family including two infants, the exhumation of remains of a nun buried in 1888 for the archdiocese at an abandoned church, a missing 19-year-old girl, Tempe's sister, Harry, and bodies found on (monkey) island off South Carolina coast. Tempe is working at two different places in Montreal and the U. of North Carolina.

I don't think I enjoyed this as much as the first book in the series. I find the pace a bit off in the middle. But detective Ryan spices things up a notch.😍

[Wendi WDM · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started watching the TV show "Bones" (on Fox) last season, but I had known that the show was based on Kathy Reichs character Temperance Brennan. That's about all the similarities that there are between the TV show and the book. You could stretch and say that Quebec Detective Ryan is Seely Booth, but that's reeealllyyy reaching it.

I like a good mystery, detective novel, and this book does not fail me! Not only is there a nice chunk of CSI thrown in there is also one of my favorite topics, cults.

So we've got murder to be investigated, suspects to interview and cults to figure out. LOVE IT! I zipped through this book pretty quickly. Reichs is a fine writer, and the character of Dr. Brennan is a little more socially adept than the TV version.

If you like the show, you'll most likely like the book too just as long as you realize that there is absolutely nothing in the book that lends itself to the TV show.

[tobi10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Temperance bekommt es mit einer Sekte zu tun

In dem Buch Knochenarbeit (Temperance Brennan 2) von Kathy Reichs, geht es um Temperance Brennan, welche als forensische Anthropologin zur Rate gezogen wird um eine Nonne aus dem Friedhof bei der Kirche aus zu graben und zu bestätigen das es Elisabeth Nicolet ist, welche für eine Seligsprechung vorgeschlagen wurde. Nur liegt sie nicht in ihrem Grab, sondern ganz woanders bei der Kirche. Gleichzeitig geht es noch um einen Fall in dem fünf Erwachsene und 2 Baby Leichen in einem abgebrannten Haus gefunden wurden, einige der Leichen waren aber schon vor dem Brand Tod. Wie hängen die Fälle zusammen ?

Meiner Meinung:
Ich fand die Geschichte spannend geschrieben und flüssig zu lesen. Es war spannend Dr. Brennan bei ihrer Recherche zu verfolgen, auch als sie in ihrer Heimatstadt Quebec ermittelt hat, obwohl so dort nur Urlaub machen wollte. Zum Glück hat Dr. Brennan Detective Andrew Ryan, sonst wäre ihr so einiges passiert und mit seiner Hilfe ging es zum Glück immer wieder gut aus, die beiden sind halt ein super Team, genau wie bei der Serie Bones - Die Knochenjägerin.

Fazit:
Ein spannender zweiter Fall, für mich aber nicht so super wie Band 1. Trotzdem freue ich mich auf Band 3.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really struggling to separate these books from the TV show, though I found that I enjoyed this one more than the first book.
Maybe I’m starting to get use to this original Temperance...

These are the types of books that I normally enjoy, so I’m a little disappointed that it hasn’t hooked me as much as the show.

I reckon I’d should give it a sizeable gap between finishing watching all the episodes then returning to theses books at a later date.

[Tommy Marx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kathy Reichs is a fairly good writer. She does have an obsession with clumsy similes that are often so bad they take me out of the story completely, but that aside, she generally is a good writer. That said, this book annoyed the hell out of me.

My first complaint is that Reichs constantly creates fake mysteries that are only mysterious because she won't state what the characters figure out. At the beginning, Tempe (her main character) discovers something important about a would-be-saint from the 1800s. Throughout the novel we're constantly reminded that there's some major twist regarding the would-be-saint's bones that might cause a problem. And Reichs refuses to reveal that twist until the very end, even though it's inconsequential (it has nothing whatsoever to do with the main story) and feels like a major letdown once she reveals it. That would be bad enough, but she does the shell trick with every single thing that happens in the story. Any details regarding anything that takes place in the story cannot be revealed until Reichs has avoided revealing the details at least 241 times. Honestly, if Tempe ordered lunch from a deli, I would fully expect to find out via a major revelation 200 pages later that a pickle was included in the deal, a pickle that (gasp) she did not ask for.

Reichs doesn't create suspense, she creates annoyances. It's the literary equivalent of the cat jumping out of the shadows in a grade-Z horror movie.

But as annoying as that might be, her biggest flaw is that she loves creating several different storylines and then revealing that everything is related (and extremely personal), even if the convergence of events makes no sense whatsoever. In her first book, Reichs sacrifices Tempe's best friend (which is a blessing, since the friend is one of the most gratingly awful characters ever created in a work of fiction) in a desperate attempt to make the mystery as personal as possible. In "Du Jour", the role of the lamb goes to Tempe's previously unmentioned sister, who conveniently becomes involved in a series of events spanning from Texas to North Carolina to Canada.

Which is my biggest problem with this book. Tempe is asked to examine the remains of a would-be-saint, then is asked to investigate a torched house where several people (including two infants) were viciously murdered. There's also the body of a woman who was literally fed to the dogs, and when Tempe's on vacation with her niece, the bodies of two other women are found on the remote island she's visiting. Although we don't find out that it's TWO women (instead of a man and a woman) until chapters later, because oh yeah, fake mysteries. The fact that it's two women instead of a man and a woman changes nothing whatsoever, but Reichs idea of suspense is to wait until long after anyone would care to reveal the gender of the second victim.

And oh yeah, every single event is related, from the saint to the tortured babies to the victim of dogs to the remote island corpses. Because that's what passes for logic in this book.

And let's not forget that every fifty pages Tempe is either attacked or has cat bones thrown into her apartment (I kid you not) with the warning that she needs to back away, even though no one ever specifies what exactly she needs to back away from.

This is the second novel I've read by Reichs after reading her debut novel (which was actually worse). And yes, this will be the last novel I'll read by Reichs. She's a fairly good writer as long as you ignore the all-too-frequent flaws. But I'd rather read a book by someone who writes without all the obvious flaws. Thanks anyway.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book two in the Temperance Brennan series.

Very enjoyable, I was gripped by it.

Would read more of her stuff.

Four stars.

[Mir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Death is on the menu today at your international chain restaurant murder cult. Luckily for crime prevention, you coincidentally happen to live part time in all the locations that possess these sanguine establishments. And because you work a bizillion hours a week you go out to eat a lot.

[Thomas Stroemquist]

This is a series that I won't be pursuing. Almost 20 % into the book and it reads a little like a Standard Operating Procedure for lab work. If you've done any such, save yourself the boredom. The only other mentions is hinting of the title character's all good traits; she's hard-working, honest, virtuous, beautiful, slim, nice, did I mention beautiful?. And she handles pipettes and forensic tools with the same determination and purpose as she prepares her meals and...

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

***SPOILER ALERT***
This author annoys me. This story was WAY too similar to the first book. Best friend missing to sister missing...intruder in house? oh, just a cat on fire...and all that crap about some buzzing in her memory cells all the time! I also get tried of all the metaphors, but that was better in this book at least. So far I just find the writing amateurish and it feels like she's trying too hard.
I also HATED the ending. We did not get to see any of the links unfold, she just summed it up for the reader through conversations in the last chapter, and one conversation didn't even make sense! Waaaaaaay too easy. After reading the entire book I totally felt GYPPED that I was left out of the 'solving' part of the book.
I think that one reason this author, or this series, annoys me so much is because I watch the series 'Bones' and LOVE IT! The series is LOOSELY based on these books, at least as far as I've read in the series I don't see that many similarities, especially in Brennan. Personality is just off and I have a hard time with that, since I'm an avid watcher of the tv shower. And finally, do all these murder myster 'solvers' have to be recovering alcoholics? That just irritates me too!
Overall I liked the story, and there are some positives to her writing, but the ending really ruined this book for me. I'll try another, my fingers stay crossed that it will get better.

[Heidi (can’t retire soon enough) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid mystery with some interesting threads. Lost a star for seeing where things were going too many chapters in advance of Temperance Brennan, reconstructive anthropologist extraordinare. Love the split locales. Looking forward to the next in the series.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathy Reichs, Death du Jour (Arrow, 1999)

Death du Jour is the first book I've read in 2003 that made me want to not put it down until I had turned the final page. It's well over twice as long as most of the novels I've read over the course of this year, and yet it took me less time than many of them to get through. It does have its problems, but readability is certainly not one of them.

Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who divides her time between North Carolina and Quebec, is in the latter province as the story opens, sifting through the supposed grave of a nun who is being proposed for beatification. Things don't go as planned. Not long after she gets home, she's called to the scene of a devastating house fire to check out a few more bodies. Things don't go as planned. She gets caught up in the twin mysteries of the nun and the house fire, and off we go.

The best thing about the book is its compelling readability. Reichs makes her work unputdownable through throwing clues, monkeywrenches, and events at the reader nonstop from the first chapter till the last. There's never a let-up, no pause for breathing. And this in a novel that tops four hundred pages; it's like making an Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick that runs six hours. Few people are going to try, fewer still will succeed. Reichs manages it well here.

The bad thing about the book, and yes, there is one, is its predictability. There are many points in the book where something happens and it's obvious to the reader how the event connects into the whole puzzle, even while it escapes the police, the main character, and everyone else in the novel. When it comes right down to it, the mystery isn't really much of a mystery; it's more a police procedural than anything else. Or it would be if it weren't trying so hard to be a mystery.

Still, that's not a reason to dismiss a book that hooks a reader this quickly and this decisively. Death du Jour is the perfect way to kill a weekend, a fast-paced, easy read that will make the hours fly by as you wander through the world of Tempe Brennan. ****

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for Death du Jour: Temperance Brennan, Book 2 (audiobook) by Kathy Reichs read by Katherine Borowitz.

Forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan ends up uncovering more than just bones in her investigation. There is a cult that’s murdering members and her and her family are at risk.

[Fen · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment. The first book wasn't fantastic, by any stretch, but it was so much better than this. I guessed every single plot point along the way, except for the ones where information was deliberately kept from the reader. Which brings me to one of my major complaints about this book... it used a lazy writer trick that happens to be a big pet peeve of mine: the character knows information but doesn't share it with the reader. It's something that a writer can sort of get away with if the story is written in third person, but you've got a first person narrative, it's just plain bad writing to say "I looked at the back of the skull and came to a startling realization that changed everything. Minor Character Standing Nearby looked over my shoulder, saw the same thing and let out a loud exclamation." And then wait until the end of the book to clue the reader in on what they saw. It's frustrating and it cheapens the story.

If this had been the first book of the series, I never would have bothered finding the second one. As it was, I had to struggle to finish reading it. In short, the book left me annoyed, somewhat bored and just interested enough it how it was all going to finally be "revealed" that I read to the end.

[Erin Clemence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kathy Reichs’ “Death du Jour” is the second novel in the Temperance Brennan series of novels. In this instalment, Tempe is still pulling double-duty as a forensic psychologist in both North Carolina and Quebec, and the romantic tension between her and her police partner Andy Ryan, is heating up.

Tempe is asked to help uncover the identity of a centuries-old corpse, which is how she finds herself literally digging up a grave in the cold Montreal winter. But as she performs her investigation, even more bodies begin to pile up that, at first glance, seem completely unrelated. Young women, viciously attacked by dogs and left for dead and an entire family, including two infants, killed in their home. The crimes take place in both the United States and Canada, which makes their connection even more tenuous, but Tempe will not rest until all of the dots have been connected and the murderer is discovered.

Temperance Brennan is just getting her footing in the series in “Death du Jour”, as it is only the second novel, but she is lovable and relatable at first glance. Divorced, with a college-aged daughter, she is one of the only females in a male-dominated profession, underrated and underestimated at every turn. Quirky, brilliant and with an acerbic wit, Brennan is a powerhouse of a protagonist. She narrates this novel, of course, and her personality shines through every page. Reichs’ character development is on a level all its own, which has attributed to her numerous books and well-deserved accolades.

Of course, the novel can be a bit science-heavy at times (as can be expected with both Reichs and Brennan at the helm) with processes of dismembering a body and preparing its bones are described in detail, yet these tidbits also add an informative and informational aspect to the plot.

As if multiple murders and their possible international connections aren’t enough of a hook, “Du Jour” has a cult component, which is always a huge pull for me. Reichs incorporates not only the cult’s belief systems and values but also includes an educational take on the basic knowledge of cult formation and membership.

Reichs always creates such brilliant plots and the character of Tempe Brennan is incomparable across the genre. Every novel I’ve read in the Brennan series provides me with knowledge and information I didn’t know I wanted to know, and I always give extra points to authors who can educate and entertain simultaneously. Although it will take me awhile to read all of the novels in the Brennan series, I look forward to the journey!

[Kasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in the series was wonderful, somehow it was even better than the first which I found to be a bit long and overly wordy ( yet enjoyable never the less) this left me hungry for more, what better in a continuing story line than a hook line and sinker type of feeling, reading "Death du Jour" made me crave the next book right away. I almost never read a series one after another, I give myself a break because it's always better to crave the next than get stuck in a similar story and feel like I'm reading an eight hundred page book. That said I can't recommend Kathy Reichs enough, she knows what she's talking about and she engages the reader rather than making me feel like I'm standing on the site and observing, I couldn't wait for a free moment to sit and read, on the train, during lunch, before bed, you get the gist...

Its winter time and Temperance finds herself working on a misplaced nun coffin, along the way she gets called to examine the victims of a fire, this of course is no ordinary accident, what fire victims after all have execution style bullet wounds in their head? Clues from her work place and a nearby university reveal that something foul is going on, as usual Tempe gets mixed up into a situation that puts her life in danger, her character is so well written that the reader feels her victories and her falls with great flair. I loved solving the mystery alongside of her, tracking strange disappearances and wondering what happened to the mutilated bodies, traveling and picking up clues and forming opinions of a bunch of zany characters, for those who love gristly deaths, mystery, clues, realistic characters and engaging dialogue this is a real treasure, I hope this series has thirty books in it by the time she's done because deep down I want to read them all. I liked the realistic element of danger, in the previous book her close friend meets with a deadly end so you never know when someone is going to exit the story, it keeps you on your toes! I also enjoyed the bit of romance developing, it made things a bit more interesting, and trust me, it's not nauseating, it adds to the depth of the book. This was another nice read from Reichs and I can't wait to dig right back in.

- Kasia S.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

"How does one explain madness?"

This one quote alone explains a bit of my quest to read
Temperance Brennan Novels. I picked up Death Du Jour, the second in the series as sometime long ago I read the first, Deja Dead. I don't quite remember the whole of that story but knew that I wanted to delve more into the life of fictional forensic anthropologist Tempe.

I was excited in 2005 when Fox aired the pilot of Bones. The initial programs based loosely on the real life of Kathy Reichs, just whetted my appetite to read the books one day. Like most TV programs this one started out with a bang and is trickling to an end for me in its ninth season. It's hard to keep up the momentum in a long running series so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the books won't fizzle out too.

What appealed to me in Death Du Jour is the accuracy of the forensics, the attention to detail, and though some would not agree, the plausibility of plot. Reichs is setting up her character, giving us bits and pieces of what makes Tempe tick, balancing a woman who sees the worst life can bring yet hasn't lost her belief in the goodness of man. There's an ex-husband, a beloved cat, a daughter and someone I didn't realize existed, her sister Harry. Brennan describes Harry as "unbearably annoying, and totally enduring, my sister offsets with pure energy what she lacks in training or focus. I find her thoroughly exhausting." It is passages like these that Reichs uses to lighten the seriousness and gruesomeness of the work Brennan does and allows us to see her humorous side. Brennan divides her work life between North Carolina and Quebec doing some crime scene inspection in both locales. This division of locale gives the character a literal change of scenery.

Death Du Jour finds Brennan in Montreal, unearthing the remains of Sister Elizabeth Nicolet, who may or may not become a saint. In addition, a horrific fire with several charred bodies and the arrival of her sister will keep Brennan more than busy this time out. There's more, lots more but you get the picture. It's a mystery and a darn good one at that.

[Lightreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. I am once again taken in by the mistaken belief that surely books this popular and well discussed must have something to them, right? People do have a modicum of taste and literary judgment, yes?

Apparently, people have a taste for plots which are entirely held together by a soupy glue of wild coincidence and random chance. A lot of criminal activities and organizations have specific ties to both Charlotte and Quebec, you know. Oh, and it is very common for the various family members and loved ones of an investigator to randomly go wandering into the line of fire in a case. Happens to me all the time. People also apparently like cardboard angst and a wooden romance – the entire scene preceding the first hook-up of our main couple is summarized in a paragraph, with such deathless prose as, “and Ryan disclosed his feelings about [fill in random life event of note].” Oi.

In comparison to the painfully abbreviated attempts at character and the flailings of the plot, Reichs devotes swaths of the text to explanations of things like spatter pattern analysis in physical assaults. Which I personally find fascinating, but all things told I’d take a textbook over this any day. Far less irritating.

Some of my wrath is disappointment – I’m fond of Bones, the spin-off TV show. It also features Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, but her location, friends, coworkers, and story are entirely different. The dialogue is snappy, the secondary characters charming, the potential relationship actually touching, oh and David Boreanaz is a goofy but talented FBI agent. Good times all around.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and interesting read. This is book 2 in the series and I plan to read them all. The story is told well and kept my attention all the way through. I love the anthropology, the history that is scattered throughout, the descriptions of the places including Montreal, Charlotte, and Beaufort SC, the study of cults, and the relationships Tempe has with her daughter and her ex-husband and colleagues.
4.5 stars because the plot was a bit convoluted-and coincidental.

[Darcey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect break from the drama of fantasy books and the angst of romances. Interesting, fun and mysterious, this was intriguing and entertaining as hell!! Love myself a Tempe Brennan mystery.

[Lucy'sLilLibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in the series and it was quite impressive!

As always there was a lot of gore and gruesome description the detail and knowledge surrounding pathology is astounding. This isn’t for the faint hearted and touches on some cult like exploration and religion.

I was kept on my toes throughout this book and the chapters felt like they always ending on a cliffhanger making you want to read on.

We learn more about Brennan and the more I learn about her the more I love her - her relationship with Ryan is also getting more interesting.

This book is split in two plot lines and the only reason it isn’t getting 5 stars is because the smaller plot line didn’t grip me as much and I just wanted the whole book to be about the main plot.

Also I feel like the ending wasn’t rushed but could’ve done with a little more explanation/substance.

I will definitely be continuing with this series because I love the way Kathy Reichs writes, conveys her ideas and her passion to put this much work into her books.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this was a very long drawn out book not one of Kathy Reichs better books too much of a history lesson for me got a 2

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pop quiz! This book is about:

A. The exhumation of a French nun;
B. Murders that were followed by arson;
C. The disappearance of a college student;
D. The disappearance of the sister of the protagonist;
E. Drug-related murders on an island sanctuary;
F. A sinister cult;
G. It's not about anything. It is just a device for Kathy Reichs to insert her research on entomology, forensic science and cults;
H. All of the above.

If you chose (H) you pass!

I am not through with this book, and surprisingly, I am enjoying it somewhat. However, even people who enjoy the book would have to acknowledge it is a complete mess.

Deja Dead, the first book in the series, was a pretty good plot buried beneath a lot of inane prose: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Death Du Jour looks like it had an editor, it is shorter, and had the potential for a good plot. However, Reichs had about five too many components, and most of the sub-plots are tacked on to the main plot in a completely unbelievable way. Tempe meets a college student -- voila! She is involved. Tempe goes to an island - voila! Bodies. Tempe's sister comes to visit - voila! She is involved. Her sister's name is Gabby....whoops, that was Tempe's friend in Deja Dead who disappeared. This is her sister, Hari, who disappears. Sound familiar? This is only Kathy Reichs' second book and she is already re-hashing. But the main problem is that the number of coincidences involve strain credulity beyond the breaking point. She should have picked the house burning plot and stuck with that.

In addition, there are two "characters" who are really just mouthpieces for research about cults and forensics. They talk with Tempe and launch into lectures on their subject. Personally, I was interested in the material, but in terms of art, the research material is handled in a very ham-handed way.

What works? Reichs has a nice writing style, and she develops the relationship with Detective Ryan further from Deja Dead. I am not burdened by having watched "Bones" so I didn't have expectations. I thought that she handled their relationship nicely. I liked the science and the experience that Reichs conveys on what it is like to be an active forensic anthropologist.

At this point I have 3 discs to go on the audiobook and plan to finish. But regardless of how it all ends up there are waaaaaay too many different plot lines to make the novel work. Like an episode of "Murder She Wrote", whereever Tempe goes, the bodies just pile up for her to investigate. Or, a close friend disappears. No one reads fiction for absolute rock-solidly realistic stories. But a little contact with reality would have simplified and helped this book a lot.

Update: the result of the convoluted structure of the book, and having too many characters was predictable: when the culprit was revealed I didn't really care. Also, the "nun" thread turned out to be pretty lame for this day and age.

In this book, Reichs has solved some of her problems, namely over-writing. Or, she at least has found an editor with some backbone. The plot here was not a bad idea, but even Tempe acknowledges that there are a number of coincidences in three locations. It strains even the willing suspension of disbelief. Still, I found the research portions interesting, despite the clumsy insertion into the narrative. Also, the developing relationship between Tempe and Ryan is something to watch. In book no. 2 of this series Kathy Reichs is getting there, but hasn't quite arrived.

[Catten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate it when someone ruins a movie or a book for me... especially a book, because that's a bigger investment of time and imagination. So I'll tell you a little about Kathy Reichs's Death Du Jour, but I won't ruin it for you.

First, you need to know that this is her second book. Deja Dead from 1997 was a great ride, taking the reader into the world of anthropological forensics and shining a bright light on a murder investigation from a new point of view.

Tempe Brennan is the main character in both books and she mirrors Reichs's own life in a way: Both shuttle between the US and Canada working as forensic anthropologists. The intrigue of a new angle, excellent writing, and a series of distinct voices of the characters make this a tough book to put down.

Reichs takes Tempe into the jaw-clenching cold of a Montreal winter to dig up the bones of a nun. You want to wrap your blanket a little tighter, because the descriptions of the climate and the delicate work of digging for graves is precise and puts the reader right there.

Soon, she's off to a burnt-up house to sort out the remains of the inhabitants. The descriptions are both gruesome and fascinating. She describes the process of putting the pieces together and is just clinical enough for you to feel that you've stepped away from the horror, yet you still have the sense of loss. I look at it as a good way to learn about things second-hand. Reichs is, after all, an expert and a responsible writer.

Tempe's commitments, both personal and professional, keep piling up yet she keeps her sharp sense of humor. This is why I like the character so much. She overextends herself, and then things just keep happening to add to her already full plate. She keeps going while she loses sleep over the nine thousand things going on in her life. She mentions a dream where she has to take an exam but never attended the class. I have that dream. This woman is my personal hero.

She encounters a cult and its odd members, debates with herself about the merits of having or not having a relationship with a homicide detective, and uncovers links between seemingly unrelated events. She even gets a crash course in primate behavior and the nature of insects acting on corpses.

Reichs is very talented. She offers up a great plot and believable characters. The writing is clean and entertaining. Think Patricia Cornwell without the know-it-allness. I mentioned in a previous review that my friend the Lieutenant dislikes Cornwell for that reason. Well, I think he'll dig this book.

[Saimi Vasquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brennan ya recuperada de su ataque, esta de vuelta en el trabajo en Quebec. Esta vez con 2 casos totalmente diferentes. Uno, el reconocimiento del cadáver de una monja que esta en proceso de canonización, y el otro, un incendio donde fallecieron, al menos, 4 personas, entre ellos dos bebes. Por otro lado, su vida privada sigue tan complicada como siempre, ahora volviendo a viajar entre Canadá y para seguir con sus clases en la universidad. Pero las cosas nunca se quedan donde deberían, así que cuando aparecen mas cadáveres y si le añadimos la desaparición de la hermana de Brennan, su poco tiempo libre y paz mental se ve totalmente interrumpida y debe concentrarse en ayudar a solucionar estos casos, que ahora todos parecen estar relacionados. Pero podrá Brennan averiguar quién o porque asesinaron a estar personas? Correrá peligro su hermana? Que pasó con los bebes? y la monja? Cual es el secreto que ocultan sus huesos.

Este fue un libro lleno de acción, intriga y tensión, sobre todo en la última mitad del libro. Pero esta vez se trato de un tema bastante delicado como son las "sectas" del fin del mundo, y como logran captar a los mas jóvenes entre ellos, y como logran pasar de una reunión de personas queriendo un cambio a un lavado de cerebro masivo que "obliga" a sus integrantes a mantenerse fieles a sus "creencias" y "ser salvados".
Me gusta mucho esta mujer como protagonista, y para una era donde las mujeres tenían que "depender" de los hombres para realizar ciertas actividades, Brennan se descubre como la máxima feminista. De carácter fuerte, pero un gran corazón, con nervios de acero (aunque tiemble por dentro), con una mente aguda y mucha influencia en sus compañeros y amigos. En fin, me esta gustando bastante esta serie, y continuare leyéndola.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number 2 in the series. I enjoyed this story involving cults and a nun who Tempe is analyzing her bones and discovers something surprising. Ryan is in the novel both in Montreal and Carolina. The juxtaposition of the cold weather in Montreal and Carolina is done well.

I enjoyed the crash course in maggots and how entomologists calculate times of death. A good red herring on the evil psychopath. I read this book many years ago but for the life of me remembered very little.

SPOILERS AHEAD

In the plot Tempe discovers a nun who died over a century ago and the Catholic Church may want to make a Saint is mixed race. Ryan and Tempe get together for the first time. Harry, Temps’s scatterbrained sister gets sucked into a cult which by my calculations killed 11 people including Daisy the Professor who was only trying to save her crazy brother. In the end it is a female leader El who is wackadoodle.

Maybe a few to many coincidences and the dream Tempe had is something the author uses a lot in future stories.

[Jaksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep a list of series I read. I write info on them detailing what I like and if/why I drop them. I did this to Ms. Reichs after reading Book #1, but then heard such a compelling review of book #2 I bought it. However...

I still don't know about this book, or this series. It's interesting, highly descriptive, with some fairly good characters which I instantly liked. (I like her MC, Temperance Brennan.) But there is SO MUCH DETAIL. Plus, the MC does so many things, is always doing this, that, and ten other things and it's constant, and unending. In this book she digs up a woman (a nun) in an old church who is a candidate for sainthood. This leads to...

A mystery involving (maybe) a cult, and human sacrifice or murder or something (maybe) which Temperance, or Tempe, a physical anthropologist who assists with police investigations gets involved in. But she also teaches, juggles a complex personal life with an ex-husband, daughter and crazy sister, and does at least a dozen or more things EVERY DAY. Correcting papers; giving exams; teaching forensic science; working on skeletal remains - several at a time - and that's just the tip of the TempBrennan iceberg. She's like a wunderfem, if that's a word. It's constant, constant, constant and you wonder when she can take a breath. Every day she has a mental list of a dozen things she MUST do and MUST do NOW.

She flies to North Carolina; she flies back to Montreal. She's in 70+degree weather - no wait, it's like minus-40. (Fahrenheit in the US; up in Canada it's Celsius.) It's a busy, mind-boggling, you had better pay attention read. This is NOT a book you set down on Monday and pick up again on Friday. So I read it straight through, putting aside a Stephen King book (OMG) for Ms. Reichs.

As for the forensics? Complex. The explanation of how to remove a body - or bodies - in varying degrees of putrefaction is almost textbook-detail. And near the end of the book, endless pages of explaining what happened and why. Think infodump-to-the-max. That many readers like this kind of book is obvious. A TV series resulted from the series and multiple best-selling books to follow.

I found it a bit dizzying, though. So many characters. Multiple bodies being dug up. Multiple crimes. Lots of creepy sorts who might be responsible. A daughter to take care of. A crazy sister. A guy who she kind of sort likes. The weather. The environment - from ice storms to alligators, and a lovely cat named Birdie. How does the author keep it all straight?

So three stars for confusion, but even so, I probably will read the next book.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so the audios are good and they keep me interested but ugh, could it be set any farther than DC?

Yeah, I'm still salty about that!

Death du Jour was a pretty good second installment for the Temperance Brennan series. I am secretly, and not so secretly, loving the crap out of Tempy and Ryan! Now.. if he could become Booth mysteriously.. then I would be head over heels for this ship.

Now in this book, Temperance faces another murder mystery. However, that's not the only thing going on in her life. There's a slow burn of a romance going on between her and Detective Ryan. Then there's the whole problem of her showing up at the wrong place at the worst time possible. I definitely feel like her and her entire family should just go into hiding. Maybe then she will be safer?

Overall, I enjoyed the book but still felt like some parts were boring. I also wish the reader, aka me, knew what the hell these people were seeing! Like, the tv show but damn.. I hated finding out stuff towards the end when the characters figured it out in the beginning!

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two-haiku review:

Tempe gets saint's bones
Sister visits Montreal
Then bones in SC

Focus is on cults
Tempe's character evolves
Lots of description

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to say that I was disappointed in this book but I really was. I really have loved the other Temperance Brennan books that I've read by Kathy Reichs so I'm hoping the rest of the series is more like the others that I've read. Death du Jour was a predictable slow-burner for me. I also think one of the reasons I wasn't as drawn to it as the others is because it was extremely unrealistic.

I felt like there were 2-3 stories going on in one book and while they all did connect back, they were far fetched and didn't grab my attention. I had a hard time really being pulled into this one the same way that I was pulled into her other ones and I feel like it was because it was slow moving and didn't have the same thrilling characteristics as the other Temperance Brennan books I read.

However, for every negative there is a positive and I did enjoy learning more about the character of Temperance Brennan and her relationship with Andrew Ryan. I definitely plan on reading more in this series and as I said above am hoping that this was just a slow one.

[Joanne Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot believe that I have never read this series. My only complaint is that apparently I saw where the author was going with Harry way before Temperance!!

There are two separate story lines in this book, Temperance is trying to identify the remains of a nun that the church wants to declare a saint. I found this side story to be really interesting and way less gruesome then the main story line.
In the main story line Temperance finds herself tracking a murderer and running into a possible cult. Temperance puts herself on the line in order to solve the mystery.
A well written thriller and enough twists to keep me guessing.