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Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:As fresh and shocking as today's headlines, a bone-chilling Tempe Brennan novel of international black marketeering in fetal tissue, decades old mass murder, and contemporary homicide from New York Times bestselling author and world-class forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. It was a summer morning in 1982 when soldiers ravaged the village of Chupan Ya, raping and killing women and children. Twenty-three victims are said to lie in the well where, twenty years later, Dr. Temperance Brennan and a team from the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation now dig. No records were kept. To their families, the dead are "the disappeared." Forensic anthropologist for the medical examiners in North Carolina and Montreal, Tempe is in Guatemala for a month's service to help some families identify and bury their dead. She digs in a cold, damp pit where she finds a hair clip, a fragment of cloth, a tiny sneaker. Her trowel touches something hard: the hip of a child no more than two years old. It's heartbreaking work. Something savage happened here twenty years ago. The violence continues today. The team is packing up for the day when an urgent satellite call comes in. Two colleagues are under attack. Shots ring out, and Tempe listens in horror to a woman's screams. Then there is silence. Dead silence. With this new violence, everything changes, both for the team and for Tempe, who's asked by the Guatemalan police for her expertise on another case. Four privileged young women have vanished from Guatemala City in recent months. One is the Canadian ambassador's daughter. Some remains have turned up in a septic tank, and Tempe unfortunately knows septic tanks. Teaming with Special Crimes Investigator Bartolomé Galiano, and with Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, who may have more than just professional reasons to join her on the case, Tempe soon finds herself in a dangerous web that stretches far beyond Guatemala's borders. The stakes are huge. As power, money, greed, and science converge, Tempe must make life-altering choices. From cutting-edge science in the lab, where Tempe studies fetal bones and cat hair DNA, to a chilling encounter in a lonely morgue, Grave Secrets is powerful, page-turning entertainment from a crime fiction superstar who combines riveting authenticity with witty, elegant pros… (more)
User reviews
I like the main character, Brennan. She's
As she digs in the cold, damp soil, clues emerge: a hair clip, a tiny sneaker, the hip bone of a child less than two years old. Something savage happened in the highlands two decades ago, and something savage is happening today. Four girls are missing from Guatemala City, and the victims may be linked.
An American human rights investigator is murdered as Tempe listens to her screams on the phone. Will Tempe be the next victim in a web of intrigue that spans decades?
Ms Reichs has a good feel for the government and people of Guatemala. She makes good point about how differently a crime is treated when a major diplomat’s daughter is involved as opposed to an ordinary citizen. She has woven a deliciously twisted tail that had me reading into the wee hours of the night.
I bought this novel and "Grave Secrets" at Realeyesbookstore in Charlotte NC on 12/02/05 evidently from the receipt. Ms. Reichs had quite a group squeezed into the tiny bookstore and was actually promoting another novel which the
My digital camera's batteries were on the fritz and my knowledge of the controls was limited but I got a few photos of the event.
And when do we see something happening between
Temperence Brennan, Book 5; Crime; 7/10
Strange as it more sound for books about forensic anthropology, Kathy Reichs is my palate-cleanser author. I read her when I need to break from everything else, enjoy the books and can usually read them in a day or two. So I always
This novel is not as powerful as her others but still a great read with an intrigueing plot.
There is a smigen of preaching (easily ignored) when the author's political bent bleeds
While not as fast paced and compelling as her last novel, this is still a solid mystery with several red
The best part is the intensifying relationship between Tempe and Ryan, but when Tempe works with Detective Galiano to solve the Guatemalan murders it seems Ryan may have a rival for Tempe’s affection. Ooooh, who will she choose?
Read as part of a Bookcrossing Bookray.
Thankfully I've reached a point in this series of books where I've forgotten exactly what is happening in the books. Bits do come back to me as I'm reading, though not always the whole solution so I still don't know exactly what's going to happen. The last time I read this book was way back in 2007, so the last five years have done wonders at restoring the suspense in these stories. For the most part, I'm feeling like I'm reading the book for the first time.
When I'm reading one of these books for the first time (or if it feels like the first time because it's been half a decade since you last read it - seriously? where have the last five years gone?) one of the things that always stands out to me is the way Kathy Reichs does cliffhangers. I swear it's the reason why I was able to read this one so quickly. With the earlier books in the series I didn't feel that same urgency to find out 'whodunnit' because I could remember perfectly well thankyouverymuch.
When you've forgotten who the murderer is, it's so much easier to get lost in the tale. Kathy Reichs has this wonderful was of ending a chapter on a sort of dun dun DUN! moment, so after you've told yourself 'just one more chapter' you end up having to read on to find out what the outcome of the moment it. Of course, it's usually something which is quickly explained in the next chapter, although sometimes it's cunningly not revealed until the following page so you can't just scan ahead to find out the answer.
As I was reading, I did find a couple of bit a little confusing. My main problem with getting confuzzled with Kathy Reichs books is that there's always so many people involved in the cases that I find it easy to get a little muddled. Of course, that's also a good thing in one respect; in real life it wouldn't just be one person off solving the case. It just can mean a bit of back-tracking while you're reading to nip back and check on who it was who was running an analysis, or who was a suspect in the murder, or whatever. It was also dealing with a part of the world (and its associated history) which I know very little about, so I can understand that may have added a little to my moments of confusion.
This one does still manage to follow the usual format of a Tempe Brennan story, despite her being in a different country. Around about Chapter 30 she ends up being attacked and the end of the story is revealed mostly though the other people recounting things to her. It is a little predictable in that respect, but it's an easy read.
I'm pleased that I'm getting near to the end of the ones I've already read. As much as I'm enjoying rediscovering the ones I've read before, I can't wait to get onto the ones I've never read before.
Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is in Guatemala working to excavate a decades-old mass grave and identify the bodies buried there, when she is asked to help local police with their investigation into the disappearance of four young women. Is there a
Reichs crafts a fast-moving, intricate plot. The pace is unrelenting, with just enough scientific information to make Tempe an interesting professional, but not so much that the non-scientist reader loses interest. There are enough red herrings here to distract the most dedicated sleuth. I know that I was still thinking, “what about …?” when the final reveal came, and I like being surprised. But let’s talk about our heroine. Tempe is – for the most part – an independent and intelligent woman. She doesn’t take s**t from anyone and she’s pretty capable when it comes to taking care of herself. So why does she – yet again – go off chasing the bad guy without backup or even her cell phone? ARRGH. I typically give up on a series after about three or four installments; it’s not necessarily the fault of the author, but I get bored reading about the same character in similar settings over and over again. Grave Secrets is the 5th in this series, and I may have reached my limit.
Borowitz does a great job narrating this thriller. Her pacing is quick, and she does a reasonable job of the various accents required in this story. I’d listen to her again.
It was a summer morning in 1982 when soldiers ravaged the village of Chupan Ya, raping and killing women and children. Twenty-three victims are said to lie in the well where, twenty years later, Dr. Temperance Brennan and a team from the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology
Forensic anthropologist for the medical examiners in North Carolina and Montreal, Tempe is in Guatemala for a month's service to help some families identify and bury their dead. She digs in a cold, damp pit where she finds a hair clip, a fragment of cloth, a tiny sneaker. Her trowel touches something hard: the hip of a child no more than two years old.
It's heartbreaking work. Something savage happened here twenty yers ago. The violence continues today. The team is packing up for the day when an urgent satellite call comes in. Two colleagues are under attack. Shots ring out, and Tempe listens in horror to a woman's screams. Then there is silence. Dead silence.
With this new violence, everything changes, both for the team and for Tempe, who's asked by the Guatemalan police for her expertise on another case. Four privileged young women have vanished from Guatemala City in recent months. One is the Canadian ambassador's daughter. Some remains have turned up in a septic tank, and Tempe unfortunately knows septic tanks.
Teaming with Special Crimes Investigator Bartolome Galiano and with Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, who may have more than just professional reasons to join her on the case, Tempe soon finds herself in a dangerous web that stretches far beyond Guatemala's borders. The stakes are huge. As power, money, greed, and science converge, Tempe must make life altering choices.
From cutting-edge science in the lab, where Tempe studies fetal bones and cat hair DNA, to a chillin encounter in a lonely morgue, Grave Secrets is powerful, page-turning entertainment from a crime fiction superstar who combines riveting authenticity with witty, elegant prose.
My Comments
I just don't like mysteries. I think it's probably because I'm not a big fan of suspense. I would much prefer to just get into the character's minds, and read a character study book than read a fast-paced mystery book with twists and turns. I just can't get into them.
This book started out pretty well. I liked the stuff with the Disappeared in Guatemala, and even the parts where she started the other investigation. Actually, I thought it was actually pretty interesting until the last fifty pages, when they brought in stuff that came out of nowhere and that I thought was totally...well, silly. It was an okay book. I have to admit it was better than other mysteries I've read, anyway.
Published 2002 by Scribner
A harrowing excavation unearths a chilling tragedy never laid to rest.
They are “the disappeared,” twenty-three massacre victims buried in a well in the Guatemalan village of Chupan Ya two decades ago. Leading a team of experts on a meticulous,
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Omslagsfotografi: Photomica
Omslaget viser en husfacade, som ikke er ret velholdt
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Tempe Brennan, bind 5
Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Quebec
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813.54 |