Review: Grave Secrets

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 in this poor, war- ravaged country? 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 haunting 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 the haunted (although endearingly so) Kay Scarpetta. The tense and atmospheric conclusion inside a morgue 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.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Fiona Walker

Book Review: Grave Secrets