Inevitably compared with Patricia Cornwell, Reichs is actually in a different league' Sunday Times
Kathy Reichs serves as forensic anthropologist for the Offices of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratorie de Sciences Judiciaires et de Medecine Legale for the province of Quebec. A professor of anthropology at the University of North Caroline at Charlotte, she divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal.
Forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan departs from home turf to journey to Guatemala, where her skills will be tested to the limit. It was 1982 when soldiers entered the village of Chupan Ya and rounded up the women and children. No records were kept. Families and neighbours refer to their lost members as 'the disappeared'. The bodies are said to lie in a mass grave, and Tempe uncovers the bones of a child. Something savage happened in this village years ago. And something savage is happening today. Four girls are missing from Guatemala City, including the daughter of a government official. When a young archaeologist is murdered, Tempe realises that she may be the next victim in a web of intrigue that connects the historical and contemporary murders. Reichs on top form.
Forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan departs from home turf to journey to Guatemala, where her skills will be tested to the limit. It was 1982 when soldiers entered the village of Chupan Ya and rounded up the women and children. No records were kept. Families and neighbours refer to their lost members as 'the disappeared'. The bodies are said to lie in a mass grave, and Tempe uncovers the bones of a child. Something savage happened in this village years ago. And something savage is happening today. Four girls are missing from Guatemala City, including the daughter of a government official. When a young archaeologist is murdered, Tempe realises that she may be the next victim in a web of intrigue that connects the historical and contemporary murders. Reichs on top form.
Fans of the Temperance Brennan series will be pleased by forensic anthropologist Reichs's latest installment (after Fatal Voyage; Deadly Decisions; etc.). Grave Secrets finds Tempe plying her pathology trade in Guatemala, investigating a massacre site as a favor to a Guatemalan anthropology association. However, when her team is ambushed by gunmen, Tempe finds herself ensnared in a mesh of corruption and murder stretching from Guatemala City to Montreal, involving DAs, military thugs and kinky diplomats. Tempe finds herself drawn and trapped between the two cops investigating: her longtime Canadian suitor, Lt. Andrew Ryan, and her would-be Latin lover, agente Bartolom Galiano. That the two men know each other and are friends doesn't help the situation. When a nosy reporter looking into the massacre is gunned down before Tempe's eyes, she realizes she herself is the next likely target. As has been said before, Reichs has much in common with Patricia Cornwell, though her language is more stripped down and there is less melodrama between autopsies. Devotees of medical procedurals will appreciate the detailed descriptions of bone formation and the mechanics of bodily decomposition within a septic tank; others may not. But the author keeps the twists coming, and by the novel's climax, she has skillfully interwoven her many subplots and red herrings into a satisfying puddle of sex, sleaze, greed and gore. (July) Forecast: Reichs traveled to Guatemala herself in 2000 as part of a special forensic team. Her firsthand knowledge of the terrain shines through and should win her a few more devoted readers. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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