From the Bookshelf of 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]…

Déjà Dead (Temperance Brennan, #1)

Kathy Reichs

Start date: December 20, 2014

Discussion: . Week 1: More Than 500 Pages

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. Week 1: More Than 500 Pages

* Week 1: Introduction
By Jessica · 102 posts · 1093 views

last updated Aug 11, 2015 02:06PM

* Week 1: Progress Post
By Jessica · 100 posts · 421 views

last updated Nov 06, 2015 06:29AM

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Apr 01, 2023 Mary Anne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, book-club, kindled, library, series, mystery

So like a few folks, I went into this book thinking it would be similar to the Bones series. Not unreasonable; the television series is (loosely) based on this series, and that's also why I suggested the book for our book club (book that inspired a series or movie adaptation; why didn't I suggest Louise Penny?!). Anyway, I don't think it's fair to judge this book based on its similarity to a series that came after the book. The similarities include: the main character is a woman, her name is Tem So like a few folks, I went into this book thinking it would be similar to the Bones series. Not unreasonable; the television series is (loosely) based on this series, and that's also why I suggested the book for our book club (book that inspired a series or movie adaptation; why didn't I suggest Louise Penny?!). Anyway, I don't think it's fair to judge this book based on its similarity to a series that came after the book. The similarities include: the main character is a woman, her name is Temperance Brennan, and she's a cultural anthropologist who specializes in bone analysis. That's it.

So I tried to keep an open mind and separate the series from the book, and that was fairly easy to do. Temperance (Tempe) is a director of forensic anthropology in Quebec, although she is from North Carolina. I found it difficult to really get interested in Tempe, and I kind of didn't care what happened to her. Her personality was a little difficult to pin down, except for the fact that she loses her patience very quickly and is quick to anger. She's pretty hostile to the investigators that she works with (although she seems fine with other folks in the forensics department). They are also generally not super fond of her (Claudel especially), which would give the impression that there's some shared history there. But if there is, it's not shown to us. Sure, there's some frustration in a demanding job, and no one likes to be told how to do their job. But still, it's just weird and not explained clearly. I do like that at some point, after staying up late roaming the streets of Quebec, Tempe realizes that she's so determined to get involved because the job is overwhelming her, and it's good that she takes a holiday with her daughter at the end of the book.

Details about her family stuff is also unclear. There's a husband she left (are they divorced? I don't remember) and very little elaboration there. I also found her friendship with Gabby to be super weird. By the end of the book they were apparently best friends, and I know all friendships are different, but wow, Tempe did not treat her like a best friend.

The writing style also just did not really work for me. The book was easily too long. I started skimming some of the details because they were a little overwhelming and did not add to my enjoyment of the book. I completely understand that Reichs is kind of sharing her own knowledge here, and since her narrator is a forensics anthropologist, it makes sense. But as a reader, I was not interested. I also didn't love the whole keeping findings away from her audience multiple times. I get that as a writing device, but I didn't find it to be successful here in managing my own impatience with the author. Honestly the first 50% of the book was a complete slog; I almost got interested around 75% of the way in.

The mystery itself was incredibly dark, but it worked for the book. There were a lot of names and details, so I myself got lost often.

I don't think I'll keep reading this series, although I do hear that Reichs's writing style does get better in later books, and I suppose I wouldn't be totally opposed.

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PS. Slowly potentially drawing back from Amazon services. If you all ever go to The StoryGraph, let's be friends there! Here's my profile. ...more

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Jan 26, 2015 Jill Robinson rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, 2015, dolly-reading-challenge-2015

I read this because I love the show Bones. It was nothing like Bones but maybe I need to read more in the series. I did think the main character was unrealistically stupid in some of the things she did. But I loved the science behind it all.

Dolly reading challenge 2015: a book that scares you (was going to be a book made into a tv show but this book really did scare me! I couldn't read it before bed....hence taking almost two weeks to read) ...more

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