Deja Dead: A Novel (Temperance Brennan Book 1) by Kathy Reichs (MOBI)

Description

The first Temperance Brennan novel in the “cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series” (The New York Times Book Review) from the #1 internationally bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs.

Her life is devoted to justice—even for those she never knew.

In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Québec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Temperance detects an alarming pattern—and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. But her investigation is about to place those closest to her—her best friend and her own daughter—in mortal danger…

“A genius at building suspense” (Daily News, New York), Kathy Reichs’s Temperance Brennan books are both “accomplished and chilling” (People) and “ripe with intricate settings and memorable characters” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

User’s Reviews

Review “Great, suspenseful fun.” —New York Newsday “As good as Cornwell at her best.” —Detroit Free Press “Accomplished and chilling.” —People “What makes Deja Dead so compelling, in addition to the authoritative descriptions of how a forensic scientist ‘reads’ the story the bones tell, is the character of Brennan—smart, persistent, gutsy, ironic yet vulnerable.” —Judy Stoffman, Toronto Star “Kathy Reichs knows how to put all [of her] exotic experience into a novel…. Quebec’s own Southern gal give[s] Cornwell a run for the money.” —Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I was a little hesitant to read this book after having read some of the reviews on it. There are a couple points from other reviews I’ll borrow here.The book and the TV show are completely different. “Bones” as Det. Booth so affectionately refers to her, is a completely different character to the Temperance Brennan of the books. They are both Dr. Temperance Brennan. They are both forensic anthropologists. That’s where all similarities end.Although a little disappointed because I do love the show- the book isn’t worse than the show or better really, they are just different. As another reviewer recommended: separate the two. You won’t come away feeling cheated or disappointed. I thought going in, this would be hard to do. I generally like comparing the shows/movies to their written counterparts. Given the total lack of similarities between them, it wasn’t at all difficult to think of them separately.I really enjoyed this book. I will definitely continue with the series. A lot of the science was above my head but fascinating. I love that this particular book was set in Montreal. I felt the author captured the feeling of the city well. There is a lot of repetitive and obvious foreshadowing. Some try to claim this as a twist- I don’t think it’s a twist or that it’s even meant to be viewed that way. It’s just a piece of the story you were warned about.The plot was exciting and kept me turning the page. I kept trying to solve some parts for myself but it was difficult because the author often doesn’t give you the whole picture (although thinking back- it could be that I missed the mention of some things. I may go back and re-read). To clarify- I’m not speaking about the “whodunnit” aspect, I’m speaking more to the mysteries within the mysteries, what is the link between the bodies, are St. Jacques and Tanguay the same man, etc.I liked Tempe of the book. She isn’t logical to the point of extreme like Bones, but logical and reasonable in a way that seems both smart and human. She was fiery in the face of adversity, and I enjoyed her revelations at the end about why she was so interested in the case.I also liked Detective Ryan, who kind of plays hero to Brennan’s damsel in distress. Det. Claudel starts out as a minor anti-hero, but wins you over in the end.I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because some parts do drag. I think I witnessed every meal Brennan ate and could have plotted on a map where she was driving in the city. If the author had done away with them completely it would have made for a tighter, cleaner read, but all in all they didn’t bother me much.

⭐ As big fan of the TV series Bones, at least the first few seasons, I hoped to really like this book; but I can’t say that I did. Three reasons I can identify:It needs a good ruthless editing pass. There are small things: the lights of an office tower don’t in fact flicker like lightning (absent a looming power failure), “his face did the World Cup of wry” is just silly, the descriptions of poor people, sex workers, and the “gay city” are painfully cliched, and so on. And then there is lots of simple overwriting, where I found myself marking paragraphs and whole ebook pages with “cut this”, or “why do I care?”. Given that it was a first novel and the author wasn’t yet famous, I don’t know how these survived the editors.Second, the book is just bleak. The protagonist seems to have a sort of resigned hatred toward her job, her city, her friends, and herself. Forensic anthropology doesn’t enable her to rush in and save someone, it just helps her think extra-bleak thoughts after she fails to. Where TV Brennan is admirably but comically hyper-rational, novel Brennan is a constant emotional mess.And (third) there’s not much forensic anthropology! The main factor that leads to cracking the case is an unlikely random connection to Brennan’s personal life (more than one unlikely random connection, come to think of it). We do get one (entirely too detailed, literally down to the mouse-click) description of matching images of bite-marks, but it only eliminates a suspect.So anyway! I suppose I’m being pretty tough here, likely because I was hoping for something more like a Bones episode, and I got something wordy and bleak instead. Obviously my opinion is not universal, so don’t take my sole word. Maybe I’ll try one of the sequels and see if my opinion changes! Someday.

⭐ I had heard good things about Kathy Reichs, about how her approach to an ME’s job was quite different from what you might have previously read from Jeffery Deaver or Patricia Cornwell. In fact while this subject matter interests me, I found that these two authors tend to cover the same ground with each episode in their series. That caused me to begin my search for something unique in this field.This is the debut novel of Ms. Reichs and introduces Temperance (Tempe) Brennan as her main character. She works in Montreal and that alone provides a different perspective on this field of employment. The laws are different, the procedures used are fairly standard, but the Law Enforcement Agencies also operate in a distinct manner. A Medical Examiner typically doesn’t involve himself/herself in the actual tracking of a criminal. But in the world of serial killers, especially those who are highly organized, the solution of the crimes often follows the uncovering of some small bit of evidence.It is very obvious why Kathy Reichs won the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Her writing is clear and concise, her characters well developed, her scenes painted in vivid colors, and her language is posed often in both English and French. She provides a lot of detail and is very technically oriented when describing the various forensic methods that Tempe employs. In fact the detail may put some readers off but it certainly adds to the author’s credibility. Of course that only makes sense because Ms. Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the state of North Carolina. She knows of what she speaks.Her writing abilities convinced me to order some of her other books to see if her perspective and/or skills have changed over the 21 novels she has authored. Of the 21 books she has written, 20 of them are in the Temperance Brennan series. Tempe is driven, she is intelligent, but her people skills often vary somewhat from what is considered acceptable. That makes her an imperfect hero and a very interesting character.

⭐ Having been a fan of the TV series based on the novels I decided to go and read the origin story. I regret to say the novel was hard to finish because I grew very angry at the foolish decision making of the lead character. She is a highly educated professional but behaves in such a manner that her personality conflicts with her coworkers cause several times as much trouble as they solve. In the end she survives much more by luck than skill, and she creates hard feelings that make it more difficult for other professional women to succeed in the workplace where professional conduct is crucial to acceptance.

⭐ I’ll not do a comparison of the novel to the TV show “Bones.” Let the book stand on its ownAuthor, Kathy Reichs, is a forensic anthropologist and has modeled the protagonist, Temperance Brennan, in this series of novels somewhat after her own experiences.That being said, its best you like very detailed description. For that’s what you have throughout the book. The woman know very well what she’s talking about.I found I liked the detail very well at first. Halfway through it got to be somewhat wearisome. Parts of the story which have nothing to do with the plot become entrenched in detail, as well. That’s when I started skimming.The plot, I felt, has a major flaw. There’s obviously a serial killer on the loose who murders women, then badly mutilates them. How is it Ms. Brennan can’t get the Montreal cops to make sense of this. The cops just can’t see the forest for the trees until far into the book. Tempe is really forced to go a bit rogue and take some matters into her own hands.The book has some twists and I found the ending favorable.I should mention I’ve read a few other Reichs books and decided to go back to Brennan’s roots. This being the first in the series.Ms. Reichs has ironed out some flaws in succeeding novels, making this an enjoyable series

⭐ thanks for nothing. (Author Ken Bruen is the one responsible for my having wasted time on this garbage). From Bruen’s brilliant Neo-noir work “The Guards”: seeing a nun reading a Patricia Cornwell novel, Bruen’s intelligent and well read character comments “I prefer Kathy Reichs.” Shame on him (Bruen) one simply has to assume that one of two things, either Reichs is a friend of Bruen’s, or Ken Bruen has made the assumption that because a well above average television series was based on Reichs’ character, that the novels themselves are worthwhile.Sorry, but there is simply isn’t any way that someone who writes with the intelligence of Bruen, not to mention his character, a man acquainted with and appreciative of such obscure and underrated films such as Cutter’s Way and familiar with the novels of David Goodis and Jim Thompson, could have actually have read Reichs’ stuff and hold such an opinion. While Cornwell’s novels are hardly great art, Reichs’ mess rarely even rises to the level of mediocre.I simply refuse to believe that the author of “The Guards” could hold such an opinion if he’d actually read “Deja Dead”.

⭐ This was my 2nd or 3rd time reading “Deja Dead,” and I thoroughly enjoy it every time. I love this entire series. Just a heads up: if you’re coming to the books from watching “Bones” on TV, these books don’t fit with the series; I like both, but the only thing they really have in common is the name Temperance Brennan and picking over the bones of dead people. Kathy Reichs is a fantastic writer, and I’ll take her prose any day over the other forensic writers (who seem way too focused on describing their protagonist’s cooking habits and relationships for my liking). Brennan is a smart, complex character, frustrated when dealing with disrespectful cops, in her element when brainstorming with equals, and down to earth – qualities I appreciate in a strong protagonist. Excellent read. Highly recommend it.

⭐ This is Kathy Reichs’ first novel, and comes with some highs and lows. Right off, I was impressed with the author’s talent at description. She sets a good stage and great visuals. However, this talent also goes a little overboard to the point of being unnatural. Another weakness is that the lead character Temperance Brennan borders on totally annoying. It’s really difficult to invest in a series where the main character is unlikeable. She has a huge chip on her shoulder, and makes questionable decisions. It weakens the storyline. I will read book two to see if all the elements smooth into place. This book’s a little on the violent and gory/thriller side of mysteries. Not my favorite, but the clues and pacing are good.

⭐ This is the first in a long series of books featuring an ongoing character, Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist. Here, she is working in Montreal for the Province of Quebec in the Laboratoire de Medecine Legale, roughly, the Morgue/Coroner’s Office, but she is from the States, North Carolina, and not yet quite acclimatized to francophone Canada. She is also subjected to levels of quiet gender discrimination from her male colleagues which are startlingly non-professional even for 1997, the year of publication. (She gets her own back, somewhat, by mentally noting how a police colleague fills out his jeans, but it’s all very non-verbal.)The book is a good, if lengthy, read. The suspense is sustained and the characters are well-drawn, but the flow is periodically disrupted by long tracts of exposition. We get pages and pages of information on the process of decomposition of buried bodies, the signatures of various types of saw and knife left on the bones of dismembered victims, and the various manifestations of mental illness in serial killers. In sum, it borders on Too Much. There is also an excess of information on streets and locations in downtown Montreal. We incessantly drive down A, turn right at B, circle the blocks bounded by C and D, and arrive at E. Fine for Montrealers, but less than gripping for anyone who lives elsewhere on the planet.As noted, this outing is only the first in what became a long series, and Ms. Reichs may have long gotten over her discursiveness. I intend to read more of her to find out. Four stars.

⭐ Decided out of curiosity to see what Book 1 was like. As everyone writes, this is not the Dr. Brennan of the TV series–much more articulate, much more self-aware (maybe too much so), and not such a caricature of a social klutz (objective sex aside). A divorced woman with a college-age daughter. And in book 1 at least with mostly unfriendly and non-genius colleagues within the Montréal crime/investigative building. The novel is also much more graphic and gruesome than anything seen on the screen. Told from Brennan’s point of view, so extremely observant of details, which are nicely described. In retrospect, the TV show now seems like a comic strip (and the show’s dialogue was never natural).

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