Book Review: Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

I just finished listening to the Audible presentation of Grave Secrets and as much as I love Bones and Tempe Brennan, I think I would have enjoyed this presentation more reading it or having a different narrator.

This review applies to the audible version.

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, heartbreaking dig, Tempe Brennan pieces together the violence of the past. But a fresh wave of terror begins when the horrific sounds of a fatal attack on two colleagues come in on a blood-chilling satellite call. Teaming up with Special Crimes Investigator Bartolomé Galiano and Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, Tempe quickly becomes enmeshed in the cases of four privileged young women who have vanished from Guatemala City — and finds herself caught in deadly territory where power, money, greed, and science converge.

This was my first Kathy Reichs' book after having watched Bones for years. The narration often left me sleepy, but I was interested in the stories of the girls and how they all tied together. I would recommend the print version over the audible version in this case.

I am now reading her books from the beginning (mostly for the Andrew Ryan back story) and getting a feel for how Reichs' writing may have improved over the years. I started into the series knowing that the Temperance Brennan in these books is supposed to be an older and wiser version than our beloved Tempe in Bones, so I have no gripe about the character discrepancies there. The Tempe in the books is much more human and emotional, less logical and reserved.

In Grave Secrets we travel from Guatemala to Canada and back. We learn a bit about Ryan's college days, a possible new love interest for Tempe, political intrigue (ok, not so much, but politicians are trying to cover up a myriad of sins). And Tempe is almost murdered at least twice. I don't know if this is normal for the series or not, but I do enjoy a heroine who gets herself into that much trouble.

I may have to re-read the book in print, but overall I enjoyed it.

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