An engaging crime novel and it is interesting to read what goes into solving crimes such as these and how they can all link together. ( )

As I embarked up this novel I had very high hopes for it. Apart from any other considerations, I was intrigued by the setting, having previously had no knowledge about Montreal at all. Sadly, my initial rapture faded fairly quickly.

As I understand it, I believe Kathy Reichs was prompted to write this novel from a sense of pique at the success of Patricia Cornwell’s books featuring Dr Kay Scarpetta. Apparently Reichs felt that Scarpetta’s role and background was very close to her own, and believed that she might be able to do better. I am not convinced that she has, although to be fair, after a great start with her first four or five novels, I think that Patricia Cornwell started to lose her way, too.

However, enter Dr Temperance (‘Tempé’) Brennan, her counterpart to Lay Scarpetta. Brennan is American but has spent the last year working in Montreal, liaising with the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal, the local municipal police force, and the Sûreté du Québec which covers the whole of the Province. While I am sure that the technical content relating to the forensic anthropology and autopsy procedures is correct (or at least more than good enough to convince a scientific ignoramus such as myself), I found the story less than gripping. For a start it seems unnecessarily long, coming in at around 560 pages in the edition I read. That included an awful lot of padding.

I also felt that Ms Reichs succumbed to too many crime story tropes. Right from the beginning, Tempé’ finds herself clashing with Detective Claudel, the officer leading the investigation. While I am glad that I read this, I doubt that I will be pressing much further with the series. ( )

Audio book/unabridged. Pretty good forensic thriller, set in Montreal with anthropologist Tempe Brennan pursuing clues of a serial murderer. Tends to go overboard a little on the minutia and detail such as meticulously describing computer procedures to copy a picture.

With the beginning of season 7 TV series finally ended for me, but drug is a drug, so... I finally get to read the books.

Yes, it's all very different. Yes, that style is not really my kind of thing and I skip/jump a lot. Yes, there is emotional connection, albeit a very twisty one. ( )

I picked up this book in the airport. I wanted a crime thriller, and this seemed to fit the bill. I had assumed that it would be similar to the Bones TV show, and it took me a while to get into it when I realized it was nothing like Bones at all! The only thing the two have in common is the name of the main character, Temperance Brennan. But that's really where the similarities end. Once I came to terms with that, I found myself quickly sucked in to the novel, and I ended up enjoying it a great deal. The characters were vivid and well realized, and I enjoyed the setting (Montreal) more than I expected to. As a Canadian who's frequently visited Montreal, it was nice to see that Reichs has done her homework. The criminal anthropology work also came across as completely authentic, no doubt because Reichs is a forensic anthropologist herself. I was also pleasantly surprised by the smooth, engaging writing - not often present in a debut novel. I did have a few minor issues with the story (namely the fact that Tempe keeps making really dumb decisions and putting her life in danger in the process), but I was able to overlook those, suspend my disbelief, and thoroughly enjoy the story. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series! ( )