Grave Secrets

Audio book narrated by Katherine Borowitz

Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is in Guatemala working to excavate a decades-old mass grave and identify the bodies buried there, when she is asked to help local police with their investigation into the disappearance of four young women. Is there a serial killer on the loose? Why is the DA hampering the investigation? What is the Canadian ambassador’s wife hiding? Is the local detective truly interested in her – in a personal way – or is she imagining this because she misses Ryan?

Reichs crafts a fast-moving, intricate plot. The pace is unrelenting, with just enough scientific information to make Tempe an interesting professional, but not so much that the non-scientist reader loses show more interest. There are enough red herrings here to distract the most dedicated sleuth. I know that I was still thinking, “what about …?” when the final reveal came, and I like being surprised. But let’s talk about our heroine. Tempe is – for the most part – an independent and intelligent woman. She doesn’t take s**t from anyone and she’s pretty capable when it comes to taking care of herself. So why does she – yet again – go off chasing the bad guy without backup or even her cell phone? ARRGH. I typically give up on a series after about three or four installments; it’s not necessarily the fault of the author, but I get bored reading about the same character in similar settings over and over again. Grave Secrets is the 5th in this series, and I may have reached my limit.

Borowitz does a great job narrating this thriller. Her pacing is quick, and she does a reasonable job of the various accents required in this story. I’d listen to her again. show less

Grave Secrets takes place in Guatemala, and it seems that Reichs has gotten the hang of translating foreign phrases in her text, and although I understand Spanish, it’s certainly welcome.
While not as fast paced and compelling as her last novel, this is still a solid mystery with several red herrings that were not too poorly utilized. Reichs really wants to highlight the struggles and victimization of indigenous Guatemalans and pay tribute to those brutalized by the government until as recently as 1996. That’s quite admirable, but those parts of the story don’t have a lot to do with the rest of it, except as a device to get Tempe to Guatemala in the first place.
The best part is the intensifying relationship between Tempe and show more Ryan, but when Tempe works with Detective Galiano to solve the Guatemalan murders it seems Ryan may have a rival for Tempe’s affection. Ooooh, who will she choose? show less

I love this series, and I typically enjoy following Tempe on her adventures, but I slogged a bit through this one. I enjoyed the Guatemalan setting and learning more about the human rights issues, but I got super annoyed with Tempe herself. She seemed so prickly in this book for no good reason. She was harsh with Ryan at every opportunity. The love triangle seemed contrived and, frankly, expected. It's as though every long-running series with a female protagonist at some point introduces the dreaded love triangle. It's Stephanie Plum all over again. If I wanted Stephanie, I'd read Janet Evanovich. I come to Kathy Reichs for more in-depth characterization, and I feel like this installment veered away from that quite a bit. Hopefully, the show more next one will bring us back on track. show less

Another complex murder mystery spanning the present and the past, this time set in post-civil war Guatemala. Perpetrators of war crimes in the 70s and 80s are still hiding their crimes by any means necessary. Ryan swoops in somewhat more plausibly than in the previous book, but this time he has competition...

In Kathy Reichs' fifth novel, the story takes us to a Guatemalan village, the site of a political massacre during that country's civil war. Although the bloody struggles that took the lives of thousands occurred from 1962 to 1996, an international team of forensic experts that includes Dr. Temperance Brennan has been asked to excavate a mass grave site, identify victims and determine how they died. Even though it's only a short-term assignment, Tempe is finding it to be one of the most depressing projects she's ever been involved with. As the villagers look on, the team excavates an old well to remove the bodies of women and children murdered by government soldiers. They are hoping to find evidence that would identify those responsible show more and, more importantly, identify the victims so their families can give them a decent burial.

Their heart-wrenching work is made even more stressful by an attack on two of their team members by what are presumably local thieves. One teammate is killed, but the other, left for dead, lingers in a coma fighting for her life. With this new violence, everything changes, both for the team and for Tempe, who's asked by the Guatemalan police for her expertise on another case. Four wealthy young women have vanished from Guatemala City in recent months. One is the Canadian ambassador's daughter. Some remains have turned up in a septic tank, and Tempe unfortunately knows septic tanks.

Grave Secrets is very interesting as both a suspense mystery and from the forensics aspect of a real-life event in Guatemala. It has some strong characters and a tension-filled plot. There's a mix of humor as well, which you need for some of the more unpleasant aspects of the forensics that are an integral part of this story. show less

Reading this at the same time as an Alice Munro book made Reichs' lack of writing style more obvious. It's not that her mysteries are bad, or badly written, but her strength is in describing forensic methods in detail. Dialogue is the abrupt, rapid-fire, smart-ass approach, without grace or polish. Plots follow a formula involving Brennan: a) up to her eyes in some kind of gruesome gore (this time a septic tank); b) getting mad at authority; c) being in peril; and d) fancying the nearest hunk (there is always one handy). I have enjoyed the books read so far, but I'm over Reichs now.

I think I am already desensitized to the depiction of almost any kind of violence and death. Too much watching and reading stuff on the Internets. Lost case. Will not cure. But here some of this “but” parts... In the books about Temperance (it will sound strange) I have found that I still can feel at least when I know someone is feeling it too. Her account of feelings makes me feel too. I don’t know really how - probably mix of details and self aware truthfulness. And one other thing that series shines light on – moral compass. It manages to show what it looks like without preaching.