Rating: 
Summary: Muddy waters
Review: In this, the 5th in the series of Tempe Brennan books, the initial departure from the Canada/North Carolina loop has Tempe unearthing victims of a 20 year old mass murder in Guatemala. In the meantime, 4 local girls are missing, one the daughter of the Canadian Ambassador. And, to further muddy the waters, a skeleton is found in a septic tank. Lucky for the Guatemalan people, one of the foremost experts in the world on septic tank evacuations happens to be in their back yard working on the mass murder case.
The plots twist, turn, and intertwine. Tempe herself is in some danger, but from whom? And if her life isn't busy enough, a new man enters giving rise to the possibility of an improvement in her social life.
Kathy Reichs is brilliant when it comes to story telling. No doubt her career gives her story lines galore. Each of the Brennan books includes what I consider to be a fascinating lesson in forensics and this was no exception.
The 3 star rating in this case may be party as a result from comparisons to the other books in this series. The trips from Canada to N Carolina were starting to seem like a stretch in the other books. The Canada/Guatemala connection seemed even more of a stretch, as did the "frat-boy" relationship between Tempe's ongoing future flame Ryan and new friend Galiano. Keeping Ryan at arm's length is starting to get old---either go somewhere with this relationship or dump him and move on. I got my hopes up in this book, but that's all I'll say on that one.
The twisting/turning plot lines were each interesting in their own right. I would have preferred a couple of them to have been left out, it started to get a little convoluted. The story of the attack on the village of Chupan Ya that resulted in the cruel murders of innocent women and children could have been explored in more depth. If Reichs wanted to make a political point regarding this issue, then it should have been dealt with more thoroughly. In the end, all plot lines, while worthwhile, were not given the attention they deserved.
The characters were all well written and believable. Some did not get as much attention as they probably deserved.
The end of the story was pulled together a little too quickly for my taste, after sending us off into all these different directions, it seemed trite for it all to tie up into such a nice neat little package in about 2 chapters.
Overall, a good read. Technically, she did her homework. But it could have been even better if she were willing to drop some of the hallmarks of the series such as the flying from place to place and the tired relationship with Ryan. I would not skip this book, but if you're new to the series read the others before giving up.
Rating: 
Summary: Dead and Buried
Review: Grave Secrets , the fifth Temperance Brennan novel, is another excellent addition to the series which has blasted Kathy Reichs to fame. This time, Tempe is sent to Guatemala to recover the bodies of the dead (known as "the Disappeareds") massacred during that country's vile civil war. It is in the village of Chupan Ya that she uncovers 28 dead bodies, and on the way to the site, two other forensic scientists are attacked on the road, shot, and left for dead. It is the beginning of an investigation which will haunt Tempe in the coming weeks. Shortly after, her help is sought by the local police. Four teenage girls have gone missing in Guatemala City, and one of them is the daughter of the Canadian Ambassador. Is there a serial killer at work? Soon after, a decomposing body is found in a septic tank of a local hotel, and the investigating begins in earnest. Reichs' writing is sharp; the plotting tight and complex. Her characters are interesting, often drawn with only a few choice words, and her descriptions of the dead are brilliant. Reichs' books ring with authenticity, as she has been and done the same sorts of things as her main character. This fuels the writing with realism and a relentless compassion for the dead, which really comes out in the story. She never lets you forget that these people walked, breathed, laughed, talked...that they used to be us. Her use of forensic detail is interesting, and the way she writes about science doesn't make you feel as if you're reading a textbook. (In this area, she is almost on a par with Cornwell.) However, with this book there is one too many plot lines, leading them to become confused in the mind of the reader. However, careful reading does tend to remedy this. Guatemala is described well, the horrors of the war still brood over the landscape. Tempe's relationship with Ryan develops and complicates with this book when she also finds herself attracted to a Guatemalan police officer, who once knew Ryan. Tempe's conflict is done well and serves to bolster the roundness of her character. Being a devout Cornwell fan (I even liked Isle of Dogs ) it is hard for me to say, but Tempe is a more realistic, well drawn, and likeable character than Kay Scarpetta. The... conclusion... is chilling, and brings the book to a satisfying close. While Grave Secrets is not quite as good as last year's offering (Fatal Voyage), it is still first class.
Rating: 
Summary: Annoying dialogue
Review: I bought this book in Dubai, U.A.E., because I'd finished Dan Brown's excellent book, "Digital Fortress", and needed reading material for the airplane trip. What drew me in to "Grave Secrets", was the intriguing storyline. However, after the first couple of chapters, the "so-called police humor/witty repartee" became utterly annoying. "Number One Bestseller". Yes, I bought it. What a sucker.
Rating:
Summary: AN A-ONE READING OF REICHS
Review: With numerous film, television and stage appearances to her credit veteran actress Katherine Borowitz knows how to deliver - and deliver she does in her reading of
Kathy Reichs's fifth novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. This time out we find Tempe in Guatemala where she is assisting in exhuming a mass grave, the final resting place of women and children who were raped and slain by soldiers during a 1982 attack on their village. No one knows for certain who is in the grave; no records were kept. To the families of those missing their loved ones have simply disappeared. Meanwhile, in Guatemala City, where four young women have been reported missing recently, remains are found in a septic tank. Could those remains be the Canadian Ambassador's daughter? Tempe is asked for help by the Guatemalan police. But as she investigates further she finds herself almost trapped in a web of crime and coverup. As always, Reichs, who is a forensic anthropologist herself, laces her suspenseful tale with authentic medical description. The author's expertise simply makes her stories more shudderingly real. Reichs tops the list in her genre. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but not as solid as first four Tempe stories
Review: We eagerly dived into this fifth book about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, having thoroughly enjoyed the earlier four stories about her crime solving from a rather different perspective. From the study of bones, sometimes long buried skeletons, Tempe, as in real life does author Dr. Kathy Reichs, is usually able to determine age, race, and gender of the victim; often the means and manner of death; and sometimes even enough clues to pursue the perpetrator. While reminiscent of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, the Montreal, North Carolina, and sometimes other settings, coupled with supporting characters in each location, plus the somewhat unique challenges of the analysis involved, lead to entertaining stories and characters we have come to enjoy. In Grave Secrets, Tempe is stationed on assignment in Guatemala, where much of the book is devoted to first her unearthing, then her aiding in the identifying, of two dozen remains of executions of women and children from during the long, 34-year Guatemalan civil war. The atrocities described to us during that period darkened the whole book; presuming this is mostly if not completely fact based, surely a depressing recounting of human cruelty and suffering. Meanwhile, two other stories compete for Tempe's (and our) attention: the case of a skeleton found in a septic tank, and all the interesting technical feats involved in ID'ing the victim; and the disappearance of four missing young women. Pursuing and resolving these cases involved the participation of two leading men in the story - detective Galiano, whom Tempe comes to like, of the Guatemalen PD; and long-time Canadian associate and romantic interest Andrew Ryan, who just "happens" to be old buddies with Galiano and is apparently free to run back and forth to Canada with little restraint. That one of the missing women is the Canadian ambassador's daughter opens the rationale for much of the goings-on as well as much of the suspense. The book concludes with a bedtime cliffhanger in the style of Janet Evanovich, which we weren't sure we really appreciated, but will certainly help sell Book 6! To get to the point, we're not as enthused about this fifth book as Reich's earlier work. We felt much of the chasing around had little or nothing to do with Tempe's skills (let alone her job per se); and too many sub-plots required too many (relatively shallowly developed) characters to populate them adequately. Each successive story element only seemed to subtract from the strength of the novel; and when we were all done, we wound up with a living room dusted and vacuumed, but still cluttered beyond good taste. While Reichs credits her publishers with helping making her book compelling, to us the editors should have carved much of the detail at several points, simplified the story lines, axed some situations that did nothing for the cause, and in general tightened up the whole convoluted tale. We think her other books are better, and urge a little more caution for her next outing, which still we will no doubt anxiously await.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawn
Review: It probably would have been a good story had they picked someone better to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Annoying dialogue
Review: I bought this book in Dubai, U.A.E., because I'd finished Dan Brown's excellent book, "Digital Fortress", and needed reading material for the airplane trip. What drew me in to "Grave Secrets", was the intriguing storyline. However, after the first couple of chapters, the "so-called police humor/witty repartee" became utterly annoying. "Number One Bestseller". Yes, I bought it. What a sucker.
Rating:
Summary: A little misguided
Review: This is the first and only book of this author/series I have read and this is what I like about the book: -The locations, moving from Guatemala to Montreal is very interesting.
-The character of Tempe Brennan is not the typical self obsessed character Ihave found in Patricia Cornwell novels. Things I don't like about it:
-The descriptions of forensic work seem more like a study guide. It is as if the author is out to prove she knows her business. The knowledge is impressive but it would be better if it were written more as a part of the story rather than a sudden departure into a textbook.
-The story tends to lose focus and several of the characters and diversions are a bit pointless. Overall, it was a decent story but not very engaging.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, thrilling book!
Review: Kathy Reichs is fast becoming one of my very favorite authors and this book is no exception. Usually her main character, Tempe Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, stays in the USA or in Canada within each book, but this time she is in Guatemala in a village called Chupan Ya, where a terrible incident happened in 1982. Soldiers invaded the village, raping the women, then killing them and the children there. Although this was a well-known incident, no records were kept and Tempe joins up with the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation to uncover the graves and recover the bones of the dead. Things get off to a bang when the team is packing up for the day and get a satellite phone call from two of their colleagues, who are driving towards the city. While talking, Tempe hears other voices, screams, shots, then nothing. The man is dead, but the woman is rushed to the hospital and goes into a coma. Dealing with this is bad enough, then Tempe is asked by the Guatemalan police to help with a case they've been working on - four well-to-do young women have mysteriously vanished from Guatemala City in recent months and none of their bodies have been found, nor have any of them turned up alive. One of the woman is the daughter of the Canadian ambassador, which is why Tempe thinks she's been asked to help. But it's the discovery of a body in a septic tank that is the real reason - Tempe had worked on a case before involving a body found in a septic tank. She reluctantly agrees to assist and finds some cat hairs and fetal bones in the tank among a young woman's remains. For whatever reason, she tucks some of the cat hair and fetal bones in her pocket and it's a good thing she did, because the remains are suddenly whisked away from further investigation Frustrated, but not about to give up, Tempe sends the hair off to a colleague who knows cat hairs, asks questions of the families of the missing young women and begins to realize there just might be a connection to the Chupan Ya massacre and these current disappearances. Plus, the ambush of her colleagues in the car may not have been meant for them, but for her instead. There are plenty of twists and turns in this book, and Katherine Borowitz, who has read almost all of Kathy Reich's other books, does an outstanding job of putting you right in the middle of this must-read (or must-hear) thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Guaranteed to Give you Nightmares
Review: Tempe is in Guatemala, helping to unearth the bodies of 28 villagers disappeared (killed by the govt.) during the civil war there. Two of her colleagues are attacked, one dies. Tempe has to be careful, as there could still be people in the government that were involved in the massacre. Then she gets involved with the disappearance of four girls, one of them the daughter of the Canadian ambassador and all of a sudden the authorities that were so eager for her help with the decomposing bodies of the villagers want her out of Dodge. To add to the plot there is a Latin love interest who just happened to go to school with old flame Ryan who comes to Guatemala because one of the four missing girls is the daughter of the Canadian Ambassador. This book seemed somehow different than Reichs' previous four. That's not bad, an author should change and grow. Tempe seems to have a little more punch. Also this book starts off on a dark note that lasts throughout, but with Reich's detailed description of the death pit, how could it not be dark. A word of caution, don't read this five star thriller before dinner, especially the secptic tank part, because it'll definitely throw you off your feed. Don't read it before bed either, because if you do, nightmares are guaranteed. Read it on a rainy day, then watch an episode of the Honeymooners to get it out of your system. Review submitted by Katie Osborne
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