Rating: 
Summary: This seems to be the average
Review: I really fell in love with Kathy R. when she wrote Deja Dead, but I have not been able to make it through her next two books. She's good with the blood and guts, i.e., the forensic stuff, but she takes her time getting into her story, and when I found out this one was all about bikers, I just gave up. She could be so good, but she definitely needs to work more on her plots.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the Squeamish!
Review: Kathy Reichs really is a forensic anthopologist who splits her time between Quebec and North Carolina, just like her protagonist. The details of the bodies that she works with are realistic and gritty; the books in this series are fascinating for that level of detail alone. On top of that is a fast-paced, fascinating mystery story with a complex heroine. I highly recommend all the books in this series.
Rating:
Summary: A Solid Suspense Thriller Not To Be Missed!
Review: 'Deadly Decisions' by Kathleen Reichs is a solid suspense thriller not to be missed. Some are calling Ms. Reichs, "P.C.'s" new competition in the world of forensic science.'Deadly Decisions' offers the reader an engaging plot with interesting characters that are easy to relate to especially, the lead character who is a forensic anthropologist, her roll in this fascinating drama mystery is quite believable. 'Deadly Decisions' is a solid suspense thriller where the lead character is attempting to put the pieces of a puzzling murder together that involved a child some years earlier. A book that will have the reader swiftly turning the pages as swiftly as they can.
Rating: 
Summary: Great science, low plot
Review: This was the first book by Kathy Reichs that I've read... and as terrible a read as this one was, I'm not so sure I'm interested in reading any others! I picked it up because she had been glorified as the next Cornwell. While the forensic information was fascinating, the plot was terrible and the characters seemed underdeveloped. Maybe in the other books in this series her work comes to life, but this one was just not on target.
Rating:
Summary: Uninteresting, unconvincing and unsubstantial
Review: Being a bright forensic anthropologist does not mean a succesful crime fiction writer In light of the author background and loving hard boiling crime fiction I picked this book with great expectation looking for its "added value", that is elaborated scientific explanations through the analysis of forensic evidence discovered in circumstances that encircle a well crafted crime fiction plot. Unfortunately I was utterly dissapointed, that was not what I have found, and many times along the chapters was uncertain whether or not to put this book down In exchange for my "deadly decision", I have come upon a bunch of dull cardboard characters, careless writing syle, useless and fluffy house chore details and unevolved portraits of places and situations in a unclear attempt to run an inside story of the underworld of outlaw biker gangs
Rating:
Summary: Uninteresting, unconvincing and unsubstantial
Review: Being a bright forensic anthropologist does not mean a successful crime fiction writer In light of the author background and loving hard boiling crime fiction I picked this book with great expectation looking for its "added value", that is elaborated scientific explanations through the analysis of forensic evidence discovered in circumstances that encircle a well crafted crime fiction plot. Unfortunately I was utterly disappointed, that was not what I have found, and many times along the chapters was uncertain whether or not to put this book down In exchange for my "deadly decision", I have come upon a bunch of dull cardboard characters, careless writing style, useless and fluffy house chore details and unevolved portraits of places and situations in a unclear attempt to run an inside story of the underworld of outlaw biker gangs
Rating:
Summary: C'est BOR-ING
Review: Kathy Reichs does not like biker gangs. Lest the reader forget that fact, she unceasingly uses every nonhuman metaphor she can think up (and she thinks up MANY; this is one of her talents) to describe the ungodly bikers who engage in a turf war in Montreal, slaying themselves and innocent victims caught in the crossfire. The result is a hodgepodge of cliches and unbelievable plot threads, interspersed with the interminable lectures we have come to expect from this author. (In the first book, it was pages of explanation on how stab wounds on bones can be differentiated; in the second book it was a nauseating treatise on maggots feeding upon dead human bodies; in this book, it is a lengthy discourse on the physics of blood splatters.) And thereby lies the crux of Reich's problem: Obviously a brilliant forensic anthropologist herself, she cannot decide whether to write textbooks or fiction. This book is an uneasy blend of both. As a result, her characterizations not only lack believability, they are beginning to vary seriously from book to book. Case in point: the heroine (Tempe Brennan) has morphed from a sharp-as-nails tough guy to a self-doubting, over-eating mess. If Reichs is trying to tell us that the job is getting to Brennan, she has not done so in any way I can accept or believe. Then there is Brennan's impossibly callow jerk of a nephew, Kit. In "Death du Jour," Kit appears briefly as an intelligent, well-spoken and mature kid (he's 19). In this book, he is whiny, selfish, more than a little stupid, and displays a vocabulary purported to be Texan, but which, I am fairly sure, no young man, Texan or otherwise, has ever used. It's embarrassing. Kit bumbles straight into a next of biker trouble because of his worship of Harley cycles. The new Dr. Brennan, so strong and forceful in the other books, is powerless to help him, so she has lots of nightmares. Even Brennan's arch rival, the nasty detective Claudel, now sports a more-than-passing knowledge of rock music, a new, hip, vocabulary, and the inability to remember that Brennan is a doctor. He now calls her "Ms." Brennan, quite a departure. I could go on, but I won't. People tell me that the next book in this series, "Fatal Voyage," is much better, and I hope so. Reichs burst on the scene in a wave of genius, and has deteriorated with each succeeding book. I hope this one is the nadir. I gave it 3 stars because the last 50 pages pick up enormously, and actually provide an interesting ending. I would not tell anyone not to read it, but be warned: it's a tedious undertaking.
Rating:
Summary: Believeable protagonist, fascinating pathology...
Review: In the third of the Dr. Brennan mysteries, we are introduced to the world of biker gangs and wars in addition to the usual menu of gruesome forensic research. Dr. Tempe Brennan works in either North Carolina or Montreal, depending on the mystery and sometimes she works, like the case of this novel, in both.
We were introduced to Tempe's forensic skills in those discussions of pathology in past novels, but she does her teachers proud once again in this story. She is brought to a case by the death of a 9 year-old girl in the streets of Montreal, an innocent victim of the crossfire in a biker war. Tempe finds a link between a buried body (sans a head) and a biker gangland murder in Montreal, a journalist of questionable motives, and a shady past in North Carolina. Coincidentally, Tempe's sometimes troubled nephew, Kit, comes for a visit at the same time that Dr. Brennan is really starting to get rolling on her discoveries. Actually, Kit's fascination with the whole biker gang environment helps Tempe solve her mystery, but not before Kit puts her and himself in some serious danger. I have been so impressed with the author who manages to have kept up a very satisfactory protagonist, timely and appropriate settings, and even believeable family members! This mystery is as good as the first two... and the tangled web we read all comes to light in the end but not without the opportunity to hold our breath and meet some really scummy characters. I will continue to read the Tempe Brennan mysteries as they are informative, thrilling, gripping, and not too gorey.
Rating: 
Summary: Hell's Angels A La Montreal
Review: When I read both of Kathy Reichs earlier Tempe Brennan stories I enjoyed them very much. However, something in the cover blurb for "Deadly Decision" put me off though, and I postponed buying it. A rash of negative reviews on Amazon reinforced this, and I only decided to read this book at last because the next in the series, "Fatal Voyage," is now out and I wanted to catch up. While "Deadly Decisions" isn't Reich's best, it is still a well told story. This is the inevitable plight of good writers that reviewers often over-react when their quality dips. I've done this myself. The book turns on Tempe Brennan's reactions to the accidental killing of a 9 year old girl during a motorcycle gang killing. She feels so strongly that she volunteers to be the Forensic Lab's liaison with the police team working on motorcycle gang crime, called Carcajou. As a forensic anthropologist she is asked to help with the discovery of an old gang slaying site and in doing so also turns up the skull and crossbones of another young girl. These remains lead her to gang activities back in North Carolina. Tempe is drawn into a complex, deadly game with high powered, deadly opponents. Tempe is devastated when her lover, Detective Andrew Ryan, is arrested for complicity in the drug deals and illicit trade of the gangs. Another blow comes when her nephew Kit is also drawn into the gang lifestyle by a newscaster, Lyle Crease, who is also extremely interested in Tempe's laboratory findings. There is yet another gang-style killing which arouses the anthropologist's suspicions that all is not well. Now Tempe finds herself in conflict on all sides, with gang members, Kit, and even other members of Operation Carcajou. She finds herself in danger as well, as the action mounts towards a graveside confrontation of awesome dimensions. I found Reichs' writing up to her usual standard; terse, yet full of the details that make the forensic genre one of the most fascinating of the police procedurals. There is also a wealth of information on the operation of motorcycle gangs in Canada and the United States. Characterization is good as well. Reichs takes the time to breathe life into characters that many other writers would leave two dimensional. It is this and the fine details that make Kathy Reichs a successful writer. I do have some reservations, though. As other reviewers have pointed out Reichs has settled into a formula of part Montreal, part North Carolina with a dash of family involvement. This is the third such story. While it is not blatant, it becomes noticeable if her novels are read rapidly, one right after another. Another thing that irritated me a bit was Tempe's knack for doing stupid things under pressure. This makes her look weak at critical moments, and introduces plot elements that are not really necessary. Yet, even with these flaws, this is a good, eminently readable novel. One that turned out much better than I had been led to expect.
Rating: 
Summary: Stop the Pain
Review: What an awful read! Deadly Decisions cover and inside pages are layered with impressive reviews. One must wonder about the standard of literature criticism today if this piece of substandard material is called "a cracking good read" or even more frighteningly, "first-rate". Deadly Decisions aspires to be a page turner. Each chapter ends with a cliffhanger begging its reader to read on. This overused device never gripped me once. Usually it took me two or three days to revert to the novel as I dragged my mind back into Kathy Reich's unbearably formulaic clutches. The plot concerns one honest scientist and her attempts to stop a biker conspiracy. Sub-plots whisked in include a boyfriend involved in drugs; a nephew affiliated with the bad guys; and a few fellow scientists who aren't too friendly to our heroine... Each written word seems forced. Each sentence is a cliche... Her detailed explanations of the exhumations are exhausting to the reader. She is obviously an expert in her field but the average fiction reader needn't know the harsh details of an autopsy. One horrible chapter consists of a conversation between Dr Tempe Brennan (the lead character) and another doctor that is just an excuse for Reichs to show off her knowledge. It bares little relationship to the plot. Perhaps most worrying is the fact that Dr Tempe Brennan has managed to spawn a collection of novels. There is very little that interested me about the character. Reich's characterisation's are all two-dimensional, whose emotional range are that of a Hollywood weepie.
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