Rating: 
Summary: Lots of Forensic details
Review: GRAVE SECRETS
AUTHOR: Kathy Reichs
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
REVIEWED BY: Barbara RhoadesBOOK REVIEW: Kathy Reichs' character, Tempe Brennan, is back in another forensic anthropology tale. This time Tempe is in Guatemala to investigate what happened at Chupan Ya. While this is where the story starts, there are many side stories in "Grave Secrets". The listener needs to pay attention to every detail or he/she will lose track of what is going on. The atrocities that were inflicted on the women and children of this village by soldiers are unthinkable. The people of the village want to know if any of the victims are their family members. Ms. Reichs also give extremely detailed forensic information in this book. Her others books with Tempe as the character have given forensic information but this time, she has given much more intense descriptions of the workings of forensic anthropology. These details make for added realism. One of the side stories concerns the disappearance of an ambassador's daughter along with three other girls. Remains are found in a septic tank and Tempe just happens to be an expert in recovering remains from such a place. Another story is about the killing of one and the wounding of another of Tempe's colleagues on the Chupan Ya diggings. Then, of course, Andrew Ryan is a part of the story as Tempe's love interest. Then to make matters all the more juicy, Bartolomé Galiano, a Guatemalan investigator, becomes yet another love interest who just happens to have gone to school with Andrew and is looking into the disappearance of the girls. Do any of these stories tie together? Do they all tie together? To get the answer, read "Grave Secrets".
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: I am new to the Tempe Brennan series and I found "Grave Secrets" both somewhat enjoyable and somewhat frustrating. I am a big fan of the mystery/thriller genre and I believed, at the outset of the story, that this book would fit the bill. However, Ms. Reichs departed from a tale where our heroine unearths and identifies Guatemalan victims of massacres and wonders haphazardly into a story of a possible serial killer, police/government corruption, and plots to create a black market for stem cells, peppered with extended explanations of DNA and stem cell research. The story contains more characters than the reader can reasonably follow and a fair number of very dull jokes. Also, I believe that many of the scientific explanations were both long and boring and that the ending was rather implausible. Overall, the story was enjoyable but, by no means, a great work of fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Write a decent review
Review: I am still in the middle of reading this book and it's great so far. I just wish reviewers would stick with what they did or did not like about the book instead of rewriting the book in their review.
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: 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: Grave Secrets-gravely disappointing.
Review: I found this book not worthy of the wonderful and suspensful previous books by this author. I felt very let down after waiting a long while for this new book to come out. The characters in the book were not clear cut to me. I found most of the plot confusing and the end part of Temperence going off by herself after becoming so terribly ill with apparent food poisoning highly improbable and contrived. The author is capable of much finer work. Loved Fatal Voyage and ALL her other books!
Rating:
Summary: GRAVY GRAVE
Review: I have to admit that I found this to be one of the weakest in the five novel series, but even in that, it's worth reading if you've become a fan of Ms. Reichs. Perhaps when one stumbles upon a good author and a great series such as Temperance Brennan, we get our expectations set very high and it's disappointing when we're let down.
Perhaps the problem with this book is its preachiness. While I can certainly understand Ms. Reichs' horror at what happened in Guatemala, it tends to bog down the other mystery in the book, concerning the disappearance of four young girls and the discovery of a body in a septic tank. Now, that's ONE unnerving scene, in which Tempe goes into the septic bank to remove the body. It makes me think about what goes on in our septic systems. The addition of Bat Galiano as a possible love interest also seems unnecessary; I think Reichs has prolonged long enough the romance between Tempe and Ryan. They're obviously meant for each other, and her cute little ending about which one of the cops is Tempe running off with is really a cheap slam to her fans.
This book moves a little slower, and additonal preachiness comes in regard to stem cell research.
Write good mysteries, Kathy, as you have in the past and don't expose us to your views on world issues. Including them in the plot is one thing, but jamming them down our throats is another.
But, hey, I'll be there for #6.
RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: Slow, but steady
Review: I really did enjoy Grave Secrets and it did keep me reading as I read in a weekend, however I agree that was not really a thriller. The action occurred at a sedate pace and I often wondered why Tempe kept up with the case once her part of the investigation was completed. The end was too fast and didn't connect all the dots that were left behind. The Guatemalan aspect of the book was very interesting as being an Australian we don't hear much news from South America.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah for Kathy Reichs and Temperance Brennan
Review: I really enjoy the Tempe Brennan novels. I find that Ms. Reichs gives very good forensic detail, but it is made interesting, so it's not boring "textbook" stuff. I enjoyed this book as well, but found that the "stem cell" stuff got a little long. Also, I don't know why we had to shift scenes to Guatemala. Surely with Tempe's dual US/Canadian life, she can find enough to keep her busy without going further south. Don't get me wrong, the history we learned about the atrocities that happened in Guatemala was good and it was accurate, but it just didn't ring true that Tempe would be there and getting involved in crime solving. Not only that, but Ryan followed here there, and I thought this was not really explained away that well in the story. But the story is good, Tempe is just as we love her, and on the whole I really enjoyed the book.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I stumbled on Kathy Reichs' Fatal Voyage a few months back and was so impressed I read all of her previous works. Grave Secrets is not her best but it is still very good. Although it bothers me that Tempe and Ryan are still in limbo.
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