Death Du Jour

Rating:
Summary: To much going on.....
Review: After a year of false starts, I finally read "Death du Jour." I found myself a bit disappointed. Kathy Reichs has been compared to Patricia Cornwell, but Kathy Reichs is no Patricia Cornwall. For one thing, Ms Cornwall writes exceedingly well. She was a journalist covering the police beat in Richmond before she began writing crime novels. Her books in some sense are extensions of these stories. Cornwall's writing is exceedingly original and based on real events according to our local papers.

Although I liked Ms. Reich's first book "Deja Death" -- mainly because it took place in Montreal and had an exotic setting -- certain aspects of it bothered me. I found myself very irritated with Ms. Reich's second book. Ms Reichs books seem to consist of warmed over material from other books. While Reichs books may be based on real events, and I am sure she is a good nonfiction writer, she does not write fiction very well. For one thing, "Death du Jour" is far too busy. There are too many characters and not enough character development, too many plot twists and subplots and not enough development of the central plot.

For me, one of the great attactions of Poirot, Morse, or Kay Scarpetta is the mental game. 'Du jour' is loaded with action but don't expect much of a mental game. Sure, I know police work is different from detection, but Cornwall does both--that's what makes her stories so strong.

Also, I like a lead character I can identify with on some level. One appealing characteristic of Kay Scarpetta is her ability to reflect. All through her novels Ms. Cornwall has Scarpetta pull back and reflect. Often she does it over a meal she has prepared for her sidekick detective.

Ms. Reichs character Tempe Brennan attempts to do this but even when she sits in front of her fire place she's nervous and twitchy and something is always happening, from break-ins to fires. Tempe Brennan is very nearly perfect, and she is far to active and she needs to cut back on the diet coke.

Oh somewhere, someone might try to do everything Tempe does, but I seriously doubt they could do any of it very well. My willing suspension of disbelief gets pretty stretched with Tempe. How many times is she going to be beaten, mugged, burgled, and held prisoner. This is only book two and she's been pretty battered already. And, she's a fool at times. She deals with the worst sort of killer, and refuses to carry a weapon--give me a break.

In "Death du Jour", over a three week period, Tempe Brennan becomes involved in some facet or other of investigations into at least ten suspicious deaths. These bodies scattered from Canada to Beaufort SC. And Brennan is teaching a graduate course at UNC, writing papers for a professional conferences, investigating the bones of a supposed RC saint, and taking time out for a weekend getogether with her college age daughter. I was exhausted by the middle of the book. (And she jogs regularly!)

Rating:
Summary: Good, Yes; Brilliant, No
Review: After her explosive entry into the thriller arena, Kathy Reichs slowed down a bit with this, her second foray into the life of forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. The plot is not as taut, the writing not as spare, and the characters less finely drawn than in her debut novel, "Deja Dead." Nevertheless, this is still a fun, fast read. If not as suspenseful as the first book, it still weaves a scary tale of a shady cult whose members, including infants, keep turning up dead.

Temperance is a fascinating character and a welcome change from her fictional counterpart, Kay Scarpetta. Unlike Scarpetta, however, Temperance (Tempe), whose duties include teaching at the university level, is fond of lecturing. In Book 1, there was a highly technical and interesting discussion of all the different cuts that can be made to human bones, and why their differences matter. In this book, there is an informative but truly nauseating discussion of maggots and blowflies and their lifecycles on human cadavers. Strong stuff; not really necessary to the plot, but hey, I'll never look at a fly in the same way again.

The problem with this book is that, at this early stage in the series at least, Reichs seems very uncomfortable with the human side of her characters. She can write about maggots devouring dead human flesh for pages at a time, but give her a love scene and she falls apart. Her stilted description of a sexy encounter between Tempe and her "partner in crime," hunky police detective Andy Ryan, had me laughing aloud--not the intended response. Equally unbelievable are Reichs' descriptions of Tempe's flighty sister Harry, and Harry's son Kit.

That having been said, I still strongly recommend this book as a good, fast-paced read, and a welcome addition to the crime genre. I'm more than willing to let Reichs get her sea legs, especially when I can also enjoy vivid descriptions of Montreal during a brutal winter, and North Carolina at its balmy best.

Rating:
Summary: TEMPE TANTRUM
Review: First off, I've never had the pleasure to read any of Patricia Cornwell's books, so I don't have to compare Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan to Kay Scarpetti. I found both "Death DuJour" and its predecessor, "Deja Dead," quite good. I like the second one a little better, as I feel Reichs has found her "voice" in Tempe's character.
This book is a real whirlwind of complex plotlines, and there are times when Tempe is in Carolina that you wonder how in the world will these storylines converge? I think Ms. Reichs does a fine job in showing the relationship to all the different things going on. The mystery behind Sister Elizabeth is given a big clue in one of Tempe's dreams and although it certainly isn't the focal point of the book, it's inclusion demonstrates the vast amount of research Ms. Reichs' imbues in her works.
Tempe's relationship with Andrew Ryan is an interesting one, kind of like two alley cats in heat, but I hope their "courtship" evolves; I think he's good for her.
I agree with a previous reader that the addition of Harry, Tempe's wacko sister, is unnecessary; she reminds me of Marla in the Goldie (Diane Mott Davidson) series. Superflous, and not really essential. I think Harry's inclusion was to give Tempe a more personal interest in the cult aspect.
I was totally surprised by whom the culprit was in this one, and even though in some ways, it's a little bit of a let down (there's one other person I feel had more motive), but hey, she's the writer.
All in all, a book well written with some incredibly suspenseful scenes, a great knowledge of not only forensics, but cults, and religious propaganda.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Can't wait to make some "Deadly Decisions."

Rating:
Summary: This Novel's Better than her First - Recommended Reading
Review: I bought the author's 1st book, Deja Dead, because I was glad to have found another female medical examiner protagonist similar to Cornwell's Dr. Scarpetta. Still, Deja Dead (Reichs' 1st novel) wasn't as good as when Cornwell is at her, now, occasional best. Death Du Jour, being another Dr. Brennan novel, was a very welcome sight. Then after reading Death Du Jour you see there is a definite improvement over Deja Dead. Reich's story telling skills have improved considerably; now the author really communicates with, and grabs, the reader - she keeps the book moving. I read so many books and not many lately have kept my attention as this one has. If you were iffy with Deja Dead give it another chance with this book.

My only gripe is her wacky sister. Not only was there absolutely no need for her but she took something away from the story and the main character. They are way too different and not believable at all. But not for the sister's appearance I would have rated it 5 stars.

I'll anxiously await and will buy Reichs next book (new character or not) when it comes out. I hope the author doesn't feel the need to constantly inject family members into her story as Cornwell has done; ruining many storylines by focusing on the neice (a consensus among all my reader friends). We all want to read about the character and her unique professional encounters not her relatives.

Congratulations to Ms. Reich on an excellent and intelligent read.

Rating:
Summary: GENRE CLICHED MYSTERY THAT FALLS SHORT OF GREATNESS
Review: I read death du jour over a period of a week dring this summer, and after reading it, i can say that this is a fine book, but one that falls just short of being good. With a heroin which is essentially kay scarpetta for canadians, death du jour and deja dead resseamble a lot like patricia cornwell's novel....

....think about it. A feisty female heroin, a rugged cop and partner, a young daughter(or neice) a cult, a burned house, detailed ferensic analysis....the list goes on. Needless to say, this book falls into the been there done that category.

The book is essentially saved by good, but predictable writing. The characters are more likable(except for harry...who cares what happens to her) then cornwell's, but reichs cant seem to find a style all her own, and the suspense isn't really there.

In spite of all of this, you'll have fun reading death du jour, but dont take it to seriously. It doesn't brake any genre rules or offer anything to the table, but what it does....it does well.

Rating:
Summary: Mystery, Danger, Action and Suspense
Review: Once again I was bowled over by Kathy Reichs. She manages to give her readers a wealth of information without ever talking down to them. She weaves subplots together like the master she's become, and in only two books. Though, sadly, she does at times withhold information from the readers that she shouldn't. If it's told in the first person and our heroine knows the info or clues, then we should too, however this is just a niggling and minor complaint and didn't really take away from the book at all.

The book opens with Tempe in a church graveyard. A long dead nun is being considered for sainthood and Tempe is charged with aiding the Church's investagation. The bones aren't where they're supposed to be, but Tempe can't give this her full attention, because she's quickly drawn into an arson murder case that's tied in to a university student from North Carolina who recently joined a cult, then disappeared.

Mystery, danger, action, suspense all add up to a five star winner for Kathy Reichs.

Review submitted by Katie Osborne

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: Reichs does a nice job of weaving this story together. It was a little slow in the beginning, but came on strong late in the book. If you like stories about forensics, you will enjoy this book.