2015 Book Review #47: Grave Secrets

[jethrien]

Title: Grave Secrets
Author: Kathy Reichs
Genre: Procedural mystery
Thingummies: 3

Synopsis: Temperance Brennan starts investigating a mass grave from decades-old atrocities in Guetemala, gets involved in a more recent set of murders.

Thoughts: Spoilers ahoy.

I have to hand it to Reichs--she manages to distribute the red herrings far more liberally than most mystery writers dare. It turns out that many of the clues for one mystery are actually connected to a different one, and vice versa. But while technically everything gets wrapped up in the end, we've been jerked around enough that I no longer found the solutions to any of the mysteries to be particularly satisfying.

Comments

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

I never realized that Bones was based on a book series.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Yep. Although I get the impression they diverged early.

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

I read a different Reichs book recently. I think it was called Bones are Forever. Kathy Reichs does an impressively thorough job in explaining science and geographic history. In the book I read, the cutting edge genetics were all correct. I actually think she over-explains, some of her passages are fatiguing.

I knew Bones was based off a book series, but I had no idea the books were set in Canada. The cast is completely different, and Book Temperance Brennan does not feel like TV Brennan at all. Her personal history seems utterly different too.