Deja Dead

Reichs' stunning debut thriller draws on her experience as a forensic anthropologist in North Carolina and Montreal, but it has considerably more going for it than the mere stamp of authenticity. The devil is in the details, and it is the small betraying details--the alignment of cuts in bloody bone--that convince Temperance Brennan that a series of women, murdered in different ways, were killed and dismembered by the same hand and the same saw. Knowing what she knows is one thing, but convincing her police colleagues is quite another.

Reichs skilfully depicts police canteen culture and the way it ensures that someone who is an expert outsider, not one of the lads, is always going to have to go that extra mile to prove herself and her ideas. Brennan is a toughie, though, and not too fussy about demarcation disputes. Reichs has found a way of having her cake and eating it and giving us a detective who combines professional expertise with enthusiastic amateurism. Even more compellingly, the suspense is turned up several notches when Brennan realizes that she is hunted as well as hunter--they find the killer's lair and find her photograph among his trophies... --Roz Kaveney

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Deja Dead - Rated
This is my first Kathy Reichs book, and althought my sister-in-law gave my wife and I 6 of her books, we have both agreed that we won't be reading the rest anytime soon. The pace of the book is slow and the prose overcooked. I like a book to keep me awake/entertained for perhaps an hour before sleep, this book had me nodding off after 10 mins. I found it hard work but I kept going. My wife gave up after 110 pages. Pity I do so love when we find a new author.

My new best friend - Rated
Well since i normally check out the reviews before i commit to buying a book i thought i would write my own!
I starting reading The kathy reich series due to my love of the Tv show bones, and boy am i glad i did!
I love this book, i was unsure if i would being i usually go for science fantasty/fiction books but this mystery was a real page-turner! I used to go to bed thinking ' right i would just read a few pages' but would find myself still up at 3 am not wanting to put it down. It is a pretty graphic book and if your not into gore maybe not one for you, the decription is very detailed and your imagination tends to run away with you!
The tempe Brennan character is very different from the tv character, i wasn't sure before reading if i would like that, but im thrilled to say i like her just as much!! well recommended read, i can't wait to read the next book.

A Character Driven Story that Sucks You In - Rated
Kathy Reichs gives us a stunning new heroine to fall in love with in her first novel. Tempe Brennan is a forensic pathologist from the States who is working in Montreal. She's a flawed character (ex-alcoholic, divorced) and that just seems to make her more real. She's never quite gotten used to cutting up the dead, she's still a little squeamish, she's very believable, maybe it's because Reichs herself does the same kind of work, maybe that's why we cringe when she describes in the first person Tempe's reactions when she's on the job.

This is a character driven story (the best kind) that sucks you right in. I was as frustrated as Tempe when the good old boy, French Canadian cops wouldn't believe her about the serial killer business. I felt Tempe's fear when she was afraid, though I must admit she was a little reckless at times. and I sympathized with her when others doubted her.

I loved this five star novel and am going on to read the rest of the series.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

A brilliant read!! - Rated
I first picked up Bare Bones (also by Reichs) to read, liking the sound of the story, but was advised that it was one of the later books and I should start from the beginning as, although they can be read in any order really, there is a few under lying threads to pick up on. So, I started with Déja Dead and was very impressed. I was gripped by the story, really liked the character of Tempe and the way she went about her job, also the way she managed to infiltrate the male team of detectives! I really liked the descriptions of autopsies and findings - the detail and explanation, I really got a feel for the job she was doing and became more interested in the whole idea of it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will definitely read the others, I gave it 4 stars purely because I expect the others will be even better than this one, so I will keep my 5 stars for them! :)

Not for me, thank you! - Rated
Having heard so much about Kathy Reichs, I decided to look out her first book and give it a go with a view to progressing through the series. This won't happen; this was the first and last of her books I shall read. Well, actually, I lie because I only read the first 100 pages. Yes, lots of graphic autopsy detail to the point where it was becoming boring and the descriptive narrative was, for me, overdone in all aspects of the story. Whilst accepting that this story is set in French Canadian territory I became frustrated with the continual usage of French phrases and words - and I speak the language passably. The book did not keep me awake at night - it is not the stuff of nightmares. Quite the opposite, it bored me to sleep and 100 pages was enough for me. I think I'll stick to something that moves along at a much more realistic pace. I would certainly not recommend this to anybody.