Death Du Jour: A Novel

Kathy Reichs

Nov 1999 · A Temperance Brennan Novel Book 2 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

When a recent skeleton among ancient bones raises questions—and danger—forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is the only one who can solve the case in this “triumphant second appearance” (Publishers Weekly) from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs.

Tempe Brennan is stuck teaching an archaeology field school for students at UNCC in Charleston, South Carolina.

When she stumbles upon a recent skeleton among the ancient bones, she starts asking questions. She’s the expert they might have called in, but lucky for the police she’s already there. The skeleton leads her to a free street clinic where patients have begun to go missing, and some have wound up dead. What is going on and who is to blame? The charismatic televangelist who oversees the clinic? The shady doctor who practices there? Or is it the clinic staff?

Ryan is in Montreal, though he may come down for a visit. If he does, Tempe will have to juggle him and Detective Galiano, an old flame, who is in town investigating the disappearance of a wealthy young woman. This is a phenomenally high stakes business where one dead body can save a couple of lives, maybe more. Along with the corpses, Tempe investigates the sick moral logic of the mastermind behind the operation.

Kathy Reichs has returned Tempe to America and put her in the middle of a sinister trafficking ring that’s local and global. The suspense is intense, and the world is riveting. Kathy Reichs’s books are expert and smart with a taut energy, and this is her best plot and writing yet.

Ratings and reviews

BOTTOM-LINE: Let down from the first one . PLOT OR PREMISE: Twisting sub-plots make it hard to describe as one common theme, but in essence, Dr. Temperance Brennan is back with a problem -- dead people, including babies, are popping up all over the place as a result of a religious cult. Even her sister gets involved, not to mention a young female relative (can we say Kay Scarpetta's niece?). In fact, the majority of this book comes even closer to a rip-off of that other series, but closer to the lousy writing near the end of the Scarpetta series than the tight stories that launched the female coroner genre. The story starts in Montreal, and then moves to Carolina, and then eventually back again to the Montreal area. Unlike the first book, you never get the same sense of place. . WHAT I LIKED: A difficult question...the story is interesting, just with a lot of holes and loose threads. One really good thing that is missing from this story that was in the previous one is the removal of the francophone / anglophone dynamics, that is not only annoying, but also inaccurate for the timeframe. . WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The list is growing...First, and most important, I hate the way it mirrors the Kay Scarpetta stories, essentially ripping-off the work that has gone before. Second, Reichs has a really bad habit -- trying to build suspense and mystery by an old trick of hiding certain things. At least two major "clues" in the sub-stories are not revealed, instead having Temperance kind of taunt the reader in a I-know-but-the-reader-won't-until-I-feel-like-revealing-it-to-them. None of the "clues" are that big, nor are they worth waiting for, and the reader is just left feeling irritated and cheated by the story. Either the waiting has to be worth it, by making the news so unbelievable that you say "WOW!", or you have to play fair with the reader and share the news as it comes along. Finally, I have to say that not only is this book not particularly great, it is a real let-down from the first one. It reads like Reichs threw it together from two separate stories, and with a lot of extra characters thrown in, none of which are any more than wooden extras. . DISCLOSURE: I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.

excellant and interesting. Temperance is impulsive.

Kathy outdoes herself again.

About the author

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on X @KathyReichs, Instagram @KathyReichs, or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks.