Déjà Dead

by Kathy Reichs

Book Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author of Speaking in Bones, the first Temperance Brennan novel in the "cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series" (The New York Times Book Review).Her life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684841177
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Scribner
• Length: 411 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.5" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Loved it

This book has twist and turns,and a joy to read. A great who done it.

Great book

Yes it's her first book so it does start slow but it's a very good book and honestly a very good series all together.

Haven't picked it up again

Don't get me wrong, I adore Kathy Reichs, but this book was quite slow and boring. I may give it another chance at some point, but I read about 25 pages and haven't been interested enough to pick it back up.

Love a good crime mystery

I just read 5 pages about different types of saws. The story is good just too many unnecessary details. Took me forever to finish this book

Is Kathy Reichs the perfect author?

My first knowledge of Kathy Reichs was an interview that she did with our local morning D.J. She sounded very intriguing and mentioned that she was currently involved with a TV show called Bones based on her character Temperance Brennan. I checked the show out and found it to be a wonderful, thought provoking program. Wanting to find out more about Tempe, I checked out Reichs book Deja Dead. I found it to be even better than the TV show. The book has more twists and turns than five roller coasters and I pride myself on being able to determine the culprit early in most mystery novels, but I have never been able to do so with one of Kathy Reichs books. Her expertise makes the often gruesome crime scenes fit the plot without being sensational. Her attention to details is beyond any other author that I have read. This book was one that I could hardly put down. The novels blend of scenes from Montreal and North Carolina add a rich texture to the narrative. Perhaps, the best part of the novel is the character of Temperance Brennan, a fully realized character, that has flaws and insecurities, but who you wouldn't mind going out for coffee with. I guess everyone has to start somewhere, but this book hits a homerun as the first novel of this fine author. Superb!

Speaker for the Dead

This is the first of Kathy Reich's Tempe Brennan stories. Featuring a medical examiner who provides archeological (bones and old bodies) services to the forensic branches of both the city of Quebec and Stat of North Carolina, and coming right at the peak of Patricia Cornwell's own success with the Kate Scarpetta novels, the comparison was inevitable. For a little which Reich's languished as a suspected copy cat, but in retrospect Tempe Brennan is a character all her own. And unlike Scarpetta, Brennan is based on a real character - Reichs herself. Brennan has accepted the position in Montreal as a way to take a break from a marriage that is in difficulty. A chance to think things out a bit and revitalize herself. But, while Montreal might be prettier than Raleigh, it is a large city with its own share of problems and evils. Sent out to investigate what is thought to be archeological remains, Tempe discovers instead a corpse surgically divided into neat sections and packed away in trash bags. Faced with a dearth of clues, Brennan relies as much on intuition as she does on science, and gradually comes to realize that this is only the latest in a series of violent crimes that follow the same basic modus operandi. But, while she believes she is right, it is another thing entirely to convince the investigating officers. Worse, Gabby, a childhood friend has been behaving peculiarly. The anthropologist has been studying the prostitutes of Montreal. And somehow, she has become the object of a stalker. Suddenly Gabby has disappeared as well. Tempe finds herself wondering if she or her daughter have become the objects of a sick mind determined to work out its anger on the bodies of a string of victims. Reichs balances Tempe Brennan's own emotional turmoil with the detailed investigation and deduction required for forensic work. Unlike Scarpetta, Brennan grinds exceedingly fine as she searches the fragments and tissues of the long dead for clues to the killer. Tempe finds herself unable to let go of the case, partially because of her dislike for the detective in charge, and partially because she is unable to allow the dead to lie in shallow, anonymous graves. Much of Kathy Reichs' writing success is due to this, her debut novel. Worth reading.

Astonishing Debut

No wonder people have been urging me to read Kathleen Reichs! I finally caved in, began with "Deja Dead," her debut novel, and was swept away by her incredible brilliance.This is a book that simply cannot be put down. I read it before work, I read it on the train, I snuck it in between tasks at work, I read it at lunch, I read it far into the night when my eyes were hanging on stalks. And still I had to race to the finish.Temperance Brennan is a fortyish American forensic anthropologist from the South, who is working in French-speaking Montreal. A recovering alcoholic, she is divorced, mother of a college-age daughter, troubled--and incredibly good at what she does. In a tight story heavily interspersed with fascinating scenarios of Montreal, Temperance (called "Tempe") is called upon to autopsy a young female victim of a pathologically gruesome murder. This leads to a foray into the Dark Side as Tempe, convinced that she has seen the work of a vicious serial killer, sets out to prove it to her skeptical (and often chauvinistic) male colleagues.The exquisitely insane nature of the killer, made all too clear by the havoc he wreaks on his victims, forces Tempe to face her own demons and she tries to stop one from real life. But he may be impossible to stop.Perhaps "Deja Dead" is to brilliant because in real life, Reichs IS a forensic anthropologist who has lived and worked in the South and in Montreal. Whatever the cause, it is obvious that she is a born writer. I gave this book five stars because it is impossible to give ten. Needless to say, I am already on Book Two of the Temperance Brennan series, and won't be able to stop until I have read them all.