Deadly Decisions - Hardcover

Reichs, Kathy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743204298 ISBN 13: 9780743204293

Publisher: Scribner, 2000

Synopsis

Nobody tells a chilling story like international bestselling author Kathy Reichs, whose "most valuable tool is her expertise...she's the real thing" (New York Newsday). Drawing on her years as a top forensic anthropologist, Reichs brings her cutting-edge scientific know-how to this poignant, terrifying new tour de force. Nine-year-old Emily Anne Toussaint is shot dead on a Montreal street. A North Carolina teenager disappears from her home and parts of what may be her skeleton are found hundreds of miles away. For Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist in both Montreal and North Carolina, the deaths kindle deep emotions that propel her on a harrowing journey into the world of outlaw motorcycle gangs. As a scientist, Tempe should remain dispassionate. As a caring individual, she yearns to take the killers off the streets. With her boss Pierre LaManche in the hospital, and her friend Andrew Ryan disturbingly unavailable, Tempe begins a perilous investigation into a culture where evil often wears a mask. From blood-splatter patterns and ground-penetrating radar to bone-sample analysis, Deadly Décisions combines the authenticity of a world-class forensic professional with the narrative power of a brilliant new crime-writing star.

About this title

Review:

Kathy Reichs' forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is arguably the best of the current crop of thriller pathologists; her third outing, Deadly Decisions, pits her reconstructive skills against a bunch of Hell's Angels with a taste for ultra-violence. Hardly has she pieced together the jigsaw fragments of identical twins, before she finds herself engaged in identifying the teenage girl whose skull and long bones turned up near the grave of some earlier victims of inter-gang strife. Her sweetheart Ryan is under investigation for corruption; her nephew is sleeping on the sofa and showing an unholy fascination with bikes and bikers; and Tempe is having a series of really bad hair days. In addition to the usual fascinating material about the identification of human bones, Reichs tells us all about the way in which biker gangs have become a serious part of the criminal underworld, a subculture with a taste for mayhem and with rules it is death to break. Tempe is on her usual brittle good form--a woman torn between her cold clinical intelligence and a crusading desire to avenge the helpless that regularly brings her into conflict with more quietly committed colleagues. This is an excellent thriller that combines real intelligence with a radical social anger. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"You’ll want to keep turning the pages long after lights out to find out what happens next ... Reichs’ real-life expertise gives her novels an authenticity that most other crime novelists would kill for " (Daily Express)

"With Kathy Reichs the reader knows they're in the hands of an expert" (Sunday Express)

"Reichs' seamless blending of fascinating science and dead-on psychological portrayals, not to mention a whirlwind of a plot, make [her novels] a must read" (Jeffery Deaver)

"Brennan is a winner, and so is Reichs" (Daily News)

"A truly impressive writer" (We Love This Book)

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0743204298
• ISBN 13: 9780743204293
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 464