Kathy Reichs’s creation of Temperance Brennan is a mirror image of the author herself. Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the state of North Carolina and the province of Quebec, Canada. Deadly Decisions is the third book in a series that constitutes what I would call a great summer read.
Temperance Brennan is called away from Quantico when a young girl named Emily Anne becomes an innocent victim in an escalating war of biker gangs such as the Hell’s Angels over turf in Canada. This has prompted the formation of a special operations unit called Caracajou Temperance is asked to join. Once she does, she learns in heartbreaking fashion how the sophisticated network of this new mafia uses some very old and horrifying methods to keep control.
Reichs writes Brennan as a classy professional who has overcome a drinking problem in her past, and though widely respected in her field, has at best a respectful relationship with the stuffy French detective named Claudel she often works with. But Reichs weaves these details in to fit the crime story instead of the other way around, as Cornwell often does, making this an involving read.
The story itself is full of atmosphere and as the body of a second girl is discovered, buried years before, Reichs is at her best. There is a tense excitement colored with sadness at the careful excavation of a body so badly decomposed only her bones and the mystery of who killed her are left for Temperance to uncover.
There are touching real life moments such as the releasing of balloons at Emily Anne’s funeral and an understanding by the author of how violence often occurs suddenly and without time to mourn that separates this book from others, giving it the depth missing in others of its ilk.
This is a classy read in a genre that has gone astray. Author Kathy Reichs imbues Temperance Brennan with professionalism and humanity, all the while staying focused on the crimes and the victims. She fleshes out Temperance into a real person we would want on our side in such circumstances. This is a series that seems to have found solid ground and is well worth checking out.