Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Back To Canada, 7 Jul 2004
After lazing around the American South for a couple of books, this one finds Tempe back in Montreal. The book starts well, with Tempe involved in a case almost from the first page. There follows an irritating section when she is giving evidence and has to prove her credentials as an expert witness. I suspect Reichs felt it was time to remind readers exactly what Tempe is and how she qualified to do her job: this section has no real connection with the remainder of the book.
The action is swift and smooth. Tempe's continual on/off relationship with her Canadian police officer continues, but not quite as obtrusively as in recent books.
Inevitably, our heroine gets too closely involved with her case and finds herself in personal danger. Reichs must be close to running out of plausible reasons why a forensic anthropologist keeps getting beaten/kidnapped/threatened with a violent end.
I carp. This is a good read, which moves Tempe Brennan along and provides much excitement on the way.
Recommended.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!! Highly recommended (by me)!, 2 Nov 2007
Forget Shakespeare. Forget Joseph Conrad and that other one who wrote the Harry Potter books. If you want drama, suspense and a Canadian adventure, read this book. This thriller has the intellectual firepower to change your perspective on everything, from abortion to Iraq, from murdurers to gays.
Ok, firstly, this is a masterpiece. I have to just write that down. Secondly, this is a book about an ordinary woman (who happens to have a degree in forensic anthropology), who is confronted with a series of connected murders in Montreal. Already, the reader is intrigued because anyone can identify with the main themes. She is strong-willed, quick-witted, has an eye for hot men, and likes to eat in a nice restaurant with the latter. We are catapulted into an amazing adventure with a few French Canadian twists along the way.
How did I find this book, you may ask? At an airport? At a news-stand in a homogeneous metropolis? In a car boot sale? In a bin? No. A few days ago, a male friend of mine heard that I had contracted diphtheria so he came over to my house. He knew there was nothing to be said to console me, so he handed me the aforementioned book. I was mesmerized by the title, especially since it was a Monday at the time. When I looked up, he had disappeared in a puff of smoke and I haven't heard from him since. That was 4 months ago.
Anyway, if you want to turn your life around and get a flavour of life in North America, buy this book pronto. It certainly has changed mine: I've quit my job as an investment manager and I'm working in a home for the elderly.
Thanks for your time
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A vastly improved writer., 15 Jul 2004
I admit that I have struggled with Kathy Reichs in the past. I know others have rated her highly and compared her to Patricia Cornwell, but I failed to see any comparison.Reichs' failings, I felt, lay in her plotting and dialogue. Her characters always seemed very one-dimensional and uninviting, even though she had come up with some promising storylines. Reichs' previous efforts have, to me at least, been very artificial and amateur, clunky and awkward. However, with Monday Mourning Reichs has transformed herself. Her characters suddenly have depth and believability; better, their dialogue has become life-like as the author has discovered (or uncovered) her ability to write funny, sardonic, sarcastic and sometimes ironic lines for her characters to deliver. Suddenly, I found that I laughed out loud at odd points when reading. Not real belly laughs as you get with Tom Sharrpe, but nonetheless some very witty moments to be enjoyed. The plot is good. It is almost beleivable (I'm still not totally convinced about forensic anthropologists being called in so early in investigations) and we can see why the heroine, Brennan, has been involved. We see her struggle with the sheer evil that confronts her in this book. Indeed, the evil that is the main story in the book will take your breath away when it's uncovered. So, all in all, a much improved writer showing some real skill at last.
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by Kathy Reichs
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