Grave Secrets

Grave Secrets (2002) Kathy Reichs

Tempe is is Guatemala working to recovery the bodies of “the Disappeared” who were kidnapped and/or killed during the Guatemalan civil war. Not only is the work itself depressing, but two of her co-workers are attacked, and upon discovering her previous work, ask her to assist in the recovery of a body believed to be a teenage girl.

Although all of the Tempe Brennan books are dark to some degree, Grave Secrets is darker and more depressing because of the nature of the work Tempe was doing in Guatemala–the recovery of mass graves of women and children. However, I appreciated the seriousness and her willingness to write about such are dark and horrible subject.

Of course the recovery work is only the background for the main murders and mystery, and the mystery in Grave Secrets was very good. I think this may be the strongest book in the series so far.

About the only thing that bothered me was Tempe’s relationship with Andrew Ryan. Every book seems to end with her making a decision to involve herself with Ryan, and then at the start of the next book she’s back to confusion and not knowing what the heck she’s doing. Grrr…

I get the feeling that Kathy Reichs simply likes Tempe being single, which is understandable, but after a reading binge on Tempe books, I’m getting frustrated by her vacillation.

Aside from that, this was an excellent book, and perhaps one of the strongest books in the series so far. I liked the seriousness of addressing the Guatemalan Disappeared, and I thought the mystery was very well done.

You should also be able to read Grave Secrets without having read any of the previous books in the series.
Rating: 8/10

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