Grave Secrets
Kathy Reichs Book Review

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Plot Summary of Grave Secrets
" Scribner, July 2002, 25.00, 336 pp. ISBN 0684859734 Between the years of 1962-1996, Guatemala was involved in a bloody civil war and many of the peasants who were thought to be rebels were killed or disappeared. In the present, the government is now sending in forensic teams to find and identify the victims so they can be given a proper burial. Dr. Temperance Brennan, a famous forensic anthropologist, is one of the members who are trying to sort out the body parts on the site of a massacre. While doing her work, she is asked by an honest policeman to examine the body of a woman who was found in a septic tank. It seems that in the past few months, four young women have gone missing and the authorities fear they have a serial killer on their hands. While working the case, Temperance finds herself in danger from an unexpected source and only a miracle will save her life. Kathy Reichs is a fantastic writer of crime thrillers and her latest work GRAVE SECRETS is even better than usual because of its locations. Based on facts and true events, readers get an inside look at a Central American country where genocide on the local people occurred for more than three decades. Temperance is the kind of heroine most women aspires to be. Harriet Klausner Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. " Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
"Pathologist Tempe Brennan works half her time in Canada and half in the US but this book commences at the unearthing of a mass grave in Guatemala. At the end of the day twenty bodies, mostly women and child, have been recovered. That is when a call comes in to say two of her colleagues have been shot. One is dead, and the other clinging to life. When Tempe returns to the city a local police officer seeks her out to help in another mystery, a girl's body in a septic tank. This is part of an ongoing investigation into the disappearance of four missing girls. Apart from the abundance of characters and seemingly unrelated cases the problems are all solved and as usual with Riechs work they are connected. Needless to say Brennan's emotional life gets a mention when Montreal cop Andrew Ryan joins the investigation. If there are any criticisms of this novel it is in the lengthy explanations of technical origin such as DNA and stem cell research. Reichs also spends time describing locations. " Penny , Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Grave Secrets

Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 50%

Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Special suspect? - investigator him/herself
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Big focus on forensic evidence - Big focus on autopsies
Kind of investigator - police procedural, American
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - life in that culture
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - doctor
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male - an organization
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - police
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - power
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
The Americas (not US): Yes
The Americas: - Canada - Central - South

Style
Person - mostly 1st - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
How many deaths? - 5-7 - 8 or more
A lot of techno jargon? Yes
Kind of jargon? - archaeology
Amount of dialog - mostly dialog

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Kathy Reichs Resident Scholar Profiles

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SCHOLARS: Marci Hendrickson

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Grave Secrets Kathy Reichs Book Review

Grave Secrets
Kathy Reichs Book Review