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A review by book_concierge
Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs
3.0
3.5***
I have been fascinated by forensic pathology since I was in about 7th grade and read a biography of a famous French pathologist (whose name I cannot recall now). So I really want to like this series, and, basically, I do.
Dr Temperance Brennan, PhD (Tempe) is a forensic anthropologist tasked with examining remains … sometimes ancient, sometimes crime-related, sometimes just an old animal bone found by an excited hunter. This book opens with a plane crash in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee or Western North Carolina. She happens to be in the neighborhood, so she’s asked to drop everything else and go to the site to begin recovery and identification of remains. As will happen with a plane crash, the wreckage is wide-spread and the woods are full of scavengers – bear, coyote, raccoons, fox, hawks, vultures, etc. When she spots a coyote with a foot in his mouth she manages to get it away from him and enter it in the log as part of the remains. The only problem is that it doesn’t seem to belong to any of the passengers or crew. So whose foot is it?
Of course there are evil-doers in high places that try to thwart the investigation, and Tempe’s reputation and career are quickly on the line. Her emotions frequently are just on the verge of being out of control (her heart rate increases, her adrenaline is pumping, “hot tears line the inside of her eyelids”). But she is not without allies … and rescuers. And this is the source of my dissatisfaction. When she is clearly in danger she persists in going about without any protection, and behaving in a manner that gets her further into trouble. To her credit, she is resourceful and doesn’t rely entirely on “the big strong guy” to save her, so I didn’t really deduct much in my rating.
Borowitz does an okay job of performing this audio book. Her delivery is somewhat flat for much of it … I suppose she is trying to make Tempe sound in control, calm and deliberate. By the 3rd disc I had gotten used to it … or perhaps as the story picked up steam, she put more emotion into her performance.
I have been fascinated by forensic pathology since I was in about 7th grade and read a biography of a famous French pathologist (whose name I cannot recall now). So I really want to like this series, and, basically, I do.
Dr Temperance Brennan, PhD (Tempe) is a forensic anthropologist tasked with examining remains … sometimes ancient, sometimes crime-related, sometimes just an old animal bone found by an excited hunter. This book opens with a plane crash in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee or Western North Carolina. She happens to be in the neighborhood, so she’s asked to drop everything else and go to the site to begin recovery and identification of remains. As will happen with a plane crash, the wreckage is wide-spread and the woods are full of scavengers – bear, coyote, raccoons, fox, hawks, vultures, etc. When she spots a coyote with a foot in his mouth she manages to get it away from him and enter it in the log as part of the remains. The only problem is that it doesn’t seem to belong to any of the passengers or crew. So whose foot is it?
Of course there are evil-doers in high places that try to thwart the investigation, and Tempe’s reputation and career are quickly on the line. Her emotions frequently are just on the verge of being out of control (her heart rate increases, her adrenaline is pumping, “hot tears line the inside of her eyelids”). But she is not without allies … and rescuers. And this is the source of my dissatisfaction. When she is clearly in danger she persists in going about without any protection, and behaving in a manner that gets her further into trouble. To her credit, she is resourceful and doesn’t rely entirely on “the big strong guy” to save her, so I didn’t really deduct much in my rating.
Borowitz does an okay job of performing this audio book. Her delivery is somewhat flat for much of it … I suppose she is trying to make Tempe sound in control, calm and deliberate. By the 3rd disc I had gotten used to it … or perhaps as the story picked up steam, she put more emotion into her performance.