Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
Page Two of FourDeadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
Scribner, July 2000.Hardcover, 333 pages.
ISBN: 0684859718.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic
anthropologist on an investigation
in North Carolina, finds an unexpected
body during a search for two long-dead
bikers. The body is found where another biker told
them it would be. A surprise find
at the scene is an extra body,
that of a young teenage girl, in addition
to the two decayed bodies of the bikers.
Temperance, who is known as Tempe to her friends,
has to discover what this new find has
to do with a little girl, nine-year old
Emily Anne Toussaint, who was killed
in Montreal, when she was caught in the crossfire of a biker war.
Tempe has made it her personal mission
to find those responsible for the
murder of Emily and she is one determined
anthropologist/sleuth.
She'll need help from her young nephew
Kit, who is crashing at her place for a while
and fortunately knows a great deal
about motorcycles. But she doesn't want
so much help that he gets into any danger.
And unfortunately, she won't get any help
from her boyfriend who -- much to her surprise -- has
been arrested for dealing drugs.
Kathy Reich, auhor of Deja Dead and Death Du Jour, is often compared to Patricia Cornwell by the media, which is a fair comparison. Reich, like Cornwell, is a strong writer. The main characters of the two authors have similar jobs, although Reich's Tempe is a forensic anthropologist, not a medical examiner like Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. Despite the similarities, Reich, who was a forensic anthropologist herself, has a clear voice of her own. The books provide a gritty, detailed look at medicine and forensic evidence. Tempe's shy cat named Birdie and the entertaining mix of other characters who appear in and out of her life are all well-done. With Deadly Decisions, Reich continues her streak of forensic thrillers that deserve to be on the bestseller lists.
Death Benefit by Philip Harper
Simon and Schuster, July 2000.Hardcover, 232 pages.
ISBN: 0684869179.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Jim Hartman, a cunning insurance
salesman, is also a con artist and
a murderer. He writes policies and
collects the checks from customers,
but never sends them in to the
insurance company. But that is
the least of his crimes. He also runs
more elaborate schemes where he
murders a customer, makes it look
like an accident and then scams the
woe-stricken family of their insurance
reward. Luckily, George Gray, a
reporter turned investigator, gets
onto Hartman's trail after a friend
is cheated out of his wife's life
insurance. But Gray will have
his hands full with nasty Hartman
who has connections throughout
Philadelphia and knows every
trick in the book to evade capture.
Death Benefit is a pleasure to read; the pacing is excellent and the character of the extremely twisted insurance man, Jim Hartman, is quite frightening. He seems like such a kind and honest man. Gray is an interesting type of investigator who goes the extra mile and, instead of just turning wrong doers over to the police, he breaks some rules to insure that justice is done for the victims. But that kind of justice is also much more dangerous to achieve. The novel also provides a shocking and disheartening look into corruption in the insurance industry. You may avoid certain types of insurance policies altogether after reading this book. Author Philip Harper has done another superb job with the latest Gray investigative thriller.
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