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    Death Du Jour: A Novel
    Death Du Jour: A Novel
    Death Du Jour: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    Death Du Jour: A Novel

    Written by Kathy Reichs

    Narrated by Bonnie Hurren

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    When a recent skeleton among ancient bones raises questions—and danger—forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is the only one who can solve the case in this “triumphant second appearance” (Publishers Weekly) from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs.

    Tempe Brennan is stuck teaching an archaeology field school for students at UNCC in Charleston, South Carolina.

    When she stumbles upon a recent skeleton among the ancient bones, she starts asking questions. She’s the expert they might have called in, but lucky for the police she’s already there. The skeleton leads her to a free street clinic where patients have begun to go missing, and some have wound up dead. What is going on and who is to blame? The charismatic televangelist who oversees the clinic? The shady doctor who practices there? Or is it the clinic staff?

    Ryan is in Montreal, though he may come down for a visit. If he does, Tempe will have to juggle him and Detective Galiano, an old flame, who is in town investigating the disappearance of a wealthy young woman. This is a phenomenally high stakes business where one dead body can save a couple of lives, maybe more. Along with the corpses, Tempe investigates the sick moral logic of the mastermind behind the operation.

    Kathy Reichs has returned Tempe to America and put her in the middle of a sinister trafficking ring that’s local and global. The suspense is intense, and the world is riveting. Kathy Reichs’s books are expert and smart with a taut energy, and this is her best plot and writing yet.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateFeb 21, 2012
    ISBN9781442353640
    Author

    Kathy Reichs

    Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on Twitter @KathyReichs, Instagram @KathyReichs, or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks. 

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    Reviews for Death Du Jour

    4/5

    1,086 ratings51 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Dr. Temperance Brennan uses her forensic skills to investigate a series of unrelated events - horrifying deaths in a Quebec fire & discoveries in North Carolina with a showdown in Montreal. I enjoyed the 1st book in the series more but in this book there seems to be too many plot lines. A relationship with Det. Andy Ryan seems to be starting. I look forward to the next book in order to see how this interest progresses. Recommended.
    • 2/5
      This book felt like an episode of that cheap show it inspired. It has too many plots, it’s too similar to the previous one and main character (or, rather, her emotions) was so badly written that, no matter how hard you try, you can’t feel any sympathy for her.
    • 5/5
      The hero, Tempe Brennan, is a forensic anthropologist. Hence lots of bones and murders that involve all sorts of decomposed, decapitated and otherwise incomplete bodies. Well written, I liked Tempe a lot and there is just the right amount of humour in it.
    • 3/5
      Tempe Brennan's second mystery. This is a very good series.
    • 4/5
      I loved it as much as I loved the first book.
    • 3/5
      Book was okay. I enjoyed the technicality of it, though the secret regarding the potential saint became more annoying than intriguing as the story went on.

      The reader is different from the first book and I LOATHE her narration. Her "southern" accent is not only jarringly awful, it's cut by whatever her actual accent is at weird intervals. For example, mama was pronounced through a "southern" character as Muh-mah. I can forgives bad faux southern accent, I'm from the south and I'm used to it, but things like that are the ticks I can't ignore.

      Aside from her southern characters, her general narration had a strange lilt to me and her character voices are all so similar that it muddled the story for me. I'm not sure if I will continue the series via audiobook at this time.
    • 5/5
      Loved the story but the narrator kept mispronouncing words. I believe English is not her primary language. I chose not to let it bother me and enjoyed the story. It is such a time capsule of the craziness around the end of the old millennium.
    • 3/5
      This is the follow-up to the author's debut novel, Deja Dead. We meet Tempe Brennan again, although this time she's chasing a cult leader rather than a serial killer. The pacing is better than the previous novel, and a character death really hits home. Reichs doesn't hold back on the scientific details, and this time we're also treated to lots of dialogue between academics, since she spends more time on university campuses than at police headquarters. Brennan's conversation with an entomologist gets rather... specific. I won't go into detail here, but if you're curious, then either read this book or Google the term "cheese skipper."
    • 3/5
      A disappointment. Reichs' Tempe Brennan series is generally a winner, but this one, with its mysterious international cult background as villains, stretches coincidence far past the breaking point and ultimately depends on the most unlikely bits of blind luck to reach its resolution.
    • 4/5
      After reading the more recently written Cold, Cold Bones by this author, and being disappointed by the huge amount of profanity, I purposefully sought out one of her earlier works to compare her style. Sadly, I report that the quality of this book and the latter book is quite different. This book is very educational even though the mystery is more in the realm of science fiction. I liked it and will seek out more of her earlier works. One has to wonder why the author has found it necessary to become so profane.
    • 3/5
      Lots of death here for Temperance to deal with. I wasn't a fan of the tv show, Bones, but I did enjoy this novel, which featured a series of problems and lots of information about investigation process.
    • 4/5
      This is the second volume of the Temperance Brennan series. Brennan is called to a monastery to find the remains of a 19th-century nun who is about to be canonized. It turns out that this woman had interesting ancestors.In the laboratory, she can't take care of the bones straight away because seven bodies were found on a farm. These corpses worry her because their deaths were very violent. When doing research, she finds that students behave 'weird'. Back in Carolina, she meets a sect. She soon realizes that these have something to do with the dead in Montreal. It is a race against time and she herself is also in danger.
    • 3/5
      Too .mechanical
    • 4/5
      This is the second in the Temperance Brennan series, and the second Kathy Reichs book I've read. This is definitely going to be a series I carry on with.

      As before, Tempe is a realistic professional woman: her love-life isn't great, but it's not some kind of disaster-zone either; she has decent relationships with co-workers without unrealistic drama; her relationship with her daughter is pretty normal. It's such a relief to read about a woman who isn't, despite being some kind of gun-toting, wisecracking superhero, strangely needy and incompetent in the daily tasks of life.

      I like Tempe: she's so normal.

      This time, Tempe is dealing with the aftermath of an arson attack, with a side-plot examining the bones of a nineteenth-century nun. Naturally, neither of these cases is entirely straightforward.

      As before, we get useful forensic information as various corpses are examined - I always like the technical detail. :-) As before, there's a personal element, which the reader can see coming a mile off.

      All in all, a fast-paced murder-mystery, which I read pretty much in one sitting. On to the next... :-)
    • 3/5
      At the risk of losing my entire review again from power outage. I'll keep this short.

      The book was good. Yes, just generically good. I got annoyed with some of the repetitiveness of Dr. Brennan's actions (or lack there of) particularly in reference to what she needed to get done in her down time. I also was not a fan of unnecessarily keeping the reader in the dark on a rather trivial matter. It didn't add or detract from the story in any way, it just left us wondering what Brennan saw in the bones. It didn't even relate to her cases, really.

      Most importantly, I didn't read the first book in the series, so if looking here for whether that's going to put you behind or not, I'd say you'll be fine. You miss a little bit of background information, but it's easy to fill in the blanks.
    • 2/5
      BOTTOM-LINE:Let down from the first one.PLOT OR PREMISE:Twisting sub-plots make it hard to describe as one common theme, but in essence, Dr. Temperance Brennan is back with a problem -- dead people, including babies, are popping up all over the place as a result of a religious cult. Even her sister gets involved, not to mention a young female relative (can we say Kay Scarpetta's niece?). In fact, the majority of this book comes even closer to a rip-off of that other series, but closer to the lousy writing near the end of the Scarpetta series than the tight stories that launched the female coroner genre. The story starts in Montreal, and then moves to Carolina, and then eventually back again to the Montreal area. Unlike the first book, you never get the same sense of place..WHAT I LIKED:A difficult question...the story is interesting, just with a lot of holes and loose threads. One really good thing that is missing from this story that was in the previous one is the removal of the francophone / anglophone dynamics, that is not only annoying, but also inaccurate for the timeframe..WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:The list is growing...First, and most important, I hate the way it mirrors the Kay Scarpetta stories, essentially ripping-off the work that has gone before. Second, Reichs has a really bad habit -- trying to build suspense and mystery by an old trick of hiding certain things. At least two major "clues" in the sub-stories are not revealed, instead having Temperance kind of taunt the reader in a I-know-but-the-reader-won't-until-I-feel-like-revealing-it-to-them. None of the "clues" are that big, nor are they worth waiting for, and the reader is just left feeling irritated and cheated by the story. Either the waiting has to be worth it, by making the news so unbelievable that you say "WOW!", or you have to play fair with the reader and share the news as it comes along. Finally, I have to say that not only is this book not particularly great, it is a real let-down from the first one. It reads like Reichs threw it together from two separate stories, and with a lot of extra characters thrown in, none of which are any more than wooden extras..DISCLOSURE:I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.
    • 4/5
      Another great book by Reichs. In the second book of the Temperance Brennan series, Brennan gets pulled into multiple murders spanning across countries (Canada and US). As a series of seemingly unrelated events take place, Brennan, Detective Ryan, and a myriad of other professionals look into them and make some grisly discoveries.

      I love the continual development of characters in Reichs' books. She explores and evolves Brennan's relationships, not just the professional ones but also her personal ones. This, along with the great dialogue makes me excited to visit the characters in the next books.

      This book has suspense, mystery, comedic relief, and a plethora of information about the forensic world. A great series that I am thrilled to be reading.
    • 5/5
      Follow the double life of Temperance Brennan as she investigates crimes in both Canada and the United States. She teams up with her U.S. partner to investigate the cold case of a nun about to be granted sainthood. Forensic science at its most interesting, with much intrigue to make for a captivating story.
    • 4/5
      The second novel in the Temperance Brennan series starts with Temperance digging up a really old nun (or more specifically her bones) and soon after she finds herself at a gruesome house fire where bodies keep piling up as well.Also, there's a sort of cult-ish group involved and there are a couple of Brennan family subplots as well.It's a very busy story. It takes place in both North Carolina and Quebec with what seems to me to be a whole lot of travel between the two places. There's much more Andrew Ryan and less Luc Claudel which I was a bit sad about since as gruff and unpredictable as Luc is, I find the character and his journey much more interesting than that of Detective Andy Ryan.Some of the explanation that Reichs gave tended to drag on a bit. Perhaps because it was dry or maybe because some of the bug stuff especially I already knew. I had to work hard not to skim through the explanation sections.On the whole it was another interesting (and distressing) mystery series that all hard core mystery lovers should read.
    • 4/5
      Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is in Quebec for a short time to help out some nuns. They are digging up the bones of a nun from 100 years earlier, as they want to make her a saint. While there, there is a fire that claims the lives of a number of people, so Tempe is called to help with that investigation. And there is more going on back home in North Carolina that she is called in to help with. This is the second book in the series; I had accidentally ended up listening to an abridged version of the first book, so this one was nice to have more personal stuff happening, in addition to the cases she was working. I did figure out some of what might be happening before Tempe clued in, but I still really liked this one.
    • 4/5
      The second in the Temperance Brennan series. I liked this one better than the first. It wasn't as long, the different locations added interest, you didn't have the too-used literary fallback of the heroine fighting gallantly to prove that what she knows to be right is, in fact, right. In short, I found it more interesting. Well- written and intriguing enough to keep me going on the series.
    • 3/5
      Fun, light, and easy. Fits with the spirit of the TV series Bones that spawned from this writer. I'm actually more fascinated with the actual author than the books. A good airplane/beach read.
    • 5/5
      I love the forensic thrillers. The stories are different. The medical/forensic information is great. Reichs stories, even though the personal relationships progress with each book, they are independent of each other. Great read!
    • 3/5
      I decided to try this series because I love the Bones TV series that is based off of it. While I enjoyed the book, the only thing it really has in common with the TV series is that the main character shares the same name and a similar profession - nothing else is the same. I started with this second book because our library system only has the first audio book on cassette. Bonnie Hurren narrates and did a fine job although I thought the accents and voices were a little hit or miss in places. I was pleased to see that Barbara Rosenblat narrates a bunch of the series since she's a narrator I often look for. I love the Montreal setting bits since I have family that lives there and I also read Louise Penny's Armand Gamache series; it's interesting to compare and contrast the two fictional depictions of the same area. I'll definitely have to take this series in small doses though as I have a harder time digesting the grisly death bits over a 13 hour audio book than over a 1 hour TV show.
    • 3/5
      I found the writing much better than the first one, but the story itself was pretty predictable. A lot of it is easy to see coming, especially since everything just so happens to try together in the end.
    • 4/5
      SummaryWhile working on a historic case, to establish the sainthood of long dead Elizabet Nicolae, Temperence is called in to investigate a housefire where adults as well as children have been killed in what turns out to be a cult murder. The cult connections run deep, and once Temperence gets the Canadian officials to get over their macho selves, they begin to put the far flung pieces together in this "better stay sharp or you'll miss a clue" novel.In the process of Death du Jour, Temperence finds that a cult following is similar to a cancer that spreads wide and within even the smallest niches, only to be discovered after irreversable damage is done.What I LikedDetective Ryan - He's not Booth (from the t.v. show)...and that was almost a dealbreaker for me when I was trying to decide which next series to try...but this Temperence is not the Temperence on t.v. either...once I got to know both these characters in the book, the details worked out much better than I thought. I like their partnership; I think it's inevitable that they'll end up a couple of some sort, but I think they'll also remain professional...that's my hope anyway...if Reichs goes all lovey dovey on me, she'll lose me. Reichs got me again...I had absolutely no clue who the villain was...until Reichs decided to unveil it...I was stunned. Walking around with my earphones in, I actually stopped and said the person's name. My oldest daughter said, "Huh?"The movement from Montreal and Quebec to Charlotte, Virginia...Murtrey Island - the island of the monkeys...the movement of the story is one of the many reasons you have to stay alert while reading Reichs. I think she does that on purpose, and I appreciate it!Daisy Ginot - the McGill University professor with deep, dark secrets...I can't say much here, but she gave me chills from the first time Temperence met her. Elizabet - the bones that begin the mystery...end the mystery...a very comforting and effective closure...possibly one of the best I've read. While the storyline is wide, it all connects in the end and sets up just enough lose ends for continuation later in the series...Temperence's daughter Katy connects with an anthropologist mentor, Sam Rayburn of Temperence's on the grounds of the island on which he studies monkey behavior. Katy is struggling with decisions in her life right now so the connection here brings out some of her characteristics like her mom. Of course the most direct connection is that 2 dead bodies show up on the secluded island, which is quarantined due to risk of infection for the animals.Cults are the focus of this novel...and while the novel follows a distinct storyline, the reader also "accidentally" gains a great amount of information about the subject matter...all of the info pertinent to being able to figure out the puzzle.Temperence's brain doesn't stop when she sleeps...especially when she's working or anxious...at one time in her life, alcohol numbed that anxiety. A recovering alcoholic, Temperence works, runs, reads, travels, etc. in order to keep her sanity and stay sober. Even during the times that she would like a drink, she works through the desire logically...deliberately thinking about how the relief is always temporary and that the consequences, physical as well as emotional, are not worth a drink. Temperence drinks Diet Coke instead of alcohol, doesn't whine or moan about her status, and doesn't share her story with just anyone. I think I like this part of Temperence's personality bc it shows how even the toughest, smartest, most together women can and do have weaknesses/challenges over which they climb every. single. day.The older I get the more I am convinced that the brightest people are at risk of addictive behavior as well as mental challenges.What I Didn't LikeThe use of dogs as part of the villainous torture...I'm biased here, but dogs, knives and scalding liquid as forms of torture are gruesome. I'm also one of those dog owners who doesn't encourage my dog to "get" anything, nor do I reinforce any of her aggressive traits. The world has enough images of dog viciousness already...hence breed specific legislation, which I am totally against. The science and the language - it's not that I don't like these aspects...bc I felt more connected with this 2nd book than I did with the 1st, but it's still challenging for me to keep up at times. Kathy Reichs' isn't a brainless writer so her books are anything but brainless.Temperence's sister Harry...accent snob as I am, the narrator's voice wasn't my problem. Harry's "voice" is high-pitched and whiny...makes me shiver just typing that line. I don't have a lot of patience for characters who just bumble around aggravating the crap out of everybody else and never learning from their mistakes. Harry is the complete opposite of Temperence.NarratorSince I liked the first narrator so much, I was immediately taken aback when I realized the narrator this time was different. Her voice was different with nuances I wasn't sure I would be able to be ok with. I thought a lot about how difficult I am to please with narrators. I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it although I did finally get over the differences enough to still enjoy the story. Overall Recommendation"Bones" viewers and mystery, detective novel readers who are also interested in the science and social aspects behind cults, their organization, characteristics of followers as well as leaders, will enjoy this edition of Temperence Brennan.
    • 3/5
      Having decided to lay off the fantasy books a little bit this year, I've restocked my bookshelf with crime books. This has led to a reread of the Kathy Reichs Temperance Brennan series. I read the first one towards the end of last year and I'm continuing to make my way through them.The second book in the series is Death Du Jour and I first read it in about two days when I was travelling to and from Uni many years ago. I came to the books after the TV series and love them both separately. I've read most of the series before, bar the last three which I've either not owned until recently, or did own but was holding off rereading until I could reread the whole series.One of my favourite things about these books is the cliffhanger endings to the chapters. They build up to some shocking revelation, only to hold it back until the next chapter. And most of the time it's not on the first page of the new chapter, so you can't just turn over and take a glance before you put the book down for the night. It's impossible to just read one chapter because invariably something happens, or some piece of evidence comes in, and 'just one more' becomes several more and one for luck.Normally I sail through these books quite quickly, however I've noticed with both this one and Deja Dead, I've been reading much slower. I think it's largely because this is about my third or fourth reading of them and I already know who did it. That's the main problem with rereading crime books. You know more than the characters do and it's frustrating.I love the fact that these books are a little bit dated now in terms of the technology available. Tempe (the narrator) explains things like the University email system and having mobile phones is a novelty. Of course, my other love is the Tempe/Ryan romance. I remember getting to page 257 the first time I read the book just as I was pulling into the train station and rushing to finish it before I had to put it away. I am such a hopeless shipper.It's a bit tricky to find quotes in the book though. They're just not the sort of books that lend themselves to being readily quoteable. They're good reading material for a few nights and are generally a quick read. Plus they're small and fit nicely into my bag to take to work.
    • 4/5
      Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan gets to aid in the beatification process of a Canadian nun as well as tying together the loose ends of a multitude of murders that may or may not be connected to an apocalyptic cult. Since the author is a forensic anthropologist in real life, there is a fantastic amount of scientific information woven in with the mystery part of the story and for anyone interested in forensics, which I am, this is an absolute gem that shouldn't be missed. In the previous book in the series, Tempe managed to get herself into trouble by making stupid mistakes, which is a personal peeve of mine in mysteries (what I call "Sookie Stackhouse Syndrome"), but there's none of that in this installment so I'm very pleased about that - the baddies really are as dangerous as they should be to make the stakes very high. The one thing that irked me is that Tempe talks about how she grew up listening to Irish folkmusic and then makes comments that make it evident she may never have heard even one song, but it's rather a small gripe and only annoying because it's something that is so easy to look up. So, if you're prepared to have oversight with an amazing amount of coincidences, this is quite a good read with a lot of interesting bone information.
    • 3/5
      I need some books set in Quebec that don't involve serial killers! This one is even set partially on the McGill campus, which is why I'm reading. I wish there was a search function that let me find books by setting. Well, bookssetin.com has a search feature for location, so I've got some leads on Montreal books! How exciting! Which is good, because these are pretty gruesome. Ok occasionally, but not frequently.
    • 4/5
      I loved the flow of the story right up until the last 15 pages. The plot has lots of twists and turns, different places and characters that all fit together in the end. The problem is that it feels like the author got to a certain point, realized she had written enough pages and then jammed everything in to bring it all together. It should have been done in about 50 more pages.