Hello Beautiful People! Welcome back to another review! For this review, I get into the third book in the Temperance Brennan Series Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs. Having read the first two books in the series and now the third, I would have to say that out of the three so far, number two is still the best. It’s not saying a lot though because I am not liking it that much more than the others. I’ll be real, I am struggling with this series a bit. I think because I like the TV show I want so badly to connect to the book series in the same way but they just carry such different vibes that it’s tough. Saying all of this I am not giving up just yet and I do plan to check out the fourth book in the series because I am hoping it changes up at some point. With that, let’s get into the review!
Some warnings for future readers:
- Includes murder
- Includes descriptive autopsy scenes
My Review
I was really hoping that I was going to like Deadly Decisions more than I did. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, but I’ve had a bone to pick (ha-ha) with the series since I started it that I am struggling to move past thus far.
In Deadly Decisions Temperance is in Montreal working her usual job consulting and working on cases. This new case however brings her into a large mess including a vicious biker gang that will go to no ends to rule the city and be on top. When the bones of a teenage girl, and a young girl is shot in the crossfire of a gang issue, Temperance is brought in to figure out who in the biker gang is killing kids. I think I’ll have to give Deadly Decisions a 6/10 rating. I think I enjoyed the first and second books better than this one. This book just felt like a mess in terms of how interconnected Temperance is to this whole case, and how this book was essentially how much worse can her life get the whole time.
As I mentioned before, I’ve had a few issues with this series so far. There were so many damn characters in this book that I got lost on who was who and would often forget characters. It very much admittedly could be me issue in which I just can’t hold onto all of these characters, but this seems to be a pattern in the series so far. Just an insane amount of characters that makes it so we aren’t really getting to know the ones that I wish we were spending some more time on. My biggest issue though is how in every book so far someone in Temperance’s personal life is somewhat randomly connected to the mystery the book is focusing on. Why? Just why? I know this shouldn’t frustrate me as much as it does, but it annoys me to no end for some reason. I think the reason for that is it’s just not needed. We don’t need people close to her, her family, friends, and boyfriend, having to be involved in everything. The mystery is just fine without it. I am struggling to understand if maybe this is something that’s needed so that she has a reason to be more involved in the case, but she often doesn’t find out the person she knows is connected until much later so I am just really not sure. Even then in this book, the local police actually request that she be more involved so I don’t really think that would be why this is a recurring thing. For me, these connections to the mystery just kind of make it seem not as realistic. Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t need to be exactly realistic, but am I really meant to believe that on every high-profile case she works on her family or friends are somehow connected? It’s weird.
This book also pulled a similar move to the second one in which there was somehow this connection in the case between the two places where Temperance works. Temperance is not Canadian and is actually from North Carolina and splits her time between Montreal and there. In the second book in the series, there was this very out-there connection between a body they found in Montreal to some in the States. Again in this book, this exact same thing comes up. Ugh. It’s just not needed. It makes it seem like this girl has some kind of curse on her in which everyone she knows and everywhere she goes, death follows her. I just wish the books had the same vibe as the show in which she isn’t fighting or having to come with connections to be in the space, she’s just supposed to be working on these cases. I guess it’s just a bit too coincidental for my liking. I like a bit of reality, and this just isn’t it.
I also really struggled to get into the mystery of this book. I don’t think the idea was bad, inspecting a biker gang with no remorse for the regular people around them, but it just wasn’t executed in a way that personally really pulled me in. I just got really mixed up with all the guys in the gang and it just made me kind of lose interest. To be totally real as well, who ends up being the killer doesn’t even end up being all that exciting. What did pull me in was more so just finding out if Temperance and her nephew were going to get killed by this gang. I mean I knew she for sure wasn’t but her nephew Kit wasn’t so clear. So in the first book, it’s her best friend, in the second her sister and her daughter kinda, and in this one, it is her boyfriend and her nephew. I think the way that Ryan her boyfriend (who is also a detective) gets pulled into it makes sense, but Kit was kind of a stretch. I think a positive thing though is that Temperance is running out of people who she is close to, to be involved in cases so at some point this can’t be a pattern in the books anymore. I am definitely looking forward to when that point will be.
I’ll be real. Now at book three, I do not totally see a reason as to why these would need to be read before the series starts to what I hope would get good at some point (I’ll be sure to mention when I get there). In terms of really getting to know Temperance, we haven’t totally gotten there yet. I mean we know she is a recovering alcoholic but that’s kind of it. Things with Ryan are clearly going to progress in the next book, but I am not totally sure yet how relevant what’s going on with him is going to be in the following books.
I hope you enjoyed this review! Have you checked out Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs or any other books in the Temperance Brennan Series? What did you think?
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