Kathy Reichs is keeping me up nights. Initially, that was because I couldn't bear to put down her fourth novel, Fatal Voyage. Now it's the subject matter of the book (well, that or the medicine I've been taking for a cold that I just can't seem to shake). Either way, I'm up late tossing and turning and thinking about the novel I just finished. And haunting is an accurate word for this particular book.Riechs is well-known as the creator of the Fox television series Bones. The show is loosely based on both her life and the life of her fictional counterpart, Tempe Brennan. While the majority of the first three books details Brennan's work in Montreal, in Fatal Voyage she returns to her full-time hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. I have enjoyed Reichs' foray into Canadian territory (and one she knows well, as she holds the exact position there that she gives Tempe in her books), but the south is my old friend, well-known and never tiresome.As the novel opens, a commercial plane has crashed in the North Carolina woods on its way from Atlanta to the northeast. Tempe is called in as part of the DMORT, or Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. Again, this is subject matter Reichs is well-versed in, as she also serves as a DMORT responder in the United States. As Tempe aids with the investigation, attacks begin on her character and on her ethics. She rushes, with the help of Canadian detective Andrew Ryan, to clear her name. Which means, of course, that additional mysteries must be solved. During the crash investigation, Tempe happened upon what appeared to be an abandoned lodge in the woods, and at the same time found a piece of evidence which doesn't quite match up to the time frame and details of the crash. She works to fit these parts into the larger puzzle as a media frenzy opens up around her.For some reason, Fatal Voyage is a little-circulated part of the Tempe Brannon series. My Amazon.com search offered only used copies, so it may not currently be in print. It is also one of only two of her books not available at my local library. As popular as Bones continues to be, I find this surprising. I found it to be thus far the most enjoyable of her books to date (or as far as I've gotten in the series, anyway). It does deal with some grisly subject matter, as I mentioned when I listed it as a possible reason for my inability to sleep. It was also released in 2001, just as our nation was suffering the shock of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Reichs addresses that in an added note at the end of my paperback copy of the book. She was one of the first on the scene to help identify victims of that attack, and she states that it was difficult to think back about this novel's discussion of mass death in light of that much more terrible and real tragedy. Perhaps she's never had the heart to have it marketed as her other books have been. In my opinion, the book describes the difficulties those working the scene of a tragedy face, and that is a valid and reasonable point of view to portray.The only negative I saw in the book was Reichs' continued overuse of coincidental events. I suppose fiction writers must exercise some sort of license to stretch a bit beyond what we would consider reasonable, but Reichs does so in each of her books with little sign of letting up. Previous so-called coincidences have linked Tempe's home cities in Montreal and North Carolina, and even tied cases being investigated together. In this book Reichs conveniently places Andrew Ryan's partner as a passenger on the downed plane. Thus, Ryan has reason to travel to North Carolina and into Tempe's southern setting. I would venture to say that authorities in one specific city in Canada have little reason to visit a particular state in our country (especially as a result of investigations being tied together) on a yearly basis. However, if you can overlook a bit of over-the-top plot twists, Reichs can sure spin a good tale. I'm also reveling in the fact that she's fairly prolific -- with four down, I still have eight books to go and a new one being published this summer!
“I have testified before the United Nations Tribunal on Genocide in Rwanda, and I have spent time in a mass grave in the Guatemalan highlands.” “Like Tempe, I serve on DMORT, a governmental disaster response team. In that capacity, I traveled to New York City to help with the World Trade Center recovery effort. Even as a professional familiar with bereavement and loss, I was unprepared for the emotional impact of that experience. At times I felt crushed by the scale of devastation. At times, overwhelmed by sadness.”I have quoted the above from the afterword included in this ebook. There is more, but I thought to include the above which explain the realism of “Fatal Voyage”, because realistic it surely is. I was blown away. Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, is called to a site where an airplane fell out of the sky in North Carolina. She belongs to DMORT, so she must come, but the scene before her is unthinkable. Bodies and body parts lie strewn about for miles. The job of recovery is enormous, yet measurements and photographs must be precise to determine what has occurred. Like the bodies of people, the body of the aircraft has clues imbedded in its fuselage as to why it stopped flying and crashed in the forest. Brennan is feeling devastated when she surveys the scene, but she must do her job. On top of the soul-shattering bits and pieces she sees about her, such as a Raggedy Ann doll hanging from a tree, she is struggling with her fear that her daughter Katy may have been on the flight. However, if she is to do right for the victims, she must tamp down her overwhelming feelings.Before too long, Brennan is being attacked from all directions, professionally and personally. Somewhere along the process of doing her job, she has stepped on someone’s toes. Because of the nature of the disaster, various public officials and local politicians have involved themselves in the investigation. Parker Davenport, Lt. Governor, has contacted her boss and friends and has had Brennan suspended from most of her positions accusing her of sabotaging the scientific recovery of body parts and contaminating the investigation. What is going on? Could it be because of the foot she found? It did not match the body parts from the airplane. Unlike the fresh condition from the victims from the plane, the foot seemed to be from someone dead much longer ago.Despite her suspension, Brennan continues her personal investigation, now focussed on saving her career. When she is almost run her over she suspects it wasn't an accident or unrelated to her tracking down where the foot came from. When an old friend who was secretly helping her is murdered, Brennan knows she has to push forward hard or die.This 4th book in the series is very twisted in many ways. Sensitive types will NOT be able to get through the first page, much less the rest of the story. Not only is it vivid and powerfully written, the author has included many real investigative techniques employed in any disaster by the scientists, mathematicians and technicians called upon for their expertise. It is amazing what these techniques involve. It is obvious, though, it must be expensive to investigate scenes in this manner. It’s too bad that the police do not have this level of resources available to them in ‘small’ crimes and disasters.The story is a mash-up of the more sordid, but nonetheless true, stories from tabloid headlines. I was enthralled and could not put the book down for the last 100 pages (read way past my bedtime).
What do You think about Fatal Voyage (2005)?
My husband is a fan of the television show "Bones" and I inevitably end up watching the series with him. I occasionally roll my eyes at the unlikely social ineptitude and maturity level of these "scientists" but it's fun to watch. Oddly, my least favorite character is Temperance Brennan, while my favorite is Boothe. Go figure. :)Back in November, with the prospect of a ten hour road trip to Texas looming over me, I dashed to the library in the lobby of my employer's building and was reduced to borrowing crime/mystery audio books. The pickings were very slim (i.e. nonexistent) for fantasy or science fiction. Since I sort of liked the show Bones and my husband would be in the car with me to Texas, I selected three of Reichs' Temperance Brennan novels. We listened to two of the five CDs on the way south, but didn't bother after that. I finally dug out the CDs this weekend and forced myself to finish the other three CDs while baking bread, making cookies and crocheting - activities that preclude me from a traditional reading environment. Neither my husband nor I cared for the narrator. Her repertoire of Southern accents seemed limited to one, which became annoying quickly. The mystery seemed to center around a plane crash in or near the Smokey Mountains but quickly degraded to something more sinister. I won't give away the twist, but I had my suspicions early on and was confirmed, unfortunately, in the nature of the crime.
—Jon
Another brilliant adventure from Dr Temperence Brennan. I thoroughly enjoyed the ins and outs of this book from the initial crash investigation to the deeper more complex investigation involving the foot. I found it interesting the way that Reichs pushed Brennan out of her professional comfort zone for this one - in that, Brennan has always been a well respected professional previously but in this book her abilities and morals were questioned in a way that I found pushed her character. She's an intelligent woman that has a moral standing and she doesn't seem to ever waver from that - yes, there's a few incidences with her estranged husband, but they're understandable and not unexpected even the situation. Brennan doesn't apologise for being the person that she is and I thought that the way that she doggedly goes about her business in this book reflects that perfectly. She knows she's done nothing wrong and sets out to prove it, and prove it she does. (Also, I thought the boy was adorable and I hope he comes into the later books too!)
—Simone
Well, to start with the book was full of suspense and a pretty strong introduction (designed to keep you hooked until at least 2 thirds of the way through). I found the narrative interesting too in the sense that it explored the reasoning behind a plain crash (the main 'incident' within the book) and this linked in nicely to current events in the media. The technical information at times was just about right and at other times, a bit over the top. For example the engineering info behind how a plane can explode, what causes it and what the evidence shows afterwards was fascinating. But the constant flow of scientific language describing body parts, processes and so on was not so gripping - personal opinion of course! The middle of the book carries the reader through to the ending quite nicely, however I couldn't find myself linking to the characters very easily. It was almost like there were too many, or that there wasn't enough detail on some of them to make them stand out. Therefore some names were mentioned and I pretty much glossed over them because I had no idea of the relevance. The ending was weak, the summary into how/why/when/ the plane crashed seemed to me like a bit of a cheats way out to end the story and give the juicy solution to the 'sub-story' that run alongside the main event.
—Katy
