Death du Jour

A Temperance Brennan Novel, Book 2

By: Kathy Reichs

Narrated by: Bonnie Hurren

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Assaulted by the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, the American-born Dr. Temperance Brennan, Forensic Anthropologist for the Province of Quebec, digs for a corpse where Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, dead for over a century and now a candidate for sainthood, should be lying in her grave. A strange, small coffin, buried in the recesses of a decaying church, holds the first clue to the cloistered nun's fate.

The puzzle surrounding Sister Elisabeth Nicolet's life and death provides a welcome contrast to discoveries at a burning chalet, where scorched and twisted bodies await Tempe's professional expertise. Who were these people? What brought them to this gruesome fate? And where are the children?

Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan, with whom Tempe has a combustive history, joins her in the arson investigation. From the fire scene they are drawn into the worlds of an enigmatic and controversial sociologist, a mysterious commune, and a primate colony on a Carolina island.

Featuring the kind of forensic detail that only Kathy Reichs can provide - from skeletal reconstruction to insect analysis - Death du Jour takes the listener on a riveting journey from the morgue to the lab to the crime scene, from the warmth of a barrier island to the frigid cold of a deadly ice storm. With this poignant and powerful work, Kathy Reichs confirms her status as a brilliant new crime-writing star.

©1999 Kathy Reichs (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Atmospheric, suspensefully paced.... a delectable tale of corpus delicti... bone-chilling prime crime." ( People)

Good, but too many "du jours"

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, I did enjoy listening to this book, but there were too many murders actually. A couple would have sufficed since two of the story lines had real possibilities. I would have liked them to have been further explored.

If you’ve listened to books by Kathy Reichs before, how does this one compare?

I like listening to Kathy Reichs's stories. For her, I think this is closer to a B- than an A+, but I still liked it.

What does Bonnie Hurren bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She's a good reader. I appreciate her work.

Could you see Death du Jour being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes, I could see it being a movie.

Any additional comments?

I recommend it for Kathy Reichs fans. I think they will enjoy it.

Enjoyed

I enjoyed this book. Will be listening to it again in the future. Well done.

Too many conicidences!

I really like Kathy Reichs' work but this tale had too many coincidences for me. I liked the premise but I figured it out way too soon!

Good but not "Deja Dead" good

worth listening to/reading. just not quite as spectacular as the previous novel. still worth it.

Not Sure

I felt that the basic plot was pretty good.. But the story dragged when it went into a bit too much forensic detail. I like the forensics but not at the extent of the story.

You'll get over the Narrator Quickly

I've read some other reviews that said that the book was amazing but the narration leaves a lot to be desired, that is definitely the case for the first few chapters of this book. It was difficult to get into because the narrator sounds totally different than Kathy reichs first book, but once you get into it she really does do a great job! I thoroughly enjoyed this story I highly recommend it to anybody interested in another Bones audible story!

Love the Temperance Brennan series

Would you consider the audio edition of Death du Jour to be better than the print version?

I would likely enjoy the print version much more than the audio version.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Bonnie Hurren?

Right now I feel anyone could do better! I will seriously make note of who the narrator is prior to purchasing more. I may never buy another audio book with this narrator. Maybe it's just the material she's reading but it's really pretty bad in my opinion. I keep listening because I do not currently have the time to actually read the book and I do love the series, but her speaking and certainly trying to change her voice for the characters is awful. The older men all sound like old women. Her daughter sounds like a gruff old man. Ryan-well Ryan could be an Irish American but I definitely dislike having different narrators across the same series. I have some of the books further in the series and I recall enjoying them, but haven't listened to those in a while.

yet another great book

I love Temperance brennan love the show and loving the books book worm serial reader

Great book, bad narration

Great book. Narrator sounds like an old women when she is supposed to be angry

Starting to Get Good

Death Du Jour was an intense read, there was lots of twist in turns. There was points when I thought the story was trailing off into different directions but in the end everything came full circle and connected. The more of these Temperance Brennan novels I read the more I can't get enough of them. I've got 2 down now I just have 15 more to go!