Deja Dead

By: Kathy Reichs

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

It's June in Montreal, and Dr. Temperance Brennan, who has left a shaky marriage back home in North Carolina to take on the challenging assignment of Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, looks forward to a relaxing weekend in beautiful Quebec City. First, though, she must stop at a newly uncovered burial site in the heart of the city. The remains are probably old and only of archeological interest, but Tempe must make sure they're not a case for the police.

One look at the decomposed and decapitated corpse, stored neatly in plastic bags, tells her she'll spend the weekend in the crime lab. Something about the crime scene is familiar to Tempe: the stashing of the body parts; the meticulous dismemberment. As a pattern continues to emerge, Tempe calls upon all her forensic skills, including bone, tooth/dental, and bitemark analysis and x-ray microflourescence to convince the police that the cases are related and to try to stop the killer before he strikes again.

Told with lacerating authenticity and passion, Déjà Dead is both poignant and terrifying as it hurtles toward its breathtaking conclusion and instantly catapults Kathy Reich into the top ranks of crime authors.

©1997 Kathy Reichs (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Accomplished and chilling." ( People)

"Kathy Reichs knows how to put all [of her] exotic experience into a novel....Quebec's own Southern gal give[s] Cornwell a run for the money." (Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail)

"What makes Déjà Dead so compelling, in addition to the authoritative descriptions of how a forensic scientist 'reads' the story the bones tell, is the character of Brennan - smart, persistent, gutsy, ironic yet vulnerable." (Judy Stoffman, Toronto Star)

It was okay

The author provided me with a complimentary copy of this audiobook with no expectation of a review. This book was a VERY slow build and, frankly, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish it. First, there are so many French words and phrases that I almost feel there should be a requirement to be fluent in French before diving into this book. Some of them are translated but not all. Second, there were a lot of street and city names included so it seemed almost like a travelogue. Finally, there was almost too much detail given (especially about things not relevant to the story, IMO).

I was at least 20 chapters in before this book was finally able to hold my attention. By the end of chapter 35 (out of 43), I was fully engrossed in the story. I don't know if I will continue with the series. I very am leery of wasting money or credits on the next book in the series so I will DEFINITELY be listening to the sample to see if it appears to be the same as this book. If it is, it will most likely be a hard pass.

Bad Narrator

I love the story but the narrator is not Tempe. Very dissapointing voice and hard to get into because of it.

starts slow but gets better

What made the experience of listening to Deja Dead the most enjoyable?

this is another great story from Kathy Reichs.. I love her writing style and she always makes me excited for the next book..

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

this plot had some twists.. just like her other biiks, just when you think you have it figured out there is another twist..

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

the narrator on this one started out a little flat but once she got into the book was much better.

Any additional comments?

bring on the next book!

Kathy Reichs Critique

Would you consider the audio edition of Deja Dead to be better than the print version?

Other reviewers had problems with language pronunciation. I did not. I don't speak French, so it all sounded good to me.

Any additional comments?

My review concerns Kathy Reichs' books. I've listened to about 8 so far. And I must say that I enjoy the forensic stories, but the predictability is beyond doubt. There is always someone who goes missing. There is always a threat to Dr Brennen that she ignores and acts surprised by. She always repeats the french name of the unit in Montreal that she works at multiple times. Dr Brennen usually gets hurt in some way, major or minor in the end but someone miraculously saves her from certain death. If you don't mind all of that, the books are fine for light listening!

Good start to a great series.

Taut thriller by a very good author. I like this version of Tempe Brennan even better than the one on Bones.

Awesome Thriller

This being Kathy Reichs' 1st bk, I found it an awesome thriller to listen to on Audible. And I also look forward to listening to many more of her bks. in the near future. If you love murder mysterious stories written by an amazing author please check this one out. **Warning this bk is Not recommended for young readers due to content and language used.

loved

great book and great reading of the book. I appreciate the readers ability to read the french words correctly.

Good listen

It's well written. The author knows what she is writing about and it makes it more enjoyable. I did not have any issues with the audio like I read about in previous reviews.

Disapointing 1st read for the Kathy Reichs series

The narrator was good... but I did NOT enjoy her. She sounded like she smoked way too many cigarette's. Just not the voice I would put together with the character., Also... the way everything wrapped up at the end seemed very unrealistic to me. I was very disappointed. I don't think I'll read anymore from her.

Great listen!

Very good book, but I wish the ending would’ve been more played out. Other than that, great!