Book Review: Fatal Voyage (Tempe Brennan #4) by Kathy Reichs

Fatal Voyage (Tempe Brennan #4) by Kathy Reichs
Release Date: 25th June 2002

Publisher: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 448
Rating: 4.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"She has a passion for the truth . . . and this time, it's taking her down.

A commercial airliner disaster has brought Tempe Brennan to the North Carolina mountains as a member of the investigative agency DMORT. As bomb theories abound, Tempe soon discovers a jarring piece of evidence that raises dangerous questions -- and gets her thrown from the DMORT team. Relentless in her pursuit of its significance, Tempe uncovers a shocking, multilayered tale of deceit and depravity as she probes her way into frightening territory -- where someone wants her stopped in her tracks."

Review:

**This review has spoilers! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself). Read at your own risk!**

These books never cease to be fascinating. Yet again Kathy Reichs has pieced together a complex murder mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. I will admit, I was convinced that the centre of our mystery would be the place crash. We opened with it, it was established pretty early on that a bomb could have been involved, and they were following lots of leads. Then Tempe leads us to the cabin, and I was sure that whoever lived at the cabin had something to do with downing the flight. It wasn't until I was quite a fair bit in that it because pretty obvious that the cabin had nothing to do with the plane crash, but involved something else entirely. 

And boy, that storyline. I have to hand it to Reichs, she writes some of the most compelling, but also disturbing, mysteries that I've ever read. (That being said, I'm sure there's more disturbing stuff out there). This is the fourth Tempe Brennan book I've read, and I still can't figure out the ending until it happens - Reichs is good a throwing you red herrings, which send you down the wrong path. 

Whilst I immensely enjoyed this read, it was confusing at times. Lots of people involved, lots of details to remember - if too much is thrown at me at one point, I can get confused quickly. That being said, Reichs is pretty good at explaining things as she goes. Another thing that bothered me was the excessive description at times - Reichs wants to make sure that you understand everything completely, but a full description of a diner isn't really neccesary if nothing of importance if going to happen there. Also, I've read the description of the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale (where she works in Montreal) 4 times now. I guess with the books being able to be read as stand alone novels with little back story confusion, Reichs feels the need to include these descriptions everytime in case someone picks up a novel midway through the series. All the same, it bugs me. 

Overall, a strong 4th book for the series, and a really interesting read. I would highly suggest this series.