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Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, is on loan to the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation. She and her fellow volunteers are working to find and identify the remains of those villagers who vanished and presumably were murdered during the 1962 to 1996 civil war. They are digging near the well of a small Maya village. Their task is complicated by the amnesty that ended the civil war and allowed many of the most abhorrent murderers to assume offices in the army and the police. Then two of the party are waylaid on the highway, one murdered, the other injured. And in Guatemala City four young women have vanished, the authorities fearing they were murdered. Tempe is brought into the investigation because one of the women is the daughter of the Canadian ambassador to Guatemala. The remains of a body has been discovered in a septic tank in a slum area and investigators fear the worst. Adding to Tempešs distress is the attraction she feels for the Guatemalan detective as well as the feelings she still has for Detective Ryan, back in Montreal. She is first drawn to one and then the other and when she has to return to Montreal because of the investigation, the conundrum grows worse. The secrets Tempe and the other works uncover are grave indeed. They find the burying place of many women and children, slaughtered in cold blood by execution squads who seem to have enjoyed their work. If you donšt know much about the recent history of Guatemala, as many Americans do not, you may be shocked and angered by what the investigators uncover. And I have no doubt that it is all true and some of those who perpetrated these iniquities are not only still alive, but control vital positions in the Guatemalan government. As usual the depictions are vivid and graphic. The descriptions of the half-decayed body found in the septic tank were disturbing and sickening. These are truths, but truths that not everyone may want to visualize. It is possible to skip these portrayals but not easy. If, however, you are fascinated by forensics and want to watch an investigator at work then you will find them most informative. The story is intriguing if a little confusing at first. Eventually the subplots are brought together and the reader can see how they are related. Following Tempe around is both fascinating and exhausting. The character of Tempe is well-developed. The others in the novel are mostly stereotypes, perhaps most especially the two policeman over whom she fantasizes. What is the likelihood of working with two different cops, each of whom produces sexual fantasies? As soon often happens Tempe tends to wander into dangerous situations without thinking. She always survives, but one wonders how. I was disappointed by the ending. I did not think it lived up to the story leading us to it. It was somehow too facile for me. But the story was engrossing and the forensic details consuming and if explicit descriptions do not unsettle you, I think you will enjoy this story.
Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, January 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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