Guest Blog – Deadly Décisions by Kathy Reichs

I have been traveling in the last few weeks, so that means that I have been sitting on airplanes as well as sitting in airports waiting for or between flights. Before reaching the Chicago O’Hare airport I had finished the book I was currently reading and picked Kathy Reichs’ Deadly Décisions out of my backpack to read on the rest of my journey. Fortunately Reichs is excellent reading for long trips. She had no trouble keeping my attention and helping the long hours to pass quickly.
Deadly Décisions is about war between opposing motorcycle gangs in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Tempe is in Montreal to try to sort out the parts of two bikers who were blown up by their own bomb. Shortly after her arrival, a nine year old girl is killed in the street, shot by a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting. Determined to find the person responsible, Tempe joins the special police group investigating the bikers.
Along the way, she discovers that Ryan is on suspension from the police force because stolen property and drugs were found in his apartment. How can this be? This is a man she trusts.
Deadly Décisions is another of Reichs’ excellent procedural novels. However, I wonder if she is a bit naïve about some police procedures. In the story the police stake out an internment at a cemetery. They are on the watch for one gang planning to take revenge on the mourners. However, no one who is watching out for the marauding bikers is on a SWAT team or is even carrying a rifle. They are all armed with weapons that are only accurate at close range. Of course, if someone had a sniper’s rifle it would ruin part of her story. However, it simply felt all wrong to me to have a police force watching for violence in a cemetery at 10 in the morning without anyone ready to pick off a fast moving motorcyclist determined to kill people at the funeral.
I have recently spent a couple of months in the last few years in Montreal. I do not recall having at any time seeing anyone on a Harley. If I was a reader who had never traveled to Canada or Montreal, Reichs’ books might frighten me into never leaving home. Thank goodness I am already enchanted with Montreal and Quebec City and look forward to visiting them again soon.
Despite what seem to me some obvious flaws, I am a "Bones" fan. I look forward to reading more books and catching up with the series on TV.