What happens when the voice telling you a story keeps pulling you out of it?
I was chopping onions for a dal that would take three hours to properly simmer when Tempe Brennan discovered a fresh skeleton among ancient Native American bones. Perfect timing, really—the kind of grim discovery that pairs well with the methodical violence of cooking. Kathy Reichs knows her forensic anthropology (she literally does this for a living), and the setup is genuinely clever: a body parts trafficking ring operating out of Charleston, victims turning up with mysterious nicks on their bones, a televangelist donor who's probably not as charitable as he seems. The protagonist exhibits classic compartmentalization—juggling an ex-husband and current boyfriend under the same borrowed beach house roof while corpses accumulate. Psychologically, this tracks. People in high-stress professions often let their personal lives become equally chaotic because at least that chaos is theirs to control. Heartburn explores that same pattern—a woman who can dissect everyone else's dysfunction but can't quite manage her own.
The Accent That Launched a Thousand Complaints
Here's where things get complicated. Dorothee Berryman has a natural French-Canadian accent that some listeners find captivating—adds intensity, apparently. But when she attempts a Southern accent for Charleston locals? One reviewer called it "awful," and I can't entirely disagree. There's this uncanny valley effect where you're half-aware that the voice doesn't match the setting, and your brain keeps flagging it as wrong instead of letting you sink into the story. It's like watching a period drama where someone's wearing a digital watch. You can't unsee it.
The pacing doesn't help. At twelve hours, this should feel propulsive—bodies in barrels! Strangulation! A belligerent clinic staff hiding something! But Berryman's delivery leans romantic, almost languid, when the material demands urgency. My therapist would have thoughts about this mismatch between content and delivery. Something about cognitive dissonance, probably. The story itself is gripping and well-constructed, but the narration kept creating distance when I wanted immersion.
Tempe's Love Triangle (Or: Why Smart Women Make Questionable Choices)
A fascinating case study in how even brilliant, accomplished women can be absolute disasters in their personal lives. Ryan flies down from Montreal. Pete—the ex-husband—is already there investigating a missing woman. They're all staying in the same beach house. Research shows that people under chronic stress often seek out additional stressors because it feels familiar, but watching Tempe navigate this while also tracking a body parts ring is... a lot. The same kind of high-stakes juggling act plays out in Transfer of Power, though there the chaos is geopolitical rather than romantic. I kept asking: why does she really keep both men dangling? Control? Fear of commitment? Reichs understands human nature well enough to make it feel real rather than contrived, but I wanted more psychological depth here. Less will-they-won't-they, more why-does-she-keep-doing-this.
The Forensic Details That Actually Land
Reichs' expertise shows in the procedural elements. The way Tempe reads bones, the careful documentation of injuries, the politics of working with a skeptical local sheriff—this is where the book shines. Berryman does better with the technical passages, oddly enough. Maybe because there's no accent to fake, just the cold precision of forensic analysis. The body count climbs methodically: a hanging in the woods, a corpse in a barrel, all connected by those strange bone nicks that Tempe can't quite explain yet. It's the kind of puzzle that rewards patience.
But here's the thing—I kept wanting to read this instead of listen to it. That's never a good sign for an audiobook. The material is solid. Reichs inspired the TV show Bones for a reason. Her first novel won the Ellis Award. She knows what she's doing. The disconnect is specifically in this audio production, this narrator, this particular marriage of voice and text.
Who Should Risk It
Skip this if you've loved other Reichs audiobooks with different narrators—the accent issue will grate. Try a sample first; if the French-Canadian delivery doesn't bother you in the first ten minutes, you'll probably be fine. New to the series? Read the physical book instead. The story deserves better than being filtered through a voice that keeps reminding you it's performing.
The Diagnosis
I finished the dal. It was excellent. The audiobook was... complicated. Like most things worth analyzing, I suppose.
