Double Blind

Double Blind is Sara Winokur's debut novel. Although she lives in California, this story takes place in Iceland during the 1990s. We have a young boy here, Lukas, who disappears in North Iceland. Twenty years later a mysterious poem lands on the desk of his twin sister Brynja, a forensic geneticist. The poem hints that Lukas may have never died. Brynja job is to work with the police using DNA research to catch criminals. The finding of the poem rekindles her hopes that her brother might be found and found alive. As Brynja unravels the clues, more poems arrive, each bearing dire consequences. 

Double Blind has many different components.  We read about old manuscripts, Icelandic myths, DNA forensics, Icelandic birds, farming, fishing, recipes and a touch of megalomiania.  There is even some romance as Brynja is engaged to Ari, Iceland's prime minister.  The medieval Icelandic Sagas are also part of this story as one of them is scheduled to be displayed for the country's independence celebration.  It seems like everything but the kitchen sink is part of the plot. However, these parts all blend well together.  

Being interested in medieval manuscripts, this story was right up my alley. Iron gall ink was used to make the ink that the words were handwritten with. In one of my classes on ancient manuscripts we had to make ink the old fashioned way and stirred up our own iron gall ink.  It's amazing to me that it was used by ancient scribes as well as modern scribes up until the early twentieth century. A few other components of ancient manuscripts were discussed in the story, which thrilled me. Another aspect to the investigation was the specific style of writing that Icelandic poets used. The poems that Brynja received were different though, adding more to the mystery. Ancient recipes for poisons add yet another layer to the mystery.

In the beginning of the story it seemed like the death of Lukas and the manuscript plotlines could not be intertwined. However, they were and the author also showed her expertise in RNA and DNA matching. The reader learns more about RNA but the information was written in layman's terms. I found it all fascinating. As the plot progresses we see Brinja's co-workers poisoned from eating sweets that are delivered to the office. Clues to the location of her brother are written on the paper used to wrap the sweets in.

Double Blind is unputdownable.  I highly recommend it for mystery fans.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Bone Code

I don't read many Kathy Reichs novels. She writes forensic mysteries which I never could get interested in.  This particular novel concerns using family DNA companies to identify dead people. I have read several forensic DNA novels lately and find that I like them so I selected The Bone Code as my entry for October's Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge. It was published in July 2021.

Temperance Brennan is the main character in the series.  When she examined two decomposing female bodies that were inside a medical waste container off the Charleston, SC coast, she recognized many of the details that were identical to an unsolved case that she handled in Quebec fifteen years earlier.  The story began well but soon devolved into corny idioms and dialogue between Tempe and her husband. Pages 100 -200 were dull.  No action happened. The story did pick up for the remaining 150 pages but I could not overcome the boredom of the first half of the book. There was no suspense whatsoever and clues sprung up quickly and were then discarded.  

I cannot imagine anyone under 60 who would be able to stand the dialogue in the book.  There were so many corny phrases from the 1970s (ask me how I know!) that would stop them reading. "Hot damn, holy freaking shit, over my patootie, a real pisser" plus boring paragraphs "I went inside, brushed my teeth and changed into jeans" or "I was finishing a one-line report..." Common French words were part of the dialogue on every page but I did not see any reason for them. 

Now I remember why I don't read Kathy Reichs novels. Perhaps I am spoiled by reading Nathan Dylan Goodwin's Forensic Genealogist Series. Goodwin adds plenty of suspense to his stories and they focus solely on solving the puzzle. 

I would skip The Bone Code. 2 out of 5 stars.