A fascinating insight in to Cliff Todd’s life working for the Forensic Explosives Laboratory or FEL.
It took me a while to get in to the book and get used to Cliff’s delivery which is rather ‘blokey’ and casual with a lot of “So I” “So then” but it soon became unimportant and unnoticeable as he started talking about working on 7/7. I loved the way Cliff always stopped to reflect on how he felt after each traumatic day and that his narrative often relates how he was concerned for their mental health and happiness. The FEL certainly seemed to be a team I’d be happy working in.
For someone nosy like me, it was great to get a peek ‘backstage’ at tragedies that I’d followed so closely on the news and Cliff was respectful and professional in the way he recounted those details.
I won’t say the chapters on explosives and how they are forensically detected were fascinating to me, but I could follow them and learned something so hats off to Cliff for that!
I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone interested in forensic technique and on how a major crime incident is investigated.

This is a fascinating account written by one of the forensic investigators following the terrorist attacks in London on 7th and 21st July. It was really interesting to read about one of the team going off to the crime scene and their role working with the police.

These are shocking events to remember and to dwell on and I think the author does a good job trying to describe what it is like to have to dwell on the attacks because of the job you are doing. The scene in the underground is described in enough detail to get a sense of the horror of being there. There is some description about the process to understand the type of bombs which were made. Finally the book ends with the court case and the involvement of the forensic team presenting their evidence.

The author reminds the reader that these are his memories of the events and that the book is not intended to cover the entire investigation, only the forensic parts. I found it engaging and an interesting read. I have no personal connection to the attacks and I think if you did, it would be quite a difficult and emotional book to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Major incidents spend such a short time in the press and then they're gone, moving swiftly onto the next newsworthy items almost without a second glance when we've scarcely even scratched the surface. That's where books like these come in; books that delve into the background, telling the stories that make the people that died more than just a number, that give those involved in the investigation real lives involving families, children and partners, that make the readers realise that these events are more than just a minute, an hour or a day, they take up years in detail and planning, in investigating, arresting and bringing to trial...if they get that far.
The author of this particular story

Cliff Todd gives us a first-hand account of being a forensic scientist at the time of the bombings in London in 2005. He worked specifically in an explosion section, having the ability to identify the types of bombs used and in some cases the material within them.

While we get a clear understand Cliff’s role during these attacks we don’t get to understand anything around that, it is very specifically focused on these dates and the trials. While I do find that fascinating I was left wanting more about his career as a whole! How did he get into it? What else has he done? What does the department do? I was left wanting a longer book!

We begin with a very brief understanding of the section he works in and where it is based then we are straight into the incident of 7/7, at this point I feel I must say there are some shocking details of the scene. I would strongly advise avoiding this if you’ve had any kind of terrorism affecting your life.

Relating to 7/7 we really only get Cliff’s experience on site and at the bomb-making house rather than the courtroom, where at in the case of 24/7 there were a number of people to prosecute so the science, in that case took priority as the defendants where claiming the only aimed to scare the public rather than harm, we get to see how Cliff and the people around him disprove this defence.

The book is rather detailed about the science behind what they do, I think a general interesting forensic science would be good before starting the book. We are told a lot of details about the cases which we wouldn’t know unless we did very specific research, it was nice to get a voice behind it.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher plus the author for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for this, an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy which was given in exchange for an honest review.

Not to be morbid or anything, but I like books like this. I like events that are historical (no matter how its seen 7/7 will always be remembered in British history), I like facts and figures and I like peoples recounts of the events at the time. Obviously, the whole event, and events that have happened since and previous to that are heartbreakingly horrific and so very sad with so many losses of life.

I liked the idea of the author’s personal memoirs, which meant getting a recount from someone who was actually there. It was a terrorist act which I haven’t really seen many books about, with so many being focused on 9/11. The problem with this book, for me, was that there were too many facts and figures and not enough personal story. Being personal memoirs, I expected it to be more ‘from the heart’ and it was just a bit too ‘technical’ for my liking. I’m sure it would appeal to some, but it wasn’t really for me.

When I heard that this very brief book was a memoir by one of the forensic investigators into the bombings in London, I thought that it might be an interesting read. While there have been libraries written about the September 11 attacks, the London terror attacks seem to have gone unexamined.

The problem with this book is a serious lack of depth. It is a personal memoir from Cliff Todd that covers a relatively short period of time, and gets so bogged down in the technical detail of bombs and explosives, almost to the point where it lacks any sense of a human connection to the events.

I guess I was expecting more storytelling, rather than a dry recitation. It is both a blessing and a curse that the book is so short, because it quite frankly bored me.

One for the truly interested in such matters.

Because I was very nearly in the middle of the 7/7 King's Cross bombing in London in 2005, I was very interested in this memoir by a member of the Forensic Explosives Laboratory that investigated it, but it quickly became apparently that what I was reading was what a memoirist usually disgorges and gives to a ghost writer to straighten out and put into some kind of context and coherent order. For whatever reason, the publisher decided to go as is, which was a mistake.