A fascinating read of a mans journey from police officer to forsenic officer. The details in this book were incredible and I can’t put it down.
An amazing book

CW – there are cases discussed (mainly at a point after which Turnbull had become a LLO (lab liaison officer) which mention some horrific crimes and describe some details about them. Some are of a sexual nature and were perpetrated on women. I would advise caution in reading. He also discusses post-mortems a little bit. Once the narrative moves to the author’s involvement in helping to gather details to be used in the Balkan war crimes, things stay grim.

This is written in a conversational style that while immediate and giving the feeling that you’re sitting down with Mr. Turnbull, chatting about his life experiences, nonetheless does wander at times. A bit of tighter editing would have helped.

It takes a while to really get going as we learn about the author’s life from a point far before he entered police work. However, there are things in his upbringing that are pivotal in the formation of his character and desire to see justice done, as well as to his honesty as a person including about the failings of the MET in certain high profile cases. Some people might initially object to times when Turnbull refers to some criminals as a “waste of space” but these remarks are in reference to the men involved in the Rachel Nickell case and the Merlyn Nuttal case. After reading more details about those cases, I tend to agree with Turnball.

Reading about the grim but necessary excavations of the mass graves that resulted from the horror in the Balkans was difficult but ultimately rewarding as this evidence was used by the UN for the war crimes trials. I was heartened to hear of the sensitivity displayed by all involved as they tried to not only keep the forensic chain intact but also help the loved ones of the murdered victims discover what happened to their loved ones. This is not an easy book to read but is rewarding to see justice done for so many people. B

This is a remarkable story, with many interesting experiences from his career, but I had a hard time getting into it. In parts the narrative moves slowly, but it is worth waiting for the exciting parts.

It needs a tighter edit.; there's too much narrative sprawl. There's a lot to interest the reader but I felt drowned by excessive biographical detail.

I really enjoyed this book and read it over two days when I was away on holiday.

I love books of this nature and I thought that the author had a great way of telling the story of his life, it was full of fun anecdotes and I am amazed by how much he managed to get involved in that I had heard about too, he has worked on some really well known cases.

The writing style I found to be perfectly suited and as I was reading it, you could almost hear the words coming from the author. My husband really enjoys this kind of book too as he has a Police background and I have already told him that this is definitely a must read!

I have no hesitation in giving this book 5 stars – it is very highly recommended by me and I found it to be a completely additive read and a great insight in to his life, his exploits when working for the police and some of the activities he got involved in whilst working for the UN and others – it is a remarkable story!

Thanks for granting my wish to read this. Interesting story of a policeman who became a forensics officer. Went into a bit too much detail at times but still a decent read