Member Reviews
I was very excited to get my hands on this audiobook and loved the idea of hearing from a married couple within the forensic pathology field. The first part of the book was fascinating, especially Derek's sections. I found the sections from Pauline quite dull in comparison with a lot of extra unneeded and irrelevant information. I ended up switching back and forth between the audiobook and the kindle version. This helped as there was photo's included in the kindle book. Overall an interesting book/audiobook for people who are interested in the subject but don't know a lot already.
I absolutely loved this book. It took me back to my day's in the 80's when I started as a junior technician. Being taken to lunch and then onto the museum. Obviously the intent was so I would see my lunch again, however it just made me fall in love with the subject. Being based just round from the mortuary we often got to know the staff in there. The people the Tremain's wrote about I saw in the people I knew. I loved their memories' as it was exactly as the NHS was in those days.
They have managed to make their story interesting and humorous. (Patricia's skirt incident and Derek's missing maggots). Loved the narrators on the audiobook.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to listern to this book.
*Listened to the via Audiobook*
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in review for an honest opinion.
I picked this as I like these kind of stories and always reading about cadavers and pathology in fiction.
I thought this would be interesting, I found it gripping in places and liked how it was in places that I knew and could relate to.
I did find out a few interesting facts like a pig is most like a human in body type and gall stones don’t disburse and break down in acid? Who knew!
My interest went up and down on this one, not sure if it’s to do with the audio and the voices. Was lacklustre in areas. I had heard of some of the cases and it was interesting for me but not all of them peaked my interest. I think I expected more from the title.
I liked how the couple made strides and created development for the way pictures and evidence is shown in court and the documents to the jury. Sadly I’ve never done Jury Service.
I don’t know if the book has pictures in places or if this is a novel. But I would like to see some of the things they described and see how they pioneered it.
I think you need to be into forensic science a little bit more than just fiction and watching Silent Witness to appreciate this
Television Police procedurals and forensic dramas have set us up with a certain image of forensic scientists, their lives and their work. But this book sets the record straight in many ways, about how fast or slow the procedure actually is and how conclusive the work.
The book is from both perspectives of the two authors, and the audiobook has appropriate voices for the same. There are copious amounts of details for the Forensic Science and Pathology that the authors participated in or witnessed, but this is not a scientific or even true crime book. This more like an autobiography, but specific to the professional lives of the authors, the book traces how the authors entered into their professions, and the various experiences they had along the way. The book is peppered with hilarious anecdotes like the author volunteering for tests involving ingestion of certain medicines along with alcohol, but it also has grave moments where they confess that the levity, blase attitude to death or pranks around their office was a mechanism to help them cope with the horrific situations they faced everyday, especially in cases of unnatural deaths.
This was a wonderful audiobook, but I would definitely enjoy reading it more, where I could imagine the expressions of the authors when they crack jokes while recalling incidents.
This is one book that every Mystery lover would want to read. This must not be missed. Dear reader, if you live for Mystery, go listen/buy this audiobook right now!!! The details are revealed in such a manner which will satisfy the hunger and love for Mystery. All future detectives, science lovers this is a must listen. Even if you are not used to narration or audiobook, go go go get your hands on this book.
**listened via audiobook**
This book felt completely up my street. I love all things crime, and forensics fascinate me!
I was surprised to find that a lot of the book talks about my local area, so immediately I was engaged.
However, the more the book went on the more I lost interest. I'm unsure whether it was the audiobook narrators that felt a little lack-lustre or the writing itself.
I was expecting more exciting cases, and insights but this just didn't happen. Maybe, I went into the book with wrong ideas but based on the title and based on other books I have read similar to this - I just was left a little bored and wanting more.
Very interesting account from a couple of forensic scientists. I really enjoyed their stories (please note I'm not squeamish). My only 'complaint' and it's not even really one is that the narrators (I had the audiobook) were almost too good at narrating this, I kept forgetting that this wasn't a fictional story but a real one. Would recommend if you are interested in forensic science.