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debtat2's review against another edition
4.0
As written in the book description: This is not for the faint-hearted reader
Book Description
Each man kills the thing he loves…
A body is found in an empty house.
A body without its limbs. And head.
Dr. John Eisenmenger is tasked with examining the torso to uncover clues which will lead to its identity and cause of death; a grisly job even for the most hardened of pathologists.
But as the investigation unfolds, the team discovers that there is much, much worse to come, and in addition, there is growing suspicion that there is a link between the two cases.
I have just realised that this book is number 11 in a long-running series! And I have not read ANY of the previous books!
Reading this book as a standalone works but I feel I would have been more invested in this book if I had read the series in the proper order.
Keith McCarthy, is himself a practicing pathologist and knows a great deal about cadavers and forensics and there is a lot of detail about the dissection of bodies so there are parts of this book which gets a bit grisly with plenty of twists and turns to keep you reading.
I think that the realism added by the author from his own experience with the medical aspects added to the book and gives it an edge on other books in this genre.
I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends and I will go back and start at book 1 when i get chance.
Book Description
Each man kills the thing he loves…
A body is found in an empty house.
A body without its limbs. And head.
Dr. John Eisenmenger is tasked with examining the torso to uncover clues which will lead to its identity and cause of death; a grisly job even for the most hardened of pathologists.
But as the investigation unfolds, the team discovers that there is much, much worse to come, and in addition, there is growing suspicion that there is a link between the two cases.
I have just realised that this book is number 11 in a long-running series! And I have not read ANY of the previous books!
Reading this book as a standalone works but I feel I would have been more invested in this book if I had read the series in the proper order.
Keith McCarthy, is himself a practicing pathologist and knows a great deal about cadavers and forensics and there is a lot of detail about the dissection of bodies so there are parts of this book which gets a bit grisly with plenty of twists and turns to keep you reading.
I think that the realism added by the author from his own experience with the medical aspects added to the book and gives it an edge on other books in this genre.
I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends and I will go back and start at book 1 when i get chance.
kirkw1972's review against another edition
3.0
I was a bit surprised to find that there are quite a few of these books in the series and this isn't a first one. I got the impression that most of the characters were new to each other and hadn't worked with each other before.
While I liked the serial killer angle and the grisly way of dealing with the corpses (liked may be the wrong word there!) there was a brief one line towards the end of a 'Grand Plan' and then nothing. I am assuming it's the old story of abused becomes abuser but why the dismemberment? Why men of a certain age? It all left me a bit unsatisfied.
Then again so many evil geniuses feel the need to explain their grand plans (before being caught natch!) that maybe the author thought they were doing something different? It was a bit annoying though.
As was Wharton and her boss Lambert. Both quite cliched & unlikable characters. Why does the female cop always have had to sleep her way to the top? One thing that again was never explained was the antagonism between the two. He obviously hates her but why? I'm guessing that it's explained in one of the previous stories but I would have liked a little bit of a link back to it.
What I did like was the pace of the story. Being an unlikable 'I want results now or you'll lose your job' type issuing time demands meant everything got to be tied up quite quickly and I think the writing matched the pace really well. I did like DS Bayes - he at least seems interesting and the end of the book focused on his future which threw me a bit because the synopsis ignores him completely.
Overall it's not a bad book and I did like the story. I'm just not overly keen on the characters.
Free arc from netgalley
While I liked the serial killer angle and the grisly way of dealing with the corpses (liked may be the wrong word there!) there was a brief one line towards the end of a 'Grand Plan' and then nothing. I am assuming it's the old story of abused becomes abuser but why the dismemberment? Why men of a certain age? It all left me a bit unsatisfied.
Then again so many evil geniuses feel the need to explain their grand plans (before being caught natch!) that maybe the author thought they were doing something different? It was a bit annoying though.
As was Wharton and her boss Lambert. Both quite cliched & unlikable characters. Why does the female cop always have had to sleep her way to the top? One thing that again was never explained was the antagonism between the two. He obviously hates her but why? I'm guessing that it's explained in one of the previous stories but I would have liked a little bit of a link back to it.
What I did like was the pace of the story. Being an unlikable 'I want results now or you'll lose your job' type issuing time demands meant everything got to be tied up quite quickly and I think the writing matched the pace really well. I did like DS Bayes - he at least seems interesting and the end of the book focused on his future which threw me a bit because the synopsis ignores him completely.
Overall it's not a bad book and I did like the story. I'm just not overly keen on the characters.
Free arc from netgalley
fixatedonfiction's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book. I haven't read the first one but didn't think I really needed to as it is a crime novel. I did get confused in parts, as it kept going to and fro between different scenes, and it gave no indication that the scenes were different. All in all, a good read, and a really good ending.
vesper1931's review against another edition
3.0
A statisical increase in the deaths at the hospital results in Dr. Claire Woodforde involving John Eisenmenger. Meanwhile Detective Chief Inspector Beverley Wharton starts to investigate the appearance of torsos.
An interesting mystery which held my interest to the conclusion.
A NetGalley Book
An interesting mystery which held my interest to the conclusion.
A NetGalley Book
katevane's review
3.0
I picked this up because I'd previously read and enjoyed [b:The Silent Sleep of the Dying|28283688|The Silent Sleep of the Dying|Keith McCarthy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1450910646s/28283688.jpg|3251421] and was interested to revisit Eisenmenger some years on.
Sadly, this for me isn't as strong a novel. It feels a little rushed, like it's an early draft.
The strengths - the pace, the detailed portrayal of the hospital/medical world and the author's willingness to populate his books with unlikeable characters!
The weaknesses - I struggle with the trope of pulling an indispensable cop (or in this case pathologist) out of retirement. I felt there was one massive hole in the plot and a number of smaller things that were set up but not paid off. We didn't really get a clear sense of the killer's motivation.
Having said that, I'd give this series another go because of the quality of the first book I read.
*
I received a copy of A Kiss Before Killing from the publisher via Netgalley.
Sadly, this for me isn't as strong a novel. It feels a little rushed, like it's an early draft.
The strengths - the pace, the detailed portrayal of the hospital/medical world and the author's willingness to populate his books with unlikeable characters!
The weaknesses - I struggle with the trope of pulling an indispensable cop (or in this case pathologist) out of retirement. I felt there was one massive hole in the plot and a number of smaller things that were set up but not paid off. We didn't really get a clear sense of the killer's motivation.
Having said that, I'd give this series another go because of the quality of the first book I read.
*
I received a copy of A Kiss Before Killing from the publisher via Netgalley.
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