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frozenheartv's review against another edition
It was promising at first but then I felt like this book became a non-fiction romance or something. The main point is explaining the forensic procedure/details related to murder in my opinion, but it surprisingly went quite in another direction. I have to DNF this, better early than sorry.
blackmore's review against another edition
2.0
The presentation of this book is atrocious. There are two authors writing from their own perspectives, but they switch at complete random, with no demarcation at all. Halfway through a paragraph you'll realise from context clues that you're now reading from the other person's perspective, which is extremely jarring. In one notable case an entire chapter was written from Pauline's perspective then switched to Derek for a single (pointless) paragraph, then switched back.
There's also very little continuity to topics and frequent tangents, which makes it difficult to follow.
This is really more of a joint biography with a lot of personal anecdotes completely unrelated to their work. Only about half of it is actually about forensics, and only a fraction of that is about "how to solve a murder". This would be fine, but it makes the title very misleading.
I'm not sure why Pauline is included at all. I'm writing this before I've finished the book so maybe she has something interesting to say in the last third, but since she just quit the job I doubt it. Her sections are mostly stories about how she's rather break H&S codes than cover her stilettos, or how one time her boss saw her thong because she kept wearing such short skirts, or how young and sexy she was and what an asset that was to all the men in the office. When she did talk about the work, it was mostly "it looked gross and smelled bad". Insightful! She did also mention the difficulty & traumatising nature of facing death on a daily basis, which brings up concerns about the mental wellbeing of workers in this field, which is worth mentioning, but again that's very little of it. If she had to join in at all, it would be better served by having one chapter with her perspective of the work, which would be more than enough for everything worthwhile she has to say.
Gets two stars for the parts that were actually interesting. Might have gotten three if it was given a title that made it clear this was first and foremost a memoir.
There's also very little continuity to topics and frequent tangents, which makes it difficult to follow.
This is really more of a joint biography with a lot of personal anecdotes completely unrelated to their work. Only about half of it is actually about forensics, and only a fraction of that is about "how to solve a murder". This would be fine, but it makes the title very misleading.
I'm not sure why Pauline is included at all. I'm writing this before I've finished the book so maybe she has something interesting to say in the last third, but since she just quit the job I doubt it. Her sections are mostly stories about how she's rather break H&S codes than cover her stilettos, or how one time her boss saw her thong because she kept wearing such short skirts, or how young and sexy she was and what an asset that was to all the men in the office. When she did talk about the work, it was mostly "it looked gross and smelled bad". Insightful! She did also mention the difficulty & traumatising nature of facing death on a daily basis, which brings up concerns about the mental wellbeing of workers in this field, which is worth mentioning, but again that's very little of it. If she had to join in at all, it would be better served by having one chapter with her perspective of the work, which would be more than enough for everything worthwhile she has to say.
Gets two stars for the parts that were actually interesting. Might have gotten three if it was given a title that made it clear this was first and foremost a memoir.
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
3.0
The parts about forensic techniques are interesting but I didn't find the memoir sections all that engaging. Pauline's half was a bit too much like just going through all the jobs she had, with a cringeworthy anecdote about flashing her colleagues. Derek spent ages talking about the jolly time he had as a young man doing medical trials. I'm not sure the chosen audiobook narrators really helped, I felt quite distant to both of them.
emmanovella's review against another edition
2.0
I think this book is marketed wrong as at first glance with the title, you would think it tells you more about the actual job and how they do what they do when in reality it's little of that and more a biography with random stories and then some "hey look what we did, we're great" moments. At times I felt a bit patronised too, but that may have been the narrators more than the actual people. Overall, if I had been heavily told this was just stories of this couple's life, I may have enjoyed it more.
julessergio's review against another edition
2.0
The egotrip that is this book, WOW.
Misleading summary doesn’t even begin to describe it. It is but a series of anecdotes on how absolutely flawless the authors believe they are, with POVs changing in the most poorly written way possible and focusing on all the wrong things. It takes 23 chapters to actually get to interesting true crime cases and even then it is more about Derek reaffirming how essential his sole existence was to England’s justice system than the investigations and processes themselves. Not to mention the amount of times other forensic professionals are undermined as if being specialized in one forensic file was a sin and the number of overtly sexual and sexist comments throughout the whole book. Seriously, don’t waste your time.
Misleading summary doesn’t even begin to describe it. It is but a series of anecdotes on how absolutely flawless the authors believe they are, with POVs changing in the most poorly written way possible and focusing on all the wrong things. It takes 23 chapters to actually get to interesting true crime cases and even then it is more about Derek reaffirming how essential his sole existence was to England’s justice system than the investigations and processes themselves. Not to mention the amount of times other forensic professionals are undermined as if being specialized in one forensic file was a sin and the number of overtly sexual and sexist comments throughout the whole book. Seriously, don’t waste your time.
zjn's review against another edition
2.0
I received an advance copy of this audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As someone with an interest in true crime I was intrigued by this title and decided to give it a listen. The book follows the careers of a couple who work in forensic pathology over several decades, with frequent in depth explanations of the various processes they use.
This book goes into significant amounts of detail and is not one for anyone remotely squeamish. I found some of the information given interesting but ultimately did not particularly enjoy the book. This may be because I am more interested in the psychological aspects of crime, though I did struggle with the pacing of the book and some of the views shared by the authors, which felt a little dated.
I’d recommend this book to those particularly interested in the physical side of crime but would otherwise give it a miss.
As someone with an interest in true crime I was intrigued by this title and decided to give it a listen. The book follows the careers of a couple who work in forensic pathology over several decades, with frequent in depth explanations of the various processes they use.
This book goes into significant amounts of detail and is not one for anyone remotely squeamish. I found some of the information given interesting but ultimately did not particularly enjoy the book. This may be because I am more interested in the psychological aspects of crime, though I did struggle with the pacing of the book and some of the views shared by the authors, which felt a little dated.
I’d recommend this book to those particularly interested in the physical side of crime but would otherwise give it a miss.
zjn's review against another edition
2.0
I received an advance copy of this audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As someone with an interest in true crime I was intrigued by this title and decided to give it a listen. The book follows the careers of a couple who work in forensic pathology over several decades, with frequent in depth explanations of the various processes they use.
This book goes into significant amounts of detail and is not one for anyone remotely squeamish. I found some of the information given interesting but ultimately did not particularly enjoy the book. This may be because I am more interested in the psychological aspects of crime, though I did struggle with the pacing of the book and some of the views shared by the authors, which felt a little dated.
I’d recommend this book to those particularly interested in the physical side of crime but would otherwise give it a miss.
As someone with an interest in true crime I was intrigued by this title and decided to give it a listen. The book follows the careers of a couple who work in forensic pathology over several decades, with frequent in depth explanations of the various processes they use.
This book goes into significant amounts of detail and is not one for anyone remotely squeamish. I found some of the information given interesting but ultimately did not particularly enjoy the book. This may be because I am more interested in the psychological aspects of crime, though I did struggle with the pacing of the book and some of the views shared by the authors, which felt a little dated.
I’d recommend this book to those particularly interested in the physical side of crime but would otherwise give it a miss.
legohelmet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0