julesreadsstuff's review against another edition

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dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0


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lapuce1006's review against another edition

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5.0


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nojerama's review against another edition

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4.5

A follow up from reading Beyond The Tape by Dr Marie Cassidy last year. A fascinating book that captivated me from the get go, and the more reflective tone and focus on Dr Shepherd's mental health was an interesting perspective to pair alongside the clinical case studies. 

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alisonannk's review against another edition

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4.0


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nila's review against another edition

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5.0


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heyitsashleigh's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Unnatural Causes tells the life story of Dr Richard Shepherd, an experienced forensic pathologist. The book describes a lot of past cases of Dr Shepherd's, many of which are very harrowing and sad, including cases of infanticide, femicide and deaths as a result of police brutality, mass homicide or man-made disasters. It also covers some famous cases such as the deaths of Stephen Lawrence, Rachel Nickell and Princess Diana. As you can imagine, this work took a huge toll on Dr Shepherd's mental health and personal life, and this is covered in the book too. 

I found this book to be a really interesting insight into lots of things - the workings of the human body for one, and the process of a post-mortem and the work of pathologists. But I also found it interesting in its descriptions of how some of the systematic failures we have experienced (and continue to experience) in society have contributed to the deaths of many people. How lack of training on how to safely restrain people has led to police officers suffocating detainees (including the part race plays in this); how previously held attitudes towards child protection issues have led to the unexplained deaths of babies being largely ignored, meaning parents go on to inflict abuse on future children; and how human error and lack of adequate safety procedures has led to hundreds of people being killed in transport disasters. 

Overall I enjoyed this book. I found it a bit too graphic and technical in parts, but I found it really thought provoking on a lot of important topics. Also I love a good murder mystery so that element came into play throughout which was great! 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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anniereads221's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0


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emily_p1's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious medium-paced

3.75


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caitlin_43's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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mithilareads's review against another edition

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5.0

Read this book if you're looking for an insider's account of the stressful life of a forensic pathologist, a description of the daily highs and lows and the extraordinary ups and downs. It's THE book to read if you're a true crime fan.

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