Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd

27 reviews

bobinsbooknook's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

 
This book is insightful and full of knowledge in a way that is easy to follow without downplaying the difficulties which naturally come with a job such as this. The fascinating cases kept me hooked and is not a book I will likely forget. 

I enjoyed hearing about the progression of pathology cases from his first autopsy as a resident, general pathologist and forensic pathologist and how they were impacted by technological advancements and  social pressures. The cases he has chosen to share were incredibly harrowing yet insightful and include some of the wider known unnatural deaths. 

Chapter 19 almost felt like a Sherlock investigation. Very interesting and methodical. Even though he must be very confident in his findings, he doesn’t come across as arrogant or self-serving when proving himself right to detectives.


The Marchioness disaster on the river Thames was so harrowing and this book provides a unique and valuable perspective into the challenges of identifying so many bodies and how the nature of the investigation of body count and informing loved ones comes into play. 


Throughout this book you can see Dr Shepherd show the vulnerability around his personal and professional concerns - 
the loss of his parents, miscarriages and PTSD diagnosis
- which really adds a level of humanity to a profession which seems very grim. 

Overall, would recommend to anyone who enjoys a strong medical memoir. 


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sineadisreadingagain's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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halletttime2's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0


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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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adventurous dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

5.0


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nojerama's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

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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bridget_t's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.75


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alisonannk's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0


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_shonahenderson's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75


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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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