David Hunter is certain he is not running away from London
to the United States. He ran away from tragedy before when
his daughter and wife were killed. However, after an
uncaptured lunatic tried to kill him and precipitated a
breakup with his lover, David feels justified in trying to
bury himself in his work in a different locale, trading tea
in England for coffee in Tennessee.
To that aim, he allows his friend, the director of the
Forensic Anthropology Center, to talk him into assisting on
an unusual body that has been found. Trying to find his
professional sea-legs after time away from human
interaction, while also dodging suspicion from the local
Tennessee police, an attention-seeking profiler and one of
the forensic pathologists, Dr. Hunter feels insecure and
often questions his involvement on the case. However, as
the bodies accumulate and the clues left by the killer
become more unusual, David can feel himself drawn back into
the world of professional inquiry.
A fast-paced mystery in the style of CSI or
Bones, WHISPERS OF THE DEAD leads the layperson into
the world of forensic science with skill and precision,
never elucidating above the reader's potential
understanding nor talking down in a condescending manner.
Instead, Beckett allows the reader to feel a part of the
investigation. In fact, most readers will find themselves
jumping to conclusions, identifying possible suspects and
second-guessing themselves throughout the book. This kind
of interaction with the tale creates an engaging experience
with an excellently written book.
A field of corpses, laid out in a macabre display…A serial
killer who confounds even the most seasoned profilers…A
doctor whose life has been shattered by crime—plunged into
the heart of a shocking investigation… In this masterful
new novel by Simon Beckett, #1 internationally bestselling
author ofWritten in Bone and The
Chemistry of Death, forensic anthropologist
David Hunter is thrust into his first murder investigation
on U.S. soil—and his most devastating case yet.
In
the heat of a Tennessee summer, Dr. Hunter has come to
Knoxville’s legendary “Body Farm”—the infamous field
laboratory where law enforcement personnel study real
corpses—to escape London and the violence that nearly
destroyed his life. He’s also here to find out if he’s
still up to the job of sorting through death in all its
strange and terrible forms.… Hunter will soon find his
answer when he’s called to a crime scene in a remote Smoky
Mountain cabin—a scene as grisly as it is
bizarre.
The body is taped to a table. Everything
about the crime scene—the wounds, the decomposition, the
microscopic evidence—quickly short-circuits the tools and
methods of forensic experts. Within days, Hunter knows
he’s dealing with a serial killer, someone intimately
familiar with the intricacies of forensics. All around
him, egos and hierarchies clash—from the boasts of a
renowned criminal profiler to the dogged work of a young
female investigator—but fate keeps pushing Hunter further
into the heart of the manhunt. And the killer keeps coming
up with surprises: booby-trapping corpses, faking times of
death, swapping bodies—finally turning his sights on after
Hunter himself.…
An electrifying race against time,
a fascinating journey into the world of forensic science,
and a terrifying portrait of a killer in love with death
itself,Whispers of the Dead is a thriller
of the highest order.
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