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 displayβ¦A serial
killer who confounds even the most seasoned profilersβ¦A
doctor whose life has been shattered by crimeβplunged into
the heart of a shocking investigation⦠In this masterful
new novel by Simon Beckett, #1 internationally bestselling
author of Written in Bone and The
Chemistry of Death, forensic anthropologist
David Hunter is thrust into his first murder investigation
on U.S. soilβand his most devastating case yet.In
the heat of a Tennessee summer, Dr. Hunter has come to
Knoxvilleβs legendary βBody Farmββthe infamous field
laboratory where law enforcement personnel study real
corpsesβto escape London and the violence that nearly
destroyed his life. Heβs also here to find out if heβs
still up to the job of sorting through death in all its
strange and terrible forms.β¦ Hunter will soon find his
answer when heβs called to a crime scene in a remote Smoky
Mountain cabinβa scene as grisly as it is
bizarre.The body is taped to a table. Everything
about the crime sceneβthe wounds, the decomposition, the
microscopic evidenceβquickly short-circuits the tools and
methods of forensic experts. Within days, Hunter knows
heβs dealing with a serial killer, someone intimately
familiar with the intricacies of forensics. All around
him, egos and hierarchies clashβfrom the boasts of a
renowned criminal profiler to the dogged work of a young
female investigatorβbut 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 bodiesβfinally turning his sights on after
Hunter himself.β¦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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