THE DEAD CAN TALK – WE JUST NEED TO LISTEN . . .
Camden mortuary assistant Cassie Raven has pretty much seen it all. But this is the first time she’s come face to face with someone she knows on the slab. Someone she cared about. Her friend and mentor, Mrs E.
Deeply intuitive and convinced that she can pick up the last thoughts of the dead, Cassie senses that there must be more to the ruling of an accidental death. Is her grief making her see things that aren’t there, or is her intuition right, and there’s something more sinister to her friend’s death than the ME thinks? Harbouring an innate distrust of the police, Cassie sets out to investigate and deliver justice to the woman who saved her life.
For fans of Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway series and Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan, Cassie Raven is the edgy new forensic sleuth on the block.
My Review
This was my first book by A.K Turner, I was intrigued by the premise of ‘the dead can talk.’ I really enjoy a supernatural twist in my thrillers. Turner made this aspect of the book very believable, even Cassie herself, wasn’t sure if she was actually hearing the dead.
Characters
Cassie is a mortuary technician and extremely good at her job. She’s gentle with her clients and their families. For some reason this was a really important aspect of the book for me. Whether that was because we needed to see the softer side of Cassie or because I’d like to think that we treat our dead with the respect they deserve I’m not sure.
Cassie is quiet a hard character, having said that I warmed to her quickly. She’s had a tough past and made some errors in her younger years. A chance meeting with Mrs E turns her life around, so it is even more devastating to her to find Mrs E as one of her clients. Some of Cassie’s character traits reminded me very much of Sherlock Holms, she has very similar deduction skills.
Other chapters are told from the point of view of Detective Flyte. She is a by the book, no shortcuts taken kind of police officer. Recently moved to the area after some kind of trauma but you don’t know what. She really put my back up at first. The tension between her and Cassie is palpable during the first half of the story. Slowly they start to develop a growing respect of one another and this is when Flyte’s character really starts to develop. I enjoyed her story arc, it was very well done.
My favourite character though was Cassie’s Grandmother, she’s a side character but full of personality. A strong, tough woman who isn’t going to take any nonsense from anyone. I loved her.
Final Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed this book, there a few side stories alongside the main arc which allowed everything to be well rounded. The pacing is fabulous and I found myself along side Cassie trying to work out what was going on. Towards the end the tension keeps on upping a notch, during the final third I found it very hard to put the book down.
Although the story all wraps up there certainly seems to be scope for future books to feature Cassie and Flyte, I for one am hoping there will be.
Many thanks to Tracy for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publishers for a copy of the book via Netgalley.
Author Bio
A.K. Turner‘s first foray into crime fiction was a detective thriller trilogy, written under the pen name Anya Lipska, following the adventures of Janusz Kiszka, a fixer to London’s Polish community. All three books won critical acclaim and were twice optioned as a possible TV series. In her other life as a TV producer and writer, A.K. makes documentaries and drama-docs on subjects as diverse as the Mutiny on the Bounty, the sex lives of Neanderthals, and Monty Don’s Italian Gardens.
[…] is the second Cassie Raven book, having loved the first (read my review here) I was excited to get my hands on this one. As always there will be no spoilers, however, I will be […]