This was an interesting read. Cassie is a mortuary technician, who sometimes feels the dead are sending her a message. She also has an interesting past, and here she works on the body of the teacher who got her off the streets and into A-Levels. This death is initially thought to be an accident, but of course it turns out to be more complicated. Then there is the mysterious disappearance of the body of an elderly man from the mortuary overnight.

It was difficult for me to get hold of a copy of this novel and I don't think I loved it enough to seek out the other two in the series, but it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours. ( )

Cassie (Cassandra) Raven works in a mortuary in Camden, north London, where she speaks to the dead — and it seems they might be speaking back. This is the first book in a series of three so far, and it’s very good. Cassie is a likeable character as are many of the supporting cast (plus some really bad people too). Unlike some other London-based thrillers I’ve read recently, this is a genuinely modern story with a powerful young woman as the lead. Cassie’s been compared to Lisbeth Salander, which may explain why I’m enjoying reading about her. It’s a good story — actually several overlapping stories — and I look forward to reading more from this series. ( )

3,5* ( )

I'm not sure why I enjoyed 'Body Language' as much as I did. It swept me along, made me smile, and piqued my curiosity enough that I found myself looking forward to returning to it whenever I had to put it aside to deal with the demands of real life. At the end of the book, I thought, 'I enjoyed that. I'm glad it's the first book in a series. I'm already looking forward to the next one'.

The odd thing is that, from a content point of view, 'Body Language' shouldn't have been a book that made me smile and feel better about the world. Much of the novel was spent with our main protagonist, Cassie Raven, slicing up dead bodies in an unglamorous morgue and most of the rest was spent trying to track down a disturbingly cold-blooded killer.

If 'Body Language' had a scent, it would be formaldehyde, decomp and tears and yet, as I read it, my main reaction was to feel uplifted and hopeful.

Some of that sense of hope comes from the fact that 'Body Language' isn't a typical forensics lab thriller. Cassie Raven isn't Kay Scarpetta or Temperance Brennan - high-profile, rich, preppy MEs with lots of letters after their names. She's a mortuary assistant, not a Medical Examiner. She's in Camden Town, a slightly bohemian, slightly disreputable, yet to be gentrified part of London, not some prestigious Institute in a rich State on America's eastern seaboard. She's bright but dropped out of school and has no degree. She's from an immigrant Polish family, was raised by her gran, left home in her teens and lived in a squat. She dyes her hair bright colours and wears facial piercings.

What does she have going for her? An engaging blend of empathy, compassion, curiosity and a tendency towards rebellion. She's good at noticing details a harassed or inexperienced coroner might miss. She knows how to support grieving family members as they identify their dead. She treats the dead in her care with respect. She always talks to them. And sometimes, in their way, she believes they talk back.

A lot of the book is a showcase to display Cassie Raven's personality and reveal her backstory. This is done in a graceful and engaging way that is made more powerful because one of the bodies 'speaking' to Cassie is the teacher who motivated and supported Cassie to resume her education and leave her vulnerable, crusty, homeless life behind and put her intelligence to good use. As Cassie tries to find out what happened to her teacher, we find out a lot more about Cassie.

I liked the way the 'the dead speak to me' part of the book was managed. It can be read as 'Cassie sees the dead and they communicate with her silently, seeking justice' or as 'Cassie is a deeply empathetic person with a strong need to know what happened to the bodies in her charge, strong observation skills and an intuitive problem-solving style that sometimes manifests as visions of the dead.' I still don't know which of those I'd pick and I enjoy the ambiguity.

There's more to 'Body Language' that the Cassie Raven story. though. The plot is twisty, clever, surprising and plausible. The ensemble cast works well and there's a promising 'Odd Couple' combination when Cassie has to influence the by-the-book, very conventional, very ambitious police officer who is in charge of the investigation into Cassie's teacher's death. I liked that the police officer had a good back story of her own and was more than a foil for Cassie.

I couldn't make my mind up about how well the book succeeded in bringing Camden alive. A long long time ago, I lived further up the hill from Camden and I knew the area well, so it was easy for me to see Camden Market and Camden Lock in my head. I'm not sure how much someone who has never been there would get from the book. But then, thrillers mostly don't bother to describe Manhattan in a way that a European who has never been there would understand. What does come across clearly is the energy of this part of town that still finds room for people who have more creativity than money and who come from such a wide variety of backgrounds that nothing and no one could seem out of place.

I've already bought 'Life Sentence' the next book in the series and 'Where The Devil Can't Go', the first book in the series that A K Turner wrote under the name Anya Lipska. ( )

Twenty-five-year old Goth Cassie Raven, with her dyed, partly shaved hair, multiple piercings, tattoos and an inherent distrust of the police, is the likeable protagonist of this engaging and entertaining crime story. A mortuary technician and something of a loner, she loves her job, always treating the bodies in her care with compassion and respect, talking to them to reassure them she’ll look after them. She believes that the dead can talk and that, if she listens, they will tell her what happened to them.
Following the deaths of her parents in a car crash when she was four, she was brought up by her strict but loving Polish maternal grandmother, Weronika Janek. Although she grew up being told about her mother, Weronika never wanted to talk about Cassie’s father, other than to make it clear that she didn’t like him. As Cassie’s vague memories of him were of a loving, playful person, this left her with the feeling that there was something her grandmother was holding back, yet she felt unable to press for more information.
As a child she tended to be a loner, finding it difficult to trust people; she also developed what many regarded as a morbid interest in dead creatures. As a teenager she rebelled against Weronika’s strictness and although bright, dropped out of school with just four GCSEs, leaving home when she was seventeen to go and live in a squat with her boyfriend. Even when her relationship with him ended, she continued to enjoy her life of rebellion, moving from squat to squat with an ever-changing group of housemates, sharing everything from food to drugs. However, eighteen months later her life changed when, selling the Big Issue on the street, a middle-aged woman bought a copy of the magazine and stopped to chat. She was a science teacher from the local adult education college and soon became a regular customer, always bringing Cassie a cup of coffee and a sandwich. As a result of their developing relationship she persuaded Cassie to study for her A levels, a decision which led her to the job she loves.
However, one day Cassie’s world is turned upside down when she discovers that the body on her mortuary slab is that of Geraldine Edwards, her friend and mentor: she had been found drowned in the bath. The pathologist ruled that her death was accidental but Cassie is convinced that ‘Mrs E.’ is telling her that it wasn’t. With no evidence to go on, other than her instincts, she is determined to do everything she can to uncover the truth. Her investigations bring her into contact with DS Phyllida Flyte, who has recently moved from Winchester to Camden and is feeling very much an outsider in her new team. She appears to be a rather obsessional, uptight woman who, with her ‘not a hair out of place’ appearance, appears to have little in common with Cassie. Their suspicion of each other is mutually instinctive, especially when the body of an elderly man goes missing from the mortuary and Phyllida initially regards Cassie as the prime suspect. However, it soon becomes clear that what they do have in common is a pride in doing their jobs well and a commitment to seeking the truth in order to bring justice to victims of crime.
Although this story is told mainly through the eyes of Cassie, some chapters are devoted to Phyllida’s perspective, allowing the reader to observe the various influences which drive their determined pursuit of truth and justice. Both characters are satisfyingly well-developed and I really enjoyed seeing how each of them coped with working together. In their different ways, and for different reasons, they both find it difficult to trust, instinctively inclined to put up defensive emotional barriers whenever they feel that other people are getting too close. Yet gradually each was able to recognise the other’s emotional vulnerability, adding an edginess to their developing relationship. I was impressed by the psychological credibility of the various ways in which the author explored the tentative ‘one-step-forward, two-steps-back’ behaviour which typified so many of their interactions. In fact, strong character development is one of the strengths of this story, with even the more minor characters feeling fully formed and therefore memorable. Even though his appearances in this story are relatively brief, the new pathologist, Dr Archie Cuff – wearer of an old-Harrovian tie, cufflinks and a genuine Barbour jacket (‘not a knock-off’) and arrogantly disinclined to pay attention to the observations of a lowly technician – is shown to be capable of change!
There is a thread running through the story about how the psychological effects of trauma and unresolved grief can manifest themselves in a range of dysfunctional behaviour within relationships. I was very impressed by the psychologically credible ways in which the author explored this in relation to not only the two main characters, but also as a theme in the lives of some of the more minor ones. I thought the plot-development and the pacing of the story were well-handled, with enough unexpected twists to make it an enjoyable and satisfying read. I had wondered whether I might feel rather cynical about the paranormal aspect of the story but the way in which this was handled always felt plausible – probably because I felt able to analyse it in psycho-dynamic terms! Camden is an area of London I know well and, with its rather edgy, alternative-lifestyle vibe, it felt like an ideal choice of location for as ‘off-beat’ a character as Cassie. I thought that the author’s evocative descriptions brought the area alive, adding an enjoyable extra dimension to the storytelling.
I also enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Cassie’s job and increasing my knowledge of the range of procedures in a mortuary, not only in relation to how the physical examination is carried out, but also the little techniques used to make the body ‘fit’ for the relatives to view. I also discovered that there are differences between a post mortem ordered by a coroner in the event of an unexplained death, and the more detailed forensic one which is required to determine the cause of death following a crime. In the former the evisceration of the body and the taking of samples of bodily fluids for analysis is done by an anatomical pathology technician, like Cassie, with the pathologist examining the organs once they’ve been removed, whilst in the latter the pathologist is responsible for the whole process, with the pathology technician’s role being to assist. From the level of detail included in the scenes set in the mortuary it was clear that the author must have done considerable research. A similar attention to detail was also apparent in her descriptions of what life on the streets is like for the homeless and the drug addicts.
This is the first story in a new series and, with some firm foundations already laid, I’m very much looking forward to getting to know this cast of memorable characters better – including Weronika and Macavity, Cassie’s cat!
With thanks to Readers First and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. ( )