Product Description

Terrifying suspense and chillingly authentic forensics come together in this stunning thriller from a frighteningly good British crime-writing talent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10075 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Tess Gerritsen
‘Has to be the best thriller I’ve read all year...fast-paced, fascinating and heart-stoppingly exciting.’

Mo Hayder
‘Fresh and original...perfectly captures the claustrophobic horror of a rural community in crisis...absolutely compelling – and so deliciously scary.’

Synopsis
Finding refuge in a quiet rural backwater, Dr David Hunter hoped he might at last have put the past behind him. But then they found what was left of Sally Palmer...It isn't just that she was a friend that disturbs him. Once he'd been a high-profile forensic anthropologist and all too familiar with the many faces of death, before tragedy made him abandon this previous life. Now, the police want his help. But to become involved will stir up memories he's long tried to forget. Then a second woman disappears, plunging the close-knit community into a maelstrom of fear and paranoia. And no one, not even Hunter, is exempt from suspicion. Gruesome and gripping, this startling new British crime thriller has an unnerving and original twist.

Customer Reviews

it's impossible to hide
I read this book because I've just been given 'Written in Bone', the sequel to this one and wanted to know more about Dr.Hunter et al.

It's difficult to plough a furrow in an already well-ploughed field but Simon Beckett suceeds well in creating another anthropologist certainly able to stand up against the rather more famous American female counterparts.

I liked the rather old-fashioned style of writing. It reminded me more of the crime writers around in the fifties or sixties. Hunter is no superhero, thank goodness. The author allows his man to have all the hang-ups we've come to expect from modern-day novels and yet fascinates the reader with the forensic detail.

The story is a traditional one. The whodunnit part is well disguised, provided you haven't read too many books where people are not quite what they seem from the beginning. So, armed with that snippet, I'm off to read the follow-on, fully hoping for another excellent page-turner.

Fabulous
I read the first paragraph of this book whilst standing in the supermarket queue. Although unlike anything I have chosen to read before, I was instantly gripped. Regrettably, it is a long time since I have found a book I have been unable to put down, however, this book broke the rut. I loved it!!

A great new British author and a great lead character
`The Chemistry of Death' is the new forensic thriller from Simon Beckett and is the first in the series starring Dr David Hunter. The story begins shortly after David moves to the small village of Manham following the deaths of his wife and daughter in a car accident in London. Women begin to go missing and are found days later in the woods and marshland brutally mutilated and set on display with dead animals placed near them. David used to work with the police back in the city so the local police find this out and ask for his help. As more women go missing and the police have nothing to go on, the residents of Manham become more vigilant and make it harder for David and the police to find the killer.

I'm a big fan of forensic thrillers like Cornwell and Reichs so when I started reading this and realised that it was based in England, I really did strike gold with Simon Beckett! The setting of Manham seems very claustrophobic despite it being in a hot, bright and sunny setting for a majority of the book, with the residents being very close-knit and making David feel like a real outsider. The story is fairly fast-paced although did give me time to really get to know David and his background near the start of the book rather than jumping straight into the murders and abductions of the women. The characters are all very realistic with David being a really great lead character that is likeable and believable, even if some of his characteristics are a little cliché (dead wife and kid, moves away to a new place) in the crime fiction genre. I still look forward to reading the next in the series. Beckett's knowledge on dead bodies seems to be quite detailed and accurate (as far as I'm aware) and I felt I learnt a bit too when reading this too.

Overall this is a really great British thriller that I found to be very scary and extremely exciting and tense. I didn't guess the killer at all and so when I found out who it was it was a surprise. I highly recommend this to fans of Cornwell and Reichs who also enjoy book s by authors like Mark Billingham and Ian Rankin, as it does feel like a mix of the two types of crime fiction rolled into one. I can't wait to read the second book in the series now.