Sue M. Black

This is a memoir by British forensic pathologist Sue Black. It's a mix of one woman's memories of growing up in Scotland and of how she decided first on studying anatomy and then becoming a pathologist, and of some of the cases she worked on, both solved and unsolved. The heart of the memoir centers on her time working in Kosovo to help bring the perpetrators of massacres to justice and help find the identities of the dead for surviving family members. It's grim and exacting work done under very difficult conditions and it's clear that Black thrived in that environment, able to use her extensive knowledge to its fullest. When it comes to describing the cases she's worked on, this book is fascinating.

Black is not a writer and her stated purpose for writing this book is to leave her grandchildren with a record of her memories, which accounts for the odd mix of family stories, childhood memories and descriptions of how she was able to discover causes of death and/or give identity to badly damaged corpses. While I was far more interested in her professional life, her memories of childhood were were charming in a low key way and it's impossible not to admire a grandmother who intersperses her more ordinary memories with a description of how her beloved uncle died face first in the Sunday soup.… (plus d'informations)

This was enjoyable. It's written in a way that a lay-person like myself can understand the human bones, what they do, where they are, what they look like. She knows how to speak to us on a level that helps us understand without making us feel stupid. While I am fascinated by the body and how the bones play out in investigations, I lean more toward a crime junkie. There was definitely that in this book scattered throughout, and very enjoyable. I do wish there were more crime solving stories. I'd recommend this one.… (plus d'informations)