Twelve in 12: The Chemistry Of Death in OD

Title: The Chemistry Of Death

Author: Simon Beckett

Genre: Crime

448 pages

This is the first of three books I will be reviewing for The Great Transworld Crime Caper

Dr David Hunter was a forensic anthropologist. After a personal tragedy, he moves to Manham in Norfolkshire and becomes a GP. Despite living in the village for three years, he is still considered to be an outsider.

His past career catches up with him when the body of a woman is found in the forest and the police insist he helps out. Then a second woman goes missing, later turning up dead. Then a third, one that hits a bit too close to Dr Hunter for comfort.

The first thing I will tell you is that there are a lot of quite graphic descriptions of what happens to a body once it’s dead. So this is definitely not a book for the squeamish.

Thankfully, I’m not squeamish and so actually found that stuff quite fascinating. As for the rest of the book, I quite enjoyed it. The pacing was good and there was a claustrophobic feel from the whole thing being set in one small village that reminded of me of The Wicker Man (in a good way).

However, quite enjoyed it isn’t the same as really enjoyed it. I did have some problems with the book, which were:

1) The resolution of the main plot seemed to come out of left field. I get why someone may want to do that, it’s an attempt to show the reader how clever said character actually is. However, the result (certainly in this case for me) is that it left me feeling more than a little cheated. There were minor clues, but these were very, very minor.

2) There was far, far too much made out of villager’s attitudes towards people moving in from elsewhere. I know it happens. My dad is from a similarly small village. But it seemed to be part of Beckett’s agenda to stress how much this attitude goes on. To have one character fall victim to it is fine, to have it happen with three different characters is overkill.

3) There is a strange motif about dreams running through the entire books for which, bugger an adequate explanation, there is no attempt to explain it at all. It’s just there. It’s almost as if the writer needed an excuse for one thing to happen and decided that would do.
Despite the faults mentioned above, I probably would read the book again. Would I recommend it? Yes, but in a ‘if you have nothing else to read’ kind of way.

Will