Relief Reads 22 - The Reurresctionist

The Resurrectionist by James Bradley

Charity Shop: Oxfam maybe - that's what the sticker says on the back. I can't remember where I got this book, but I don't think it was Oxfam

Charity: You've all heard of Oxfam

Price: £1.99 if it indeed was from Oxfam

Book Blurb: Sometimes the worst prisons we build are not of stone  Leaving behind his father's tragic failures, Gabriel Swift arrives in London in 1826 to study with Edwin Poll, the great anatomist. But he finds himself drawn to his master nemesis, Lucan, the most powerful of the city's resurrectionists and governor of its trade in stolen bodies. Dismissed by Poll, Gabriel is pulled into the sinister and mysterious underworld of Georgian London - and must make a journey that will change his life forever.

Expectation: Having just read I was expecting this book to have a supernatural element, but didn't give it much thought.

Reality: A story about grave diggers from the point of view of Gabriel. Gabriel is quite detached from the action which is quite scary as it goes from a very normal, and from the outside what should be quite a happy life, to a very dark and violent underworld, and yet the tone doesn't change. There is a massive twist in the middle, to the point I nearly put the book down because I thought a new story had started.

Overall Rating

It was a struggle           2        3        4        5        6        7        8       9      Gripping page  

to make it                                                                                                        turner

It was good, I did follow the story and it made sense. It wasn't always clear what was happening but did make sense with a bit of thought. A very heavy theme, not a light read at all.

Twist Scale:

Knew the beginning,                                                                                 As twisty as the 

middle and end         2       3        4         5       6        7        8        9      bendy wendy road

from the first line

There was a VERY BIG twist in the middle that completely threw me.

Tear-jerker Scale:

 As dry as a house       2        3       4         5         6         7       8        9     Cried an ocean

 throughout

Small children died which is always sad. The end line: "So many lives, so light" summarised what was saddest, in the lightness in which they held life. 

Main Character(s): Gabriel Swift - possible psycopath, very detached from his life. However the book does end with his weeping so he does have emotion.

Moral of the Story: We all have a past, be afraid, be very afraid. 

***

Still on my catch up mission, one more book to go

Coming up: The end of the affair by Graham Greene