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    Resurrectionist: A Regency Crime Thriller
    Unavailable
    Resurrectionist: A Regency Crime Thriller
    Unavailable
    Resurrectionist: A Regency Crime Thriller
    Ebook465 pages7 hours

    Resurrectionist: A Regency Crime Thriller

    By James McGee

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    When a grave robber takes to murder, the Bow Street Runner is on the trail in a crime novel that explores “London’s underbelly in all its squalor” (Historical Novel Society).

    Death can be a lucrative business. But it’s the corpses the body-snatchers leave behind, horribly mutilated and nailed to a tree, which sets Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood on their trail.
    A new term at London’s anatomy schools stokes demand for fresh corpses, and the city’s “resurrection men” vie for control of the market. Their rivalry takes an ugly turn when a grave robber is brutally murdered and his body displayed as a warning to other gangs. To hunt down those responsible, Hawkwood must venture into London’s murkiest corners, where even more gruesome discoveries await him.
    Nowhere, however, is as grim as Bedlam, notorious asylum for the insane and scene of another bizarre killing. Sent to investigate, Hawkwood finds himself pitted against his most formidable adversary yet, an obsessive genius hell-bent on advancing the cause of science at all costs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPegasus Books
    Release dateNov 6, 2012
    ISBN9781453271520
    Unavailable
    Resurrectionist: A Regency Crime Thriller
    Author

    James McGee

    James McGee was born into an army family. He was educated in Gibraltar, Germany and Belfast. His career has encompassed banking, bookselling and thirteen years in the airline business. He has also presented book reviews for BBC local radio and several independent stations. In addition to the successful Hawkwood series, he has also written several thrillers. He lives in Somerset.

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    Reviews for Resurrectionist

    4/5

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    • 5/5

      From the historical notes in the book: "By any definition, body snatching is and was a foul trade, and yet there is no doubt that during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, which allowed corpses other than those of condemned murderers to be used in anatomy studies, it played a crucial role in the advancement of medical knowledge. There were very few surgeons who did not rely on the resurrection men to provide fresh cadavers for their research."The book deserves praise for the research and how it is incorporated into the story alone. The way medical practice and the life of the nineteenth century lower classes is described is more than disturbing, and heartbreaking at times. At one point in the story Hawkwood had to visit Bethlem Hospital. After those pages you will want to take a break. Or a really hot shower. And it won't be the first time.
      A surgeon's lecture he watched was upsetting enough even for a man like Hawkwood. I can imagine how men will feel when they get to this scene. "The patient’s nightshirt was lifted and rolled back over his chest. Beneath the gown, the man was naked. His skin was as pale as paper. On Carslow’s instructions, a strap was secured around each of the patient’s ankles. On a further nod from the surgeon, the patient’s knees were drawn up and back towards his chest, and his legs were pulled apart until his genitalia and buttocks were fully exposed."What happened in the next scene is horrible. My rational part understands why those surgeons are celebrated as pioneers in science, but since I am not a doctor, I don't feel very generous to accept it. If you have any human compassion in you, you will be furious.

      This is an unforgiving world. The way prostitutes are treated made me want to scream. But they are never treated badly by Hawkwood or Jago. They are greater men than that even if one is on the other side of the law. "There wasn’t a town in the land that wasn’t home to an ever-increasing number of war widows left to fend for themselves while the bodies of their menfolk lay bleaching under some foreign sun. For those with a child or children to support it was even worse, particularly for the widows of rank-and-file soldiers. Scores of women had been forced to take to the streets in search of crumbs and coin."Someone always dies. Not everyone can be saved by some last minute intervention, but even with all this darkness Hawkwood somehow manages to shine as a bright light (though glare would be more suitable for him), an anti-hero who fights even when everything around him is drowning in despair. The beautiful thing is he doesn't have to fight alone. Jago is never far, and some like the scarred Major Lomax with his dark sense of humour, will never refuse to help.

      The prologue takes place in Bedlam. You can't get worse than that place. There was a murder and Hawkwood was called to investigate. We don't get to see how Hawkwood got the body snatching case. When the book starts he is already on it and the first victim connected to the body snatchers is a murdered victim crucified in the churchyard.

      The rage Hawkwood feels at the injustices of their society is palpable. We don't get a satisfying resolution as we did in the first book, but the last Hawkwood's comment was enough to bring a huge smile to my face.
      This book is beautifully written. If you love historical fiction that is often disturbing and unapologetic, then this book is a great addition to your shelves.
    • 3/5
      I haven't read any of the books in this series but felt reading this book which is number two it really didn't make much difference. Matthew Hawkwood is a Bow Street runner, ex army, very dashing, a Victorian Jack Reacher maybe.In this outing hes out to solve murders that are somehow connected to the grave robbers. The book is very gory at times and I did squirm. Loved the descriptions and did feel like I was there in Bedlam myself. I couldn't make my mind up if I was enjoying this book or not. I felt it was a slog at times and there wasn't a lot going on. When I feel like this I tend to see what other reviewers thought, and to see if its worth me continuing. I did read one lovely review with a mild spoiler, with warning and it did sort of tell me the why and why nots. I have to say from this point I have skipped to finish the book.I'm not sure if I would seek out anymore books in this series. Loved the setting and time of place, liked the story line and Hawkwood himself, just got bored with the book.
    • 4/5
      Let's face it, if you read a book about bodysnatching, you have to expect a lot of 'yuck' factor. But I never felt that the gruesome details were being told just to be gruesome. This is just the way it was. I enjoyed this. Not everything that happened, but the way it was told.
    • 2/5
      I expected to enjoy this book far more than I did but that was because I had the wrong writer. This is the first McGee I have read and from an historical point of view it was very interesting indeed, with descriptions of Bedlam, the London slums and sewers and the state of medicine in the early Nineteenth Century. Hawkwood, an ex army man, is a formidable character and called to investigate a murder in the notorious London Asylum: from there he is summoned to a church yard where a corpse is gruesomely displayed. Nothing seems to link the two at first but of course, fiction being less random than real life, its all part of the same plot, planned by an evil genius and executed by his no less evil henchmen, and women. Body snatching, amazingly, was not a crime initially, as long as the corpse was stripped of all clothes - even the shroud - or jewellery, since taking those was 'theft'. Bodies were usually taken for medical schools, and good teeth were prized by dentists for dentures. But there's a new buyer in London who is not satisfied with even the most freshly disinterred corpse: for his purposes, he needs them alive. Matthew Hawkwood soon realises his adversary is a [supposedly] dead man, and one who has some very powerful allies at that. In the end - SPOILER ALERT - the mad scheme to revive his long dead daughter using the fresh blood and organs of other girls is foiled and, despite making some enemies, Hawkwood emerges victorious. Not an easy or enjoyable read but a very interesting one.
    • 4/5
      Potential to be good tale, but totally spoiled by over the top violence, horror and blatant sexual abuse. Sensationalism for its own sake adds nothing to the story. I am too old to be shocked, but really do not need this.
    • 5/5
      LOVED IT!! Absolutely great story, well written and researched with interesting (and spine crawling!) insides in the beginning of the 19th century! Couldnt put it down!
    • 4/5
      I gave the first book in this series, Ratcatcher, a five star rating and still believe it deserves it. However, i can not say the same for this second installment. Wow, the only word I can use is "gross". One other reviewer stated that this book was not for the prudish or squeamish, which I dont' believe I am, but this was simply over the top and beyond squeamish. I do believe it comes close to being thrown into the HORROR genre, or at the least a serial killer murder mystery. Where did the fun, action adventure story go that we encountered in the first book? I won't say I didnt like it, but I certainly didnt love it as I did Ratcatcher. Serious editing was also very much in need. The book goes on and on, and there are a lot of filler pages describing way too much detail on the topics of early surgical procedures and how anatomists plied their trade in body snatching. A few pages dedicated to these topics would have been sufficient for us to get the drift and history behind it all, and much less graphic GROSS detail in both areas would have been easier to handle. I was definitely disappointed in the lack of action and adventure scenes because I felt it was a key ingredient to the success of book one. Ratcatcher was fast paced and I couldnt put it down. Resurrectionist, drags on and not much really happens that I consider exciting. I'll be honest, I couldnt wait for it to end. It was too much. But, I love the character the author has created, Matthew Hawkwood is very likeable, and I really hope that in book three McGee takes more time developing his character in depth. I am anxious for Raspcallion to be released, this downfall was not enough for me to be put off on the series at all, but I have to make readers aware, it is not the caliber or type of story as the first and it really isnt a book for anyone weak-kneed. I think the trouble with this book was that it wasnt scary per se, because you always knew what was going on, the problem was that the scenes were downright too disgusting. If the author is reading this..my recommendation is to put back the action and fun and take out the macabre. I felt I was reading Poe