When the dead speak, she listens: Body Language by A.K. Turner #bookreview #BodyLanguage

THE DEAD CAN TALK – WE JUST NEED TO LISTEN . . .
Camden mortuary assistant Cassie Raven has pretty much seen it all. But this is the first time she’s come face to face with someone she knows on the slab. Someone she cared about. Her friend and mentor, Mrs E.
Deeply intuitive and convinced that she can pick up the last thoughts of the dead, Cassie senses that there must be more to the ruling of an accidental death. Is her grief making her see things that aren’t there, or is her intuition right, and there’s something more sinister to her friend’s death than the ME thinks? Harbouring an innate distrust of the police, Cassie sets out to investigate and deliver justice to the woman who saved her life.

🌺🌺🌺🌺.5

Hi and welcome to my review of Body Language! Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for the blog tour invite and to Zaffre Books for the gorgeous review copy!

Ever since she was a little girl, Cassie Raven has been fascinated by dead things. Now she’s working as a mortuary technician and she believes the dead can talk, they have the story of their death to tell, at least if there is someone who will listen. 

Working in a mortuary, Cassie finds dealing with the dead a lot easier than dealing with their bereaved family members, but things change when she finds someone she knows on her table: Geraldine Edwards, her friend, teacher and mentor, the woman who got her into science, and indirectly the person thanks to whom she’s now a mortuary tech. It soon becomes clear to Cassie that Mrs E’s death was no accident. But how will she prove her suspicions are correct?

Meanwhile, the body of an old man disappears from the mortuary and DS Flyte is in charge of the investigation. Given the man’s age, it’s doubtful that his body was taken for the organ trade but then why was he?

I found both storylines utterly intriguing and I could not for the life of me figure them out! But I sure had fun trying! Cassie and Flyte don’t quite see eye to eye at first, but they have this kind of (non-romantic) chemistry going that I loved watching evolve and I got a good feel for them through their slowly exposed background stories.

Body Language allows the reader to experience the standard police procedural in another way, which makes it feel fresh and new. I love stories with a pathologist’s POV, it’s such a fascinating job and such an important one too. I’m pretty sure Cassie goes above and beyond in her efforts to bring justice and peace to her charges, and your average pathologist or mortuary tech will not go to the lengths she does. Still, for me this perspective really worked and I found the look at the inner workings of a mortuary utterly fascinating. 

I felt drawn to Body Language partly because of the premise and partly because I felt drawn to its main character. The description of Cassie reminded me of my fave Navy NCIS character back in the day. That could have backfired big-time! But it didn’t, I adored Cassie! She’s a little rough around the edges, doesn’t always know when to let go and shut up and her appearance is a little out there (in a way I could never ever pull off but I do admire people who own it and Cassie sure does) but she has the biggest heart and she’s smart and funny and she truly cares about the bodies in the mortuary and their families.

A riveting and twisty thriller with an original well-fleshed-out protagonist, I found Body Language extremely addictive and I can’t wait for Cassie to return! Recommended!