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"In the morgue of a Philadelphia hospital, a group of physicians open a coffin and uncover the corpse of a beautiful young woman. Within days one of them strongly suspects that he knows the woman's identity . . . and the horrifying events that led to her death. But the most compelling moment is yet to come, as young Ephraim Carroll is plunged into a maze of murder, secrets, and unimaginable crimes." (From the CD container)
The mystery of the young woman's identity and what happened to her is very good all on it's own, but the coolest part of The Anatomy of Deception
was easily the information regarding the history of medicine in general and of surgery specifically. It's one of those reads that had me searching the Internet to see which characters were real and if the stories of them told in this book are true. I love when that happens! And I'll tell you that while the details that make up the main story in this book are not real, it looks like much of the background story is. I'm very, very happy I didn't live when modern surgical procedures were in their infancy.The overall feel of this novel is dark but not grotesque. It's not an attention-grabber that I couldn't put down, but it was fascinating every time I picked it up. I can't say I would go out of my way to look for other work by this author, but if I happened to come across another of his books, I would certainly give it a try!
13 comments:
I love books that make me do research, so this sounds pretty good to me.
Bermudaonion ~ I've even been investigating books about the history of medicine on Amazon and at the library. This book made it sound so interesting!
Lezlie
I've heard this is not a typical mystery novel but it does sound interesting to me. And, you are right, it's so fun when a novel leads you to further research. Makes you feel like not only you were entertained by a good story but you learned something too!
I'll keep this one in mind for when I'm in the mood for something dark.
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Iliana ~ It is a little different. It reminded me just a little bit of The Alienist.
Anna ~ It will be a good one for just that!
Lezlie
I really like The Anatomy of Deception. Good review.
Diane ~ Thank you! Did you review review it? I'd be happy to link to you if you did!
Lezlie
This sounds really interesting, I love learning about how medical procedures have advanced. The Documentary Channel has had some great shows about early 19th century medicine - most patients needlessly died from treatments but it led to many important discoveries.
Joanne ~ Doesn't it make you ever so thankful of how far medicine has come? :-) Peter always tells me about the nasty surgery scenes in his nautical history books. Yikes!
Lezlie
now this sounds like a book right up my alley!
Serena ~ I'd love to see your thoughts on it!
Lezlie
What a great topic and what an interesting sounding book! Historical Fiction has just recently started to grab me and now I cant seem to get enough!
Sheila ~ I'm a historical fiction junkie! Stay tuned here for more suggestions coming soon! :-)
Lezlie
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