Unnatural Causes: 'An absolutely brilliant book. I really recommend it, I don't often say that' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2

Trodde boken skulle handla om rättsläkarens fall och sökandet efter dödsorsaker. Men ded är mer en biografi om författarens liv fända rån barndomen. Väldigt ointressant och jag läste bara typ en tredjedel.

Pathology is part of the medical world that has traditionally been hidden from the public. Their patients are already dead which creates an immediate mystery and curiosity. More recently, advances in science and deeper investigations into the causes of previously unexplained deaths have opened up pathology to be scrutinised by the outside world.Dr Richard Shepherd has been involved in many well known cases of unnatural deaths and his book serves to allow him to detail his career in the style of many of the medical memoirs which have been written over the last decade or so. The question before starting to read is how good a writer is he?The answer comes on the first page as he is clearly a talented story teller. I was with him in that plane and could almost see him suffering that panic attack. He explains that he was being taken back to a major incident that he attended early in his career which prompts him then to expand and give a full account. He explains the detail in a matter of fact manner and explores how he dealt with it emotionally.Throughout the book there is a balance between the factual work and the emotions of the person doing it. Lines are drawn between job and man but these lines move all the time.For anyone being asked to authorise a post mortem this would be a good book to read as research. There is a huge respect for the dead whilst maintaining a professional detachment necessary to be able to do the work. The author quotes a QC "The care with which our dead are treated is a mark of how civilised a society we are", whatever you think of this opinion it gives food for thought while reading the book.RS spends a lot of time thinking about how he deals with relatives and their grief which he explains clearly - respecting and understanding without internalising. This is articulated very well - he is continually questioning himself as well which is admirable.The book will be of interest to many as the author has the ability to communicate on different levels. There is no doubt that any medic would find areas of interest (particularly how RS deals with the stress of attending dreadful events) but the writing is also very accessible to any member of the general public who just want to know more about what it is like to be a pathologist.This world is opening up thanks to TV programmes and crime novels and here the reader has the chance to understand the reality.I found this book fascinating and was hooked by the author's writing style.

Must read for all forensic science enthusiasts. Timely delivery and great packaging by Amazon.

Couldn’t put this book down! Very well written and engages you throughout.

It is a bit of everything in it. Some thriller, crime story, biography, documentary, law and medical topics... inner side of pathologist work. Also some philosophical questions and that's all in a very well written manner.