Review: Chasing Evil by Robert Hilland and John Edward

Chasing Evil - Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent's Search for Hope and Justice by Robert Hilland, John Edward and Natasha Stoynoff might end up being my favourite audiobook of 2026, although we still have a few months before the end of the year.

Written from the first-person perspective of Robert (Bob) Hilland, Chasing Evil is largely about his career as an FBI Agent. In the late 1990s, Hilland was working on the cold case of serial killer John Smith when he noticed the rise of John Edward's popularity as a psychic on the radio.

A resolute skeptic convinced of Smith's guilt but desperate for new leads on the case, Hilland reached out and made an appointment to see psychic medium John Edward. The year was 1998, and he took along a number of items belonging to a missing woman from the case and threw in some control items from female colleagues as a test of sorts. At the end of the meeting, Hilland's entire world view had shifted. John Edward identified the control items immediately and communicated information that he couldn't possibly have known, making Bob a believer in the spirit world in a matter of hours.

John agreed to work with Bob on the condition that his involvement was off the books and completely off the record. This surprised Hilland - thinking John would want to capitalise on the involvement to boost his reputation and profile - but readily agreed. We're told that this reluctance of Edward's came from a fear of disappointing or embarrassing his father who worked in the NYPD and who had asked him not to work with Police.

Reading a book about their collaboration naturally made me wonder how they went from keeping John's involvement secret to his agreement to be the subject and co-author of this book, but unfortunately this change was never explained. In the face of this glaring omission I can only assume John felt more comfortable for his work with the FBI to become public following his father's death, but this is pure supposition.

Hilland worked on a number of cases in his career but it's fair to say John Smith was his white whale, and was responsible for multiple deaths and disappearances. Chasing Evil was published in 2025, and I had to exercise a huge amount of self discipline and restraint not to look up the cases he was investigating to find out what happened. Instead, I waited for Hilland to tell me as the book unfolded and ended up listening at additional times during the day in order to hasten the process.

The audiobook is narrated by Hilland and Edward and early on there seemed to be a lot of sound effects added - creepy music, the sound of writing on a whiteboard - but thankfully these featured less and less as the audiobook went on. Co-author and collaborator Natasha Stoynoff helped to bring both of their experiences together in the book which felt cohesive and flowed exceptionally well.

Throughout his career, John's psychic ability helped Bob find bodies, make arrests and close cases. They worked so closely together that after 25 years they became as close as brothers. It was a touching relationship developed over a shared interest in fighting against evil and I got the sense they chased evil together; making the title entirely appropriate.

I read and enjoyed Crossing Over by John Edward in 2011 and have seen him perform live in Melbourne several times. I eventually stopped going or reading any more of his books because I found his delivery style a little arrogant. He's so confident in his gift, and he receives and delivers his information so quickly that he often comes across to me as insensitive. With so many people wanting readings and so many spirits hounding him to be heard, I imagine the pressure to be something akin to being an author in a signing line with a massive queue and a tonne of fans on his side of the desk pushing and shoving for his attention. In an environment like this he's unlikely to stop and pause and have meaningful interactions with a select few people, but prioritise quantity over quality but the end result can seem a little uncaring. Not long after finishing this book I saw that John Edward is returning to Melbourne in December and after reading this book and admiring his work again, it felt like the perfect time to go and see him. I can't wait.

Chasing Evil by Robert Hilland and John Edward is highly recommended for fans of true crime, skeptics and believers alike and I loved it!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: Atlas of Paranormal Places by Evelyn Hollow

Atlas of Paranormal Places - A Journey to the World's Most Supernatural Places by Evelyn Hollow is broken down into the following chapters: Haunted Places, Witchcraft, Sacred Sites, Myths & Legends, Strange Nature, and finally Cryptids & Creatures.

There's only one place listed for Australia, and I thought it would be the Devil's Pool, Babinda Boulders in Queensland but it's not. I'd never heard of Wycliffe Well in the Northern Territory but it's included in this atlas for its connection to UFO sightings, spies and ancient spiritual worship.

The atlas includes several locations familiar to this reader like the Catacombs in Paris, the Winchester Mystery House in California USA, Pendle Hill in Lancashire England, the Hanging Coffins of Sagada in the Philippines, Aokigahara Forest in Japan and the Door to Hell in Turkmenistan.

It was also nice to see the inclusion of Scotland's Bannockburn House in this collection as it was featured in the filming of the fantastic Outlander series.

However my favourite discovery of the book was that of Burg Eltz in Germany. Describing this twelfth century medieval German castle as a fairytale castle is an understatement. The home of the Eltz family for more than 800 years, it contains the ghost of a young woman who defended her home from an unwanted suitor and paid for her bravery with her life. Burg Eltz is one of the most wondrous castles I've ever seen and the photos on their website showcases the stunning grandeur of its architecture.

True to its name, the Atlas of Paranormal Places includes a world map at at the beginning of the book with each of the locations marked. Then each separate entry features a map page indicating the specific location of the place being described. My hardback edition borrowed from the library contained suitably themed end papers although I wish there were more photos included.

The Atlas of Paranormal Places - A Journey to the World's Most Supernatural Places by Evelyn Hollow enables the inquisitive reader to journey to paranormal places and explore geographic curiosities around the world, all from the safety of home.

And if you like the sound of this, you might also enjoy reading the Atlas of Improbable Places - A Journey to the World's Most Unusual Corners by Travis Elborough.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: Morbidly Curious by Coltan Scrivner

Coltan Scrivner, PhD is a pioneer on the subject of morbid curiosity and in Morbidly Curious - A Scientist Explains Why We Can't Look Away, he endeavours to explain what it is. In the prologue Scrivner firstly explains what it isn't; it's not a pathological, abnormal or unhealthy curiosity. Instead, morbid curiosity is a curiosity about things that are threatening or potentially dangerous and usually falls into the following four categories:

- minds of dangerous people
- physical violence
- bodily injuries
- paranormal dangers

This might present as a fascination with true crime, watching gory medical procedures or playing violent computer games. It's also what drives that irresistible urge to look at a car accident and try to determine what happened from the carnage left behind on the road.

Scrivner is the leading expert on the science behind morbid curiosity and the creator of the Morbid Curiosity Scale. Scientists now use this scale to assess how morbidly curious a person is and where they fall with respect to these four categories. I completed the free Morbid Curiosity Test on the author's website after reading the book and scored an overall score of 4.63 out of 6.0, where the population average is 3.41. As for the four categories mentioned above, I scored highest in the 'Minds of Dangerous People' category which correlates with my interest in true crime and wanting to understand why people commit such terrible crimes.

While I wasn't surprised to learn that morbid curiosity has helped humans across history learn more about the dangers of daily life in order to avoid or survive them, I didn't expect to find that it can positively influence our psychological wellbeing as well.

The author explains how watching a horror movie can actually help someone when they're feeling anxious:

"Horror movies can provide a way for you to hack and redirect your vigilance system. They act as a lure for an anxious mind using a threat centric plot to capture and hold the viewer's attention." Chapter 10, Terrifying Therapy

Who knew watching a horror movie can provide a new and salient threat for your mind to latch on to and which in turn, can out compete other existing sources of anxiety. The author states that those who watch horror movies tend to have more - not less - empathy than the rest of the population. I know two people in particular who regularly watch horror movies and have tonnes of empathy as well as service related PTSD, and I think I better understand now what they're getting out of the experience.

Much of the content in this book is centred around horror movies, computer gaming and haunted houses of the entertainment nature as these were the perfect settings for Scrivner's scientific research. However, this did become a little dull as these aren't the areas of my own morbid curiosity. Along the way, the author sheds light on the fact there is no link between those who play first person shooter games and those who commit mass shootings in the way we've been led to believe. Computer games don't make murderers, but so many boys and men play them that it's likely that those guilty of these crimes also played them.

Ultimately, Scrivner believes:

"Morbid curiosity is an adaptive behaviour that is central to the success of our species."

Sounds to me like a solid reason to embrace our morbid curiosity. Morbidly Curious by Coltan Scrivner is narrated by the author and I'd love to know if you complete his Morbid Curiosity Test.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Darkroom by A.J. Hewitt

A.J. Hewitt is a former Police Forensic Photographer and Senior Photographic Officer with New Scotland Yard and in her book The Darkroom - Case Files of a Scotland Yard Forensic Photographer, she takes us through her career.

For almost a decade, Hewitt was required to photograph the scenes of workplace accidents, accidental deaths, suspicious deaths, suicides and homicides. She frequently photographed and documented the injuries of survivors of assault, attempted murder and domestic violence.

The author explains how she was able to establish a quick rapport with victims in shock, and the gruelling repetitive nature of the work she conducted. I didn't appreciate just how physical the role is, and Hewitt explains how she had to navigate the sometimes remote and challenging terrain, or operate in tiny spaces with her camera gear without compromising the crime scene.

I never really considered the value of aerial shots and Hewitt was required to produce aerial shots from a police helicopter prior to major events or police operations which provided vital information in the planning stages. It sounds like a great job until the author explains how cold it is hanging out of the window at an angle to get the perfect shot. A particular case in the book that stuck with me was the search for human remains at a rubbish tip that took multiple resources and days of hard labour before partial success. The difficulty in photographing the scene from above was made clear, as was the fact that forensic staff strived to provide as much information as they could to aid in the upcoming court case.

Hewitt spends much of the book citing different cases and scenarios, with the names changed of course. One of the well known incidents she attended was the Marchioness disaster in 1989, which I mentioned in my review of Unnatural Causes - The Life and Many Deaths of Britain's Top Forensic Pathologist by Dr Richard Shepherd. Given Hewitt also took photographs during post mortem examinations I couldn't help but wonder if she and Dr Shepherd often worked alongside each other.

Always respectful of the dead, Hewitt rages against femicide and violence against women and girls.

"Male violence against women and girls is now at epidemic proportions worldwide. Women are exhausted." Chapter 6, No Monsters, Only Men

In her career, Hewitt says she only photographed one scene where a woman had killed a man, and noted that none of her colleagues mentioned doing the same, when they would have given the rarity. Later in the book, Hewitt also laments the epidemic of male suicides.

My only quibble was the number of times the author referred to being one of the only females on site, how rare it was to be the only woman on a search team and the fact that some of the uniforms didn't fit because she was a woman. I know I'm being a little harsh here, but perhaps the fact that I was a woman in the ADF means that this isn't such a big deal to me. I wish her message had been more about why women would be great in this role and encouraging more women to consider this career path instead of continuing to point out how unique she was in her field.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Emma Spurgin Hussey and the content is quite graphic at times but it won't come as a surprise to those who pick up a book like this wanting to learn more about the role of a forensic photographer.

The Darkroom - Case Files of a Scotland Yard Forensic Photographer by A.J. Hewitt is recommended for readers of true crime and anyone considering a career in police forensic services.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein

The Mushroom Tapes - Conversations on a Triple Murder Trial by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein is about the trial of Erin Patterson, accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Charged with serving her family members a lethal lunch of beef Wellington in Leongatha in July 2023, the trial took place in Morwell in April - July 2025 where she was eventually found guilty.

I followed the news coverage of Erin Patterson’s trial quite closely and listened to every episode of the Mushroom Case Daily podcast on the ABC. For these reasons and more, I was deeply interested in the collaboration between these three Australian writers having read books by all of them.* Familiar with Helen Garner's penetrating coverage of murder trials I was also fascinated to know the types of conversations these women had on a topic I never seem to tire of.

The Mushroom Tapes is a slim offering at only 240 pages so immediately you know you're not going to get a comprehensive coverage of the trial. What surprised me on the very first page though was that the authors weren't in attendance at the beginning of the trial. They'd been asked if they were going to cover the trial and they each said no. All three authors equally hadn't wanted to write about the case and hadn't not wanted to write about it. 

However after they heard the evidence from Simon Patterson's Aunt Heather Wilkinson that the guests ate from grey plates and the host ate from an orange one, they changed their minds and were galvanised into action. Helen Garner said that she didn't want to follow another big trial by herself and was glad to be asked to work with Chloe; accomplished herself with two trials and two books to her name. On day five they decided to cover the trial together and piled into the car to Morwell.

In the early stages, the women weren't sure whether they were collaborating to write a book or produce a podcast so they recorded their conversations with a view to deciding later and it shows.

Sharing the duties of sitting in the courtroom and listening to the live testimony in Melbourne via media audio-link, the reader is given snippets of conversations taking place in the car to and from court or over the phone. Often reading like a script, the effect made me feel as though I was in the car with them but without hearing their full experience.

These conversations ranged from how they felt standing outside Erin Patterson's house to the Defence Lawyer's potential advice to the defendant regarding a guilty plea; noting that if her lawyers know Patterson is guilty they can't make arguments inconsistent with that as they have a duty to the court.

"Most charges end up resolving in a guilty plea. But the personality that commits a crime like this is the same personality that believes they can get away with it." Sarah, Page 77

Every intellectual discussion the authors had about the case was of interest, including the conversation about whether the defendant might have a personality disorder and whether she was envious of the love shown to her children by their father and grandparents.

Shockingly, Helen has learned from attending family murder trials that just because you love someone doesn't mean you don't ever want to kill them; a statement which caused me to stop and ponder. It seemed to me the authors believed Patterson was guilty as they considered the difference between remorse and regret:

"Helen: Raimond Gaita says that remorse is a pained, bewildered realisation of what it means to have wronged someone. Sarah: Regret is self-interested. Remorse is a deeper thing." Page 134

Analysing Patterson's conduct in the witness box, they note that she's been unable to maintain a job, study or relationship for any sustained period of time despite having every resource, intellectual and financial at her disposal. They comment on her ability to unsettle them and notice that there's 'some force sheeting off her.' While they do discuss her persona and her false self, I was surprised they never talked about the family estrangements with her sister and her parents, and if they did, I'd love for it to have been included in the book.

I wasn't surprised to read that Patterson disagreed with every single witness but fascinated to hear that she talked back to the Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC when being questioned on the witness stand with semantic critiques like these:

"Sorry, I was confused by the double negatives," and "You're going to have to rephrase that, so I know what you're talking about." Pages 200-201

I can't even imagine delivering that amount of snark or attitude in a Police interview room, let alone if I was in the witness box on trial for murder.

The authors often reflect on the huge scale of the media following this trial, their feelings on their own involvement and the incredible global interest in this case:

"Two hundred and fifty-two journalists and outlets are on the court media's daily email list, including representatives from fifteen international media outlets. There are seven podcasters, seven documentary crews, one television drama series and nine authors, including us." Page 140

Growing up in Gippsland, it's hard to fathom the sheer level of interest this case has generated and the authors often try to determine what it is about the murders and murderer that has captured this level of attention.

When acknowledging the closing arguments for the Defence by Colin Mandy SC, I was reminded of his address to the jury:

"If you think that it's possible that Erin deliberately poisoned the meal, you must find her not guilty... If you think that maybe Erin deliberately poisoned the meal you must find her not guilty. If you think that she probably deliberately poisoned the meal, you must find her not guilty." Page 209

Recalling this coverage brings a chill down my spine as I feared the jury would find Patterson not guilty after hearing it. When discussing her guilt or innocence, Helen acknowledges this as one of the most brilliant performances she's ever seen in her life while Sarah agrees Patterson is a liar but that liars can still be not guilty of murder.

Discussing what they would do in the event of a hung jury, Helen was clear that she wouldn't want to do anything with the tapes and would walk away from the project. Sarah mentioned she would be incapable of not attending a potential retrial while Helen would feel glad to escape one and doesn't want to write something that's going to attract the defendant's animus or attention.

Late in the book during the jury deliberations, they acknowledge that the podcast they'd started making has fallen over and that sometimes it feels as though the book they're still loosely imagining might do the same. This indicates to me that there was no clear plan at the outset and that one failed to emerge during the trial. And what's with the book cover? I was fortunate to purchase a copy signed by each of the authors but I thought it was the advanced reader's copy when I first saw it in the publisher's catalogue.

But most disappointing of all was the fact that there was no discussion or reflection on the verdict or the sentencing at all! The reader is privy to the verdict and the sentencing by Justice Beale, but then that's it. Without their thoughts on the verdict and the all important sentencing, The Mushroom Tapes feels unfinished. And perhaps it is.

True crime enthusiasts looking for a thorough or comprehensive summary of the trial will need to look elsewhere, perhaps to one of the seven podcasters, seven documentary crews or nine authors also covering the case. I had enough interest in this collaboration and Helen Garner's perspectives to keep reading but I was ultimately disappointed and wanted so much more from The Mushroom Tapes. I'd even be keen to listen to the raw footage!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

*Books I've read by the authors:

Helen Garner
Everywhere I Look
Joe Cinque's Consolation

Chloe Hooper
The Arsonist - A Mind On Fire

Sarah Krasnostein
The Trauma Cleaner

Review: Talk Your Way Out of Trouble by Jahan Kalantar

Jahan Kalantar is a successful criminal defence lawyer and advocate in Australia and in his memoir Talk Your Way Out of Trouble - Life Lessons from the Law I thought he was going to teach us how to talk our own way out of legal trouble should we ever find ourselves in it. I was hopeful he'd share the type of advice he's cultivated in his career and now regularly gives his clients. However, this isn't really that book.

Instead, this is Kalantar's memoir from his early days as a law student and law graduate, right through to the successful criminal lawyer he is today. This comprises time spent working as a solicitor in several different areas of the law and figuring out that wasn't his preferred career path for a variety of reasons. It also includes his time studying for the bar and qualifying as a barrister before deciding the wig - and everything that came with it - wasn't for him. Based in Sydney, Kalantar is also a university lecturer, social media commentator and public speaker so he's seen plenty of legal cases and helped more clients than he could probably count.

In this book, the author shares his career progression and a number of memorable cases that have shaped his view of life and the law along the way. Some cases and clients are touching or poignant and some are even funny but Kalantar doesn't shy away from sharing his mistakes along with his successes.

"Show up each day, do your best to adapt with grace, show resilience in the face of adversity and remember that mastery and perfection are a myth. Every day is simply us trying, it's why we call the work of a lawyer, practice." Afterword

I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author himself and it was interesting but wasn't the reading experience I anticipated. Instead, I assumed I was going to learn how to talk myself out of trouble. Naturally I accept full responsibility for jumping to the wrong conclusion about the contents, although I do wonder if the title misled any other readers in a similar way.

The author offers an effective method of saying sorry and it was a more succinct version of the method offered in Sorry, Sorry, Sorry - The Case for Good Apologies by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy. It was also the subject of a TEDxSydney event entitled A perfect apology in three steps which might be of interest to some readers.

After a generous and heartfelt series of Acknowledgements at the end of his book, I enjoyed this surprising addition:

"On the other side of the coin, I also want to take a moment to acknowledge the many people I've encountered during my years who were unnecessarily cruel, mean spirited, difficult and plainly unkind. On behalf of myself, and everyone else working to make the world a better place, fu*k you! I wrote this book anyway. I hope the lessons in it inspire you to live better, and seek to see the best in people before casting judgement." Acknowledgements

I'm sure many authors have had similar thoughts when publishing their work, but huge kudos to Kalantar for having the courage to include it for all to see. Loved it!

Talk Your Way Out of Trouble - Life Lessons from the Law by Jahan Kalantar is an excellent choice for anyone considering a career in law, law adjacent lines of work or advocacy.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale

At its core, The Peepshow - The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale is about the crimes John Reginald Christie committed in the 1940s-1950s in London. Christie was a rapist and a serial killer found guilty of killing at least eight people at his home at 10 Rillington Place and was executed in 1953 by hanging.

Tragically, his neighbour Timothy Evans falsely confessed to murdering his wife Beryl Evans (the first body discovered) but despite recanting his confession and pleading his innocence a number of times afterwards, he was later hanged. 'Reg' Christie was a key prosecution witness in the case against his neighbour Timothy Evans, although it's now recognised Evans was innocent all along with Christie being responsible for the murders of Beryl Evans and her baby daughter.

In fact, that was my key takeaway from this book, that in 1969, the Labour Government finally abolished the death penalty for murder.

"The Rillington Place murders had helped bring an end to capital punishment in Britain, making Reg Christie the last serial killer to be put to death by the state." Chapter 16 Dust and Rubble

Kate Summerscale is a seasoned author, previous Booker Prize Judge and journalist for The Independent and The Daily Telegraph, and I was expecting her to provide an interesting overview of this case. Instead, The Peepshow was a disjointed account of a complicated true crime case with many moving parts.

Harry Procter was a prominent journalist at the time of the murders and was investigating the case, although in my opinion there was way too much information provided on his career and involvement that I found extraneous and boring.

The living conditions at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill were covered in detail with multiple families living in the three-storey terraced house all sharing the one bathroom. Racism was unfortunately commonplace at the time and seemed to take the author off on a tangent quite frequently, along with other topics like abortions, loose women, the Queen's Coronation and even the Great Fog in 1952.

Christie buried bodies in their shared garden, behind a wallpaper covered kitchen alcove and beneath the floorboards in his ground floor flat. However the author posits whether his service in WWI and the fact he was injured in a mustard gas attack led to his vicious crimes, including gassing, raping and then strangling his victims. There's no excuse for savagery and Summerscale didn't make me care enough to understand any possible motive behind Christie's crimes.

Jumping forwards and backwards in time, this audiobook was narrated well by Nicola Walker, but it seemed to lack an overarching structure or purpose. Was Timothy Evans' innocence the focus? Or was it trying to understand the driver behind these crimes? Or was it the importance of journalism in reporting true crime?

In the past, true crime has been accused of giving too much air time to the perpetrators and overlooking the victims; rectified in books like The Five - The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. Yet here the information about the victims seemed patchy and an afterthought and I never really got a sense of them or the impact of their murders.

This case caused a tabloid frenzy at the time, but if you're interested in the case and prefer a linear approach to true crime, I'd recommend checking out the Wikipedia page instead.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

The Only Plane in the Sky - An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff presents a minute by minute picture of 11 September 2001 from the lived experience of countless people connected to the events at the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon that day. These include accounts from those who evacuated the buildings, those who were trapped and those who survived the collapse. It also includes testimonies from first responders, hospital staff, air traffic control, US military, passengers on Air Force One and more. In addition, the accounts from people whose loved ones died on the hijacked planes or in the Twin Towers and Pentagon are also included.

These accounts have been gathered meticulously from original interviews, recently declassified documents, never-before-published transcripts, previously published books and oral histories from almost five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends and family members. It also includes real radio transmissions from the hijacked planes.

The accounts have then been sorted chronologically so that in addition to the overarching narrative, we get perhaps 1 minute of this person's perspective, then 2-3 minutes of that person's experience and so on. The audiobook has been narrated by different actors who are reading all of these first person testimonials and accounts.

I'd heard this audiobook was a unique listening experience but I didn't think this choppy format was going to work for me. Still, I gave it a chance but was worried I'd find the snippets of introduction before each 'entry' distracting (e.g. Gordon Johndroe, Assistant Press Secretary, White House / Bruno Dellinger, Principal, Quint Amasis North America, North Tower, 47th Floor).

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find this was an effective means of communicating the events of the day and the rhythm of entries meant the reader could pause their listening at any point and easily pick it up again. The audiobook is just under 16 hours in duration and the accounts aren't one offs as we return to the individual perspectives according to the day's progression.

Once I realised I didn't need to remember the full cast I was able to concentrate purely on their testimonies, like this one*:

"As I hit Vesey [Street] between Church and Broadway, the first thing that struck me was the amount of women's shoes. I couldn't understand it. Then I realised women had run out of their shoes, the high heels and what have you. There were women's shoes all over." James Luongo, Inspector NYPD, Chapter: World Trade Centre Evacuation

I didn't know that many witnesses heard shots fired at the World Trade Centre during the evacuation phase which understandably created concern as it was believed terrorists were shooting civilians as they were running out of the building. It was later confirmed to be Police Officers shooting out the lobby windows so people could escape the building quicker but you can just imagine the fear and confusion at the scene.

On September 11 2001, I was up late watching the news in Australia and remember seeing the events unfold live on TV after the first plane hit the North Tower. Images of people waving items out of the windows above the impact zone was haunting, as was the realisation that some of them were jumping to escape the heat and smoke. In this audiobook, a person on the street recalled the sound of falling bodies resembling the fierce flapping of flags in the wind, growing louder as they neared the ground.

You might imagine reading or listening to these testimonies would be depressing after a few chapters, but while I did find it a sobering subject I was also inspired by the bravery and courage witnessed on the day. It also helped me to better understand the confusion and chaos of the events as they unfolded around the country. I watched live on TV as the Pentagon was hit and when both towers fell, and perhaps that's the reason I'm still moved by the events some 24 years later. I'm not interested in the political climate, who was to blame or the military retaliation that followed, but the examples of fortitude displayed by everyday people in the hope I could do the same if it ever came down to it.

The Only Plane in the Sky - An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff is powerful and touching and recommended for readers interested in the personal stories of those who unexpectedly found themselves involved in an unforgettable - and previously unimaginable - terrorist attack.

* In researching the spelling of James Luongo NYPD for this review, I came across the September 11 Digital Archive where you can listen to his testimony of the events along with many others.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd

Dr Richard Shepherd is a Forensic Pathologist in the UK and has performed over 23,000 post mortems. In his memoir, Unnatural Causes - The Life and Many Deaths of Britain's Top Forensic Pathologist he shares highlights from his early career until the time of publication in 2018.

Listening to the author narrate this memoir, his dedication and enthusiasm for the work definitely shines through. His early struggles to interact with the grieving loved ones of the deceased he looks after is also laid bare.

Shepherd worked on some well known cases but the one I was most surprised to read about was the Marchioness disaster.

In 1989, a party boat named the Marchioness was carrying 130 people along the Thames River in London when it collided with another vessel and a total of 51 people died. Identification of the remains at the time came down to fingerprints and dental records, however the bloating of some of the bodies that had taken longer to retrieve led officials to make one of the most horrific decisions in forensic pathology I've ever heard. Specialist equipment that could obtain fingerprints from waterlogged remains was available elsewhere in the country, but the logistics required to transport that many bodies at the time was prohibitive, so a decision was made to remove the hands of the deceased for testing. This was carried out without family approval and even typing these words I'm horrified this took place. However, it MIGHT have been deemed acceptable if those responsible for the process didn't make a complete mess of it. Bodies were given to the families without hands and some families were told they couldn't view the remains of their loved ones by undertakers causing untold additional grief and trauma.

Shepherd is clear that he wasn't responsible for making the decision to remove the hands and had no knowledge of the decision at the time. Understandably this element of the disaster still haunts him and the subsequent hearings and court cases ran for years. I remember reading about the case years ago and being utterly dumbstruck by the incompetence and lack of professionalism shown at the time. Reading Shepherd's involvement in the case, I couldn't help wondering if this memoir was a way for him to 'set the story straight' once and for all on this case and clear his name.

Several other cases the author chose to include were controversial and again I began to speculate that this might be the only avenue for a professional in his field to get his version on the record for the wider public; outside of legal testimony that is.

Some high profile cases - which will be recognised by UK readers - are included and the picture I began to see emerging is that Shepherd felt under valued and under utilised in some cases and unjustly criticised in others.

Interactions with his children and the slight overlap with his work made me uncomfortable and I wasn't surprised - and neither was he - when his marriage broke down. In fact, it reminded me quite a lot of the personal account of Peter Faulding in his memoir What Lies Beneath - My Life as a Forensic Search and Rescue Expert.

I deeply admire the work carried out by forensic pathologists, medical examiners, coroners and those who look after the dead and perhaps that's why I've read so many of their books.* While it's too soon for another just now, True Stories from the Morgue by John Merrick is on my TBR and likely to be the next one on the topic at some point in the future.

Unnatural Causes - The Life and Many Deaths of Britain's Top Forensic Pathologist by Dr Richard Shepherd is recommended for readers with an interest in forensic medicine.

* Other memoirs like this you may want to explore:
- All the Living and the Dead: A Personal Investigation Into the Death Trade by Hayley Campbell
- Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living by Robert A. Jensen
- Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training by Tom Jokinen
- Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek MD & T.J. Mitchell

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★