ALL THAT REMAINS BY PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK

BOOK REVIEW - PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK and ‘all that remains’.

I heard her speak when she was being interviewed at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate by Val McDermid. Sometimes it is the book that draws the thoughts and a decision to read it, but in this instance it was the speaker and her subject, forensic anthropology. I discovered her words in ‘life after death’ are written in such a manner that the explanation around death becomes words that I wanted to absorb; to understand more and in a personal way come to terms with it.

There is much respect for the cadaver; once a person, now a subject for research and investigation and then it was the students to study along with their manuals. Never morbid and she addresses our much used terms for ‘the loss’ and calls death ‘she’ which I thought was a tad strange. Emphasis is carefully made for those who wish to donate their bodies and there is a designated person to deal, with understanding, for applicants.

There is one chapter, ‘death in the family’ when it becomes personal. There are lines in there that I feel should only be read in the quiet, and with reverence. They are ones that caused me to reflect when my paternal grandfather died. In those days people died in their own bed and it was a family matter and death was a fact of life. But that manner of dying at home is not necessarily the case to day.

In my view the first three chapters of this book should be in the school curriculum. That would have some leaping for the ‘no’ button!

She has investigated mass graves in extreme circumstances, dealt with the discovery of bodies and given evidence in British courts and all of that done with respect, consideration and professionalism. She is to be applauded.

A concept of using ‘rooms’ where having dealt with a victim she can move on by leaving that room, locking the door behind her and moving into a family room for example. And then insisting upon no discussion. I think that can work for me too. Section life up into parts and move onto the next one.

This is a serious read and an essential one. I took my time to absorb the content and shared my reading time with two novels, both crime of course! So just get out of your comfort zone (if you are in one) and read it. It was an absorbing book and I could have said a lot more.

Ian Rankin has posted on FB and Sue Black’s is one of his highlights for 2018. It must be a tribal thing!