Book Review: The Embalmer by Alison Belsham
Author: Alison Belsham
Publisher: Trapeze
Release date: 18th March 2021 (PB)
Synopsis: Has the ancient Egyptian cult of immortality resurfaced in Brighton?
When a freshly-mummified body is discovered at the Brighton Museum of Natural History, Detective Francis Sullivan is at a loss to identify the desiccated woman. But as Egyptian burial jars of body parts with cryptic messages attached start appearing, he realises he has a serial killer on his hands. Revenge, obsession and an ancient religion form a potent mix, unleashing a wave of terror throughout the city. Caught in a race against time while battling his own demons, Francis must fight to uncover the true identity of the Embalmer before it's too late..Thank you to the publisher for this copy for review :D
Review: Crime was the first genre I really got into. I devoured it alongside my love of thriller books, especially if thee was a combination of the two, like we find in todays review. I have strong memories of reading Ben Elton's Past Mortem on a coach in Lanzarote, the first time I picked up P.J Tracy's 'Want to Play' and falling in love with Scott Mariani's Ben Hope books. I also grew up watching a lot of the Bill, thank you mother, so I think for me it was the thrill of these books. The connection that drew me in and took me along for a journey. You want to be hooked, you want intrigue, but, at least for me, I also want a level of familiarity. Crime books have a structure to them, a formula and thank god I can never really work out who did it or where it's going because that would just ruin the experience.
The Embalmer, we're finally getting there, jumped out a me. It had that hook. We all know I love history, I remember being fascinated in Primary school learning about the Egyptians and so this was a culmination of many elements that completely cured the reading slump I'd been experiencing. I've only managed to read maybe three books fully this year but this was one I wanted to read, wanted to dive back into and know what happens. When clues were leaked I was shouting at the book ready to crack the case open "DO THIS.THIS IS THE LINK, LOOK HERE!". I was engaged and along for the journey. Yes this is book three in an ongoing series, but it stands alone as most crime books do, whilst making me want to go back and read its predecessors.
One of the things I've noticed switching back to Historical Fiction for my current read, is how blunt crime writing can be. You get context and you get to understand the characters but the writing is quite blunt rather than the flowy nature of historical fiction, and I liked it. It woks. It adds pace and like I said I speed through.
It's always not about who it is, over how you get there. The book featured multiple perspectives, which added all these layers to the stories building it up brick by Lego brick and though I hadn't met them before I felt like I knew then as the book unfolded and I liked that. You get the natural sadistic, slightly unhinged perspective of the killer, and with the way the world is currently it almost made it harder to read, you had to stop at point and just remind yourself its fiction, it was an uncomfortable gravitas. The police force themselves were all such different flavours. Sullivan was a strong lead, as ever, fighting his own battles, but with a softness to him so that you wanted to root for him. His side story with Marni added a softness tot the book, that emotional depth that you want from a series to make you feel that this is bigger than the book, and provided tense moments that you don't get from the main story. Then we have Gavin an openly gay police officer (we love to see it!!!) as a featured character and I feel he has such potential to grow in the series.
I love Brighton, but now I'll never be able to go there in the same way again, I'll be looking at the streets that little bit differently. I love that this book got me excited to read again and it was definitely a good fun crime read
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