I really enjoyed this book.

It gives an insight into the work and life of an eminent UK forensic pathologist, while also giving a personal and thought provoking reflection on death, violence and humanity.

I found it extremely interesting, considered and touching in places.

Unnatural Causes is a must read for anyone interested in crime, whether true crime or fiction. Dr. Richard Shepherd is a forensic pathologist and this book covers a whole host of fascinating and some well-known cases in which he was involved. It is a story told in layman’s terms about the working and domestic life of a pathologist and the inevitable toll that such a life can have on the personal and domestic agenda.

From the book it is easy to see how completely fascinated Richard Shepherd is about what the body in death can tell us, and the extent to which he threw himself into his work is an indication of how compelled he was by it.

Involved in some of the most high-profile cases of recent times, from Hungerford to the death of Princess Diana to the Twin Towers bombings, there are so many lessons to be learnt from these cases that it is easy to forget that these are autopsies and focus instead on what the dead have to say about their means of extinction.

The pressure to apportion blame when giving evidence is acute, especially when the crime appears to be a heinous one, and Shepherd gives us a flavour of what it is like to come under pressure from defence counsel when testifying, and the need to remember that testimony has to reflect the logical conclusion of an autopsy based on a balance of probabilities. For in the end, that evidence puts killers behind bars, frees the innocent and speaks for those who no longer have a voice.

Shepherd takes us through his own upbringing, his marriage and the births of his children, often showing a painful and heartfelt recognition of what he could have done better. Most of all he shows us what a fallible human being he is and how the profound toll of years of first hand testimony manifested itself upon him. From Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to the Marchioness disaster to Hungerford, this is a man who never lacks compassion yet who does not shy away from telling his truth.

He talks honestly about his “real mental struggle” believing that someone of Dr. Harold Shipman’s position – a trusted GP responsible for the deaths of up to 215 patients – could commit such horrific acts. “But the evidence all pointed that way” he says. “And it was the truth.”

I thought this was a terrific book from all kinds of perspectives. I learnt a huge amount, and I was left in no doubt that every life he attended was treated with the same degree of care and attention, irrespective of who they were or how they died.

In many ways, this book is a personal journey and you can feel his sadness when he talks about the demise of University pathology courses and the privatisation of the Forensic Pathology Service, a service he helped to found. The personal cost of all his work has been enormous and we all owe him and his colleagues a debt of gratitude for the work that they do.

Verdict: An intelligent, compassionate overview of an expert’s life in forensic pathology.

This is such an interesting book; it's right up my street as it sort of combines elements of 'true crime' with medicine and gives me, as the reader, an insight into how forensic pathology works - these combined together makes a truly intriguing read!

Richard Shepherd writes in quite a factual way, so if you're a fan of dramatic retellings then you're probably better looking elsewhere. I am glad of this; it lends the proper respect and care to the work - after all, most of the content is about people who have died, and this book highlights the stress and pressures of being a forensic pathologist. It also opened my eyes to the political implications of some cases, without being too dry or complicated. At times I felt a bit queasy reading about the autopsies but that's no surprise as I'm not great with gory details!

I absolutely loved that the book covers so many key historical moments, some of which I remembered and some I'd heard about - these included: Princess Diana's death in 1997 and the absolute furore over the incident; 9/11; the murder of Stephen Lawrence, and many more. It was so interesting to read about well-known cases from a different point of view - namely from that of the pathologist working the case. The many things they have to consider, and the wide-range of medical knowledge which is required to do their job, is something I found very interesting to read about.

I think I'd prefer less information about the author's personal and family life - although this does of course feed into elements of his career and the pressure of trying to juggle family life with big cases - but the interesting case details more than made up for this in my opinion!

I just loved this book - for me and my reading tastes it has everything I love ! Thank you Net Galley of the chance to read an advanced copy. What can I say....humour, pathos, understanding, science and such a wealth of human empathy. Prior to reading this I had just finished several books by Richard Shepherd's colleagues but they were often about very old cases, dry in content and written for a reader who was much more trained in the ways of pathology. The cases discussed in this book were ones that I remember from the television or newspaper reports at the time of the incident. With this book I found I had to ration myself to read it slowly and not to blitz it in one or two sittings which would have been easy. Not for an easy subject matter but the fluid writing style is pitched exactly for the wider audience. I just can't wait to read it all over again and will probably have to go out andbuy it in hard copy too !

Absolutely fascinating insight into forensic pathology.

Many of the high profile cases I remember so it was very interesting to hear the pathologists side.

Brilliant!

This is an absolutely fascinating autobiography of a world renowned pathologist. Although I had heard of Dr Shepherd, until reading his book I did not realise just how many newsworthy deaths he had dealt with.
The book is an autobiography, rather than a book about pathology, but as much of his life has been centred around his career as a pathologist, this obviously is a prominent feature of the book.
Dr Shepherd writes eloquently with his career highs and lows. He features not only the cases which hit the headlines, but those which have meant something to him.
It is a thoroughly fascinating read which I would highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this read from Richard Shepherd about his life as a forensic pathologist and the lessons he learned along the way. It was just the right mixture of scientific and personal experiences and gave a great insight into the job, how it affected his life and the different ways pathology is used in crime solving. Excellent read.

What an interesting read. Dr Richard Shepherd; world renowned forensic pathologist, husband, father, human being, saw unpalatable, horrendous, avoidable, or just plain sad, deaths every day of his working life. It caused him to add to the walls he constructed as a child until finally it all caught up with him. What happened next is imparted with humility and frankness, I hope it gave him a sense of closure and satisfaction with a job well done.

The story of his time as a forensic pathologist is fascinating but there have been other books, not least those by his hero, Professor Keith Simpson, which were similar. Here though is a book which shows how this highly stressful profession, with its private and public personas, affects him, his wife, his children and his perception of himself and that is what sets it apart.

I remember a lot of the cases Dr. Shepherd was involved in but in a far more sanitised way. While this won't turn your stomach it will give you more of an insight into what happened and how the discoveries were made and imparted to the waiting world.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and thoroughly enjoyed it. It kept me engaged the whole way and increased my knowledge of my own generalised past as well as increasing my respect for the men and women who undertook these vital jobs.

A 5 star read all the way through. A fantastic book.

I loved this book. An excellent insight into the life of a forensic pathologist, starting from the 80s, when he qualified. Only a few pages in and it was absolutely fascinating, riveting, just the type of book I love to read. A mix of memoir and true crime.

The author is now in his sixties. He's performed more than 20,000 postmortems. On qualifying, he was based at Guy's Hospital Dept. of Forensic Medicine. His first major case had been the Hungerford Massacre. He was also called on to assist in more well known cases, such as the Clapham Rail disaster, The Marchioness disaster on the Thames, Harold Shipman murders etc.

I read this late into the night.....morning....1.30am!!!! I found it so difficult to put down. I like how some of his notes from actual postmortem findings in the past are included in the book. So easy to read, not too technical for the general reader who isn't a doctor etc.

All very interesting, and some new info for me-and I have read a few of this type of memoir before. A 5 star read all the way through. A fantastic book.

The non fiction novel was written by Dr Richard Shepherd, arguably one of the UK's top and most well known forensic pathologists. This is a well-written, informative and captivating book which I devoured; in part due to my fascination with the subject matter but also because of how well written the book is.
Initially we meet Dr Shepherd as a young man starting out, and we see everything from his first post mortem, to his first time giving evidence at Court, to his first child being born. The book is set out almost on a case by case basis; where Dr Shepherd takes us through a very small selection of the approximate 23,000 post-mortems that he has carried out.

I found the evolution of the profession fascinating; so much has changed over what is a relatively short period of time and Dr Shepherd definitely comes across as someone who wants to move ahead with the times; his forward thinking within the novel can be seen in processes that are we now consider the norm; including his research into the restraining of prisoners.

I have read numerous novels based around forensic pathology, both as works of fiction and non-fiction, and I have to say that this is definitely one of my favourites. His writing style comes across as sensitive but factual; and I would highly recommend this book with an interest in the subject matter.

I enjoyed the series Autopsy with Dr Shepherd so I was intrigued to find a book all about him and his career as a forensic pathologist.

This is a fascinating subject, laid bare by an intelligent, articulate author. The book opens with extreme honesty about the eventual psychological fall out from conducting thousands of post mortems and the book goes on to explore some of these cases and how they affected Dr Shepherd.

The background information provided into such tragic cases such as The Hungerford Massacre, The Marchioness tragedy, the death of Princess Diana and The Harold Shipman enquiry was sensitive, informative and provided the reader with a viewpoint that is seldom heard.

We are all aware of the problems of violent crime, industrial disease and unexpected death but the actual role of the forensic pathologist in establishing the facts of these cases is seldom considered and much less talked about unless, I fear, you have first hand experience from the victim perspective or you have watched too much CSI. It was therefore fascinating and reassuring to hear how respectful Dr Shepherd is when trying to establish the exact nature of death.

I work in healthcare and have an interest in the functioning of the body and the eventual death that comes to us all. It would have been of great interest to me, during my Nurse training, to have been offered the opportunity to attend post mortems so that the honest, open discussions regarding death and dying that is a necessary part of my role could have been undertaken with a greater level of understanding. Whilst attending them has not so far been possible, there is a huge amount of information in this book that I can use to enhance my own practice and ensure that the information provided to the recently bereaved whose loved ones require a post mortem is both factually accurate and sensitively disclosed.

I am also interested in crime and how each body, each wound, each bruise will tell a story as to how this occurred and how it might have contributed towards a persons demise. This was explained here in terms that anyone could understand without patronising the reader. The contribution by forensic pathologists in the courtroom gives the reader a multi-faceted view of the importance of their work.

There was also the personal element of family life. This allowed the reader a glimpse into the difficulties of trying to sustain both a successful yet stressful career with planning the school run and cooking the dinner - something all parents can relate to.

I could have read another 500 pages of this fascinating area of work and highly recommend.

This walk through the life and work of a prominent pathologist was absolutely fascinating. I learned so much about a side of life (well, death really) that I hadn't even realised I was interested in. There are a lot of gory details, but the cases are presented in a caring way that makes them easy to read.

What I enjoyed most was seeing the other side of the biggest news stories from when I was a child. I remember the Hungerford massacre, the Clapham disaster and the yuppie boat sinking and it was really eye opening to see these events from the inside. Nearly every major event from Princess Diana to 9/11 is touched on.

While I didn't enjoy the personal life stories as much, they do contribute to a fuller picture of the life of an eminent pathologist and how these events affected him as well as the wider world.

I devoured this book in a few hours, something I’ve not managed to do for a while now.
I love reading about forensic science and this is perhaps the best of the nonfiction books I’ve read on the subject. Shepherd’s enthusiasm for his work and his respect for the people he worked on just shines through the pages. It’s incredible that someone who has such an emotionally taxing job that involves having to become quite resilient and hardened to death writes in such a poetic way with such tenderness towards these people. As he mentioned this is a man who has performed over 20,000 post-mortems and he hasn’t even retired yet.
Considering the work cases he was on, many high profile, there is no arrogance here. He’s brutally honest about his life and his attitude towards displaying emotion in such a raw and refreshing way. I really loved it. This is how you write a memoir. I’d highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in forensics. I learnt a lot about the biology but also the politics that goes on regarding forensic pathology
A wonderful read.

Unnatural Causes is a fascinating mix of memoir and insight into the world of forensic pathology. Prof Shepherd’s style is clear, unfussy, honest and detailed without being sensationalist. Given the nature of some of the cases he’s been involved in this is a tough balance to strike, and there are some truly horrific circumstances which Shepherd describes sensitively. His clear dedication to finding the truth, and the pressures his work and coping strategy have put on his life, make this a rewarding experience to read.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After reading This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay not long ago, I've recently found myself drawn to read more true life medical books - nothing too textbooky, just real accounts of professionals in different medical fields. And so I jumped on Unnatural Causes when I saw it on NetGalley. I was partly so interested in it because my job, in a histopathology laboratory in a hospital, works closely with the mortuary, as they send us tissue samples of different organs when looking for a natural cause of death - cancer, disease, etc. 

This book, to me, was fascinating in telling the stories of the dead up until that point when I see it in postage stamp size blocks of indistinguishable organs. I don't class myself as squeamish, which is just as well because we get a whole range of organs and tissue samples into the lab which are not for the fainthearted - ranging from tiny skin biopsies to full limbs. And while we may all stand around looking at it, commenting on its size, or smell, or inconvenience it must have causes in the body, at the heart of it all is a patient who had to deal with this ailment, and the after effects of losing it, but will hopefully now live a long and happy life without this diseases tissue in their body anymore. 

And that human quality that we all strive to remember was rampant throughout this book. So many comments from detectives or other people within this book are all about 'cutting up people' but you can tell it is a process that is done with the utmost care and precision to correctly diagnose the cause of death, and respect to the dead and their loved ones. 

As someone who is used to traumatic stories and unsightly accounts of surgery or specimens, even I found this account incredibly grim. For somebody to be involved in so many of the horrific events which have covered our newspapers and screens over the last few decades, I can only express astonishment that it didn't lead to Shepherd developing PTSD earlier. 

I think this is a beautifully necessary book for those interested in this area, but some descriptions and accounts of attacks and victims are grim, so please use discretion when reading. 

As I said, my area of work and personal interests made this a sure hit for me, but for some, this is not their type of book at all.

Reading that this was a book about a man who has performed more than 23,000 postmortems was what caught my eye and imagination. It turned out to be a rather curious autobiography that had much less nitty-gritty forensic pathology in it than I expected.

Having said that, the book was never boring as it had the difficult job of walking the tightrope between self-praise and too much detail, whilst getting the point across. For me, it largely succeeded in getting the balance right. The most interesting fact that I discovered is that, even forensic pathology, like far too many things today, has become a victim of almost universal dumbing down.

Overall, an autobiography written, it appears, as a release valve for the author; I think it succeeded and it is certainly worth a read.

A really honest and interesting look at pathology. It was intriguing reading how personal and family life fitted in with a job where working hours are so erratic. I was fascinated by the cases that the author has dealt with and the amount of detail he gave about them. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

A fascinating look at major crime events through the eyes of a forensic pathologist and the changes through his working life

I'm a lover of crime fiction, so the chance to get the inside track on real- life forensic investigations was not to be missed.

Richard Shepherd is a top level forensic pathologist who has been involved in the aftermath of some huge scale disasters, from the sinking of the Marchioness in London to the car crash that killed Princess Diana in Paris to the Hungerford massacre. In this book, he describes not only these large-scale and publicised tragedies, but also the everyday life of a forensic pathologist dealing in unexpected or unexplained deaths: the hidden medical conditions, infanticide, SIDS, murders and bar brawls. It should make for depressing reading (Shepherd himself talks about the PTSD that his job caused), but it's fascinating. The care and attention and respect afforded to those on the pathologist's table who, in life, may have suffered abuse and tragic circumstances was strangely uplifting.

I was concerned that I'd find it all a bit too stomach-churning, but actually it was less so than some of the more lurid crime novels. In fact, it was informative and scientific and quite absorbing.

Overall, this is an interesting and engaging look at a fascinating branch of medicine.

#Unnatural Causes #NetGalley A fascinating read and a subject that really interested me. It was good to see behind the scenes on what actually happens as a forensic pathologist which seemed to be a little different from what you see on tv shows like Silent Witness and CSI etc! Some of the cases were famous and harrowing, and I thought I might not want to hear what actually happens with a post mortem but the author showed that pathologists treat their 'patient' with as much care and respect as 'living' patients would like to receive. It was also interesting to see what toll this type of job has on both the individual and the relationships they form. A little repetitive and disjointed at times but nevertheless it was a good read for me.