This is book 2 in the series. It is very well plotted and is so mysterious. The characters are well developed.
Loved this book

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read Life Sentence by A K Turner.

At first I was intrigued by Cassie and wanted to learn all about her, but the book took a slight dive for me and I lost interest only a little, however saying that, I carried on and I really enjoyed the book.

I definitely want to hear more about Cassie's adventures. For this storyline, I didn't guess anything which was coming, which is always a bonus!!!

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh I just love Cassie Raven! Another great read! More of a installment of the character, rather then another crime read, but I enjoyed it all the same. A fab read to really sink your teeth into!
Can't wait for the next!

A.K Turner is fast becoming one of my all time favourite authors.

First of if you haven't read the first book in the Cassie Raven series- Body language - stop what you are doing and download/purchase NOW.. you will not be disappointed.

Cassie Raven is so fabulously unique but at the same time exactly the character I expect her to be.
Cassie is a Mortuary Assistant with a difference, she talks to those she cares for and she really does care. Handling each person with dignity and compassion you'd expect from a nurse on a ward.

In this installment of the series Cassie is charged with looking after the body of a teenage boy who has taken his own life. Cassie doesn't believe this to be the case so starts an investigation of her own.. where will the truth take her?

A further storyline that runs alongside is the personal life of Cassie after she finds out that her parents didn't actually die in a car crash when she was a tot but her Dad is actually in prison for the murder of her Mum. Cassie's Dad has always pleaded his innocence and whilst at first she is skeptical, further investigation provides Cassie with clues that may indicate her father is telling the truth.

This is fast paced, gripping, unputdownable, original and just overly amazing and I cannot wait for book #3.

Huge thanks to netgalley and Bonnier Books for the ARC.

Turner has a real talent for writing characters, they always come across so realistic and genuine. I really enjoyed this. It wasn’t as fast paced since it was focused on a cold case but it was still engaging and interesting. Parts had me gasping, while others made me well up. This is now a must read series for me.

Enjoyed this book from a new-to-me author. Second in the series, so will definitely go back to the beginning of Cassie Raven’s story.
Cassie works as a mortuary attendant and believes the dead talk to her. As a result she has uncovered things are sometimes not what they seem at first glance.
A similar situation applies to her personal life. Brought up by her grandmother who told her that her parents both died in a car accident. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Due to her determined nature Cassie eventually uncovers the true story.
I enjoyed the writer’s style of writing and look forward to reading more from them.

Crime fiction aficionados who like their chillers dark, twisted and gruesome need to add A K Turner’s latest Cassie Raven mystery, Life Sentence, to their auto-buy list.

Cassie Raven is a mortuary assistant who has had an affinity with death for as far back as she can remember. Having lost her parents in a car crash when she was just four years old, death has been a constant for Cassie pretty much all of her life. Nothing shocks her or fazes her anymore – until she finds out that the father she had thought dead for decades is very much alive and serving a prison sentence behind bars for killing her mother.

Cassie cannot take any more shocks or surprises – until she discovers that her father has been released from jail and is now looking for her. Cassie isn’t sure how she really feels about her father having spent her entire life believing he was deceased. Cassie has had her fill of earth-shattering revelations coming to light after being buried for decades, but there is a further twist in store: her father swears that he was wrongly imprisoned and that he didn’t kill her mother. Cassie wants to believe him more than anything else in the world and the only way she can find the answers she seeks is by turning detective herself.

Will Cassie manage to find sufficient evidence to clear her father’s name? Can their relationship ever be salvaged? Or will Cassie come to the conclusion that some secrets should have been left in the past…

A nail-biting spine-tingler perfect for Silent Witness fans, A K Turner’s Life Sentence is a tension-filled, cleverly written and brilliantly paced thriller that will keep readers guessing and engrossed all through the night. In the fabulously named Cassie Raven, A K Turner has created a fantastic heroine who is smart, tenacious, loyal and somebody I hope we will be seeing more of in the not too distant future.

An addictive and entertaining thriller, Life Sentence is the second Cassie Raven novel from a talented new voice in crime fiction: A K Turner.

This is the second book in the series featuring Cassie Raven. She is a mortuary technician in Camden. A pure Goth &, oh, she hears the dead talk. Of course, there is a backstory concerning the main characters but this can be read as a standalone; I did.

The plot concerns Cassie discovering her past is not what she thought it was. Her understanding was that she was brought up by her grandmother because her parents died in a car accident. Not so & she again links with DS Flyte to do her investigating.

An easy writing style & a very enjoyable read. Plenty of nostalgia for the 90’s & highly recommended. Roll on book 3 (let me read book 1 first though).

This is book 2 in the Cassie Raven series and I have to say I did prefer the first one. This is still a good read, I just found not much happened in the first half. In this book, Cassie looks into her mother's death and tries to find out what really happened. She uses Phyllida Flytes help but she doesn’t feature as much which is a shame because I love their chemistry. I am intrigued to see how it will develop in any future additions. We do get more of an insight into Cassie’s life and see her character development. I really enjoy the scenes in the morgue and how Cassie interacts with the dead and there is just the perfect amount of detail. There is also an absolutely devastating event that broke my heart. This isn’t a super gritty crime thriller but it is an enjoyable who dunnit read.

I absolutely love this series! I'd been waiting for this second book and finished it in a couple of days. I love the characters, the storyline, and how it's written. This is definitely a series (and an author) that I will read more from.

I read the first book in this series a few weeks ago and knew from that book alone that this would be a series I would enjoy. Cassie was a character that I liked a lot, mainly for her originality, compassion and determination to get an answer. Even if it meant putting herself in danger or making life harder for herself at work with superiors who didn’t like having to take advice from the ones they considered beneath them.

Whilst there is focus on Cassie’s attempts to find out why one of her guests died, much of the novel shows her trying to find out who was responsible for her mother’s death. She is remembering more, after picking up scents from clothing, seeing photos etc and struggled at times with hearing the stories that friends of her mother told her. All combined with tales her beloved grandmother had always told her, that seemed more likely to be inaccurate.

Phyllida Flyte, the detective, who she has tentatively built a friendship with does feature slightly less but seemed to have more of an impact. I felt I got to know her more, see her frustration at Cassie when she asks her to look for information that could get her in trouble. I could also see her feeling happier and being part of the team in her new position.

There are two others ‘characters’ I liked. Macavity, Cassie’s cat, who showed his disdain extremely well and another slightly unusual one. That was Camden, an area I do not know,but I felt like I was there. Feeling the buzz, and often the threat. It’s not something I feel often, but I do appreciate it when a community feels real.

I can’t wait to read more by A.K Turner. This was intriguing, engaging and thrilling. The plot was cleverly unravelled as the story progressed.

Wow this is such a refreshingly new type of character and I absolutely loved her.
Cassie Raven is a mortuary assistant with a sort of sixth sense when looking after her “guests”. She treats every single one with the utmost respect and dignity..
Cassie has an eclectic mix of friends including a retired pathologist, a senior detective, a recovering addict and an Oxford type pathologist. She always believed that her parents died in an accident when she was four and she was raised by her Polish maternal grandmother but recently found out that her mother had been murdered by her father who went to prison for seventeen years.
She becomes embroiled in her search for answers and truth in both her personal life and the untimely suicide of one of her “guests” and what follows is one of the most interesting books I’ve read for a long time.
Highly recommend to all readers.

My Thoughts: I loved being back with Cassie, she’s a mortuary technician with a difference, she believes they speak to her, not physically obviously but she tends to get a feeling, an inkling about how they died and then she can’t help herself but to investigate getting herself in trouble along the way 😂

This time she’s working on the body of a Bradley a 15 year old who was found in his bedroom with the cable from his laptop around his neck.. but Cassie doesn’t feel it’s that simple.. can she get to the bottom of it and give his family some good news?

She’s also trying to deal with the revelation her gran gave her at the end of the first book, her parents didn’t die in a car crash, her dad killed her mum and is now out of prison.. will he try and find her? does she want him too?

After speaking to her best friend Kieran about her parents her dad gets in contact and is adamant he didn’t do what he was accused of, so Cassie and Kieran take it upon themselves to find out the truth.

As Cassie goes on a trip down her parents memory lane we meet a few people from their past..

This book gave me so many mixed feelings, I didn’t know who to trust through the whole thing. So many moments where I was on the edge of my seat. It made me feel sick with nerves at times and also broke my heart in others. But I absolutely loved it & have everything crossed that there will be a third instalment in the Cassie Raven series! 🤞🏼🤞🏼

I loved Body Language so when I had the chance to rave about Life Sentence too I jumped at the chance.

Cassie Raven isn’t everyone cup of tea, with her shaved hair and piercings, she’s isn’t what society deems acceptable, and that’s the way she likes it. Despite this Cassie has a respectful attitude to the people in her care, even if they are no longer living. She has a connection to the dead, they speak to her and this often reveals the secrets that her job requires. As a Mortuary Technician she needs to help answer many questions that their loved ones want answers to.

But in Life Sentence. She finds herself trying to solve her own mothers death and at the same time, show her fathers innocence. Having been brought up by her Grandma believing her parents were dead, finding that he was jailed for her Mothers death and spent 17 years behind bars forces her to use all her resources.

This series are well worth getting to know, Cassie Raven’s life is full of trauma and situations she needs to understand. But the story is made by her and she drives the book and it’s characters.

Don’t stop there A.K. Turner, we want more.

This was quiet a riveting book and I did enjoy it I have to say, interesting storyline and a great ending, it kept me guessing ..

Rounded Up from 4.5

I enjoyed mortuary assistant Cassie Raven's first outing, Body Language, so I jumped at the chance to read Life Sentence. I would highly recommend you start with book one first to get to know Cassie and the other characters better.

Life Sentence is an utterly gripping crime thriller with an unusual protagonist and emotional rollercoaster of a storyline.

At the end of the last book, there were revelations for Cassie after finding out that her dad was actually alive and murdered her mother twenty years earlier. She's really struggling with everything and doubting her memories, not helped by the fact that her father comes back into her life claiming that he's innocent. Unsure whether or not to believe him, she digs into her mother's case, unable to move on until she finds the truth.

As with the first book, I enjoyed the back and forth between Cassie and DS Phyllida Flyte. They seem like opposites. Flyte is uptight and by the book, whereas Cassie has a more I don't care what people think of me attitude but underneath all that they care about people and that justice is served. I also feel there's a bit of chemistry between the two and I wonder where that's heading.

I really enjoyed learning more about Cassie and her childhood throughout the novel, but we also learned more about Flyte and events in her own background, too.

The tension builds up nicely through the story, with plenty of little shocks along the way that kept me turning those pages.

I had a sneaking suspicion who the culprit could be about halfway through the book, but the story kept me doubting myself until the big reveal.

Life Sentence has left me wanting more and I can't wait to see what will happen next for Cassie Raven!

Life Sentence is the second book in an exciting and original series by AK Turner and features the fascinating Camden Mortuary Technician Cassie Raven.

Lots of people happily read books out of order, but I would strongly recommend that you do start with Book 1 – Body Language – which gives the reader the full and proper introduction to Cassie.

For those who haven’t met Cassie yet, she is a young woman who has been brought up by her Polish grandmother after both parents were killed in a car crash, having dropped out of society during her late teens, living rough and taking drugs, she is now a dedicated and caring mortuary technician with a “gift” for hearing the dead talk. With a face full of piercings, her short jet black hair and Goth clothing Cassie definitely is not what you would expect when thinking about post-mortem examinations.

Book 1 follows Cassie when her beloved mentor is found dead and she believes it’s not an accidental death, however Book 2 – Life Sentence is much more character driven and focuses on Cassie’s parents, who she believed were killed in a car crash when she was 4 years old. It’s only when her father appears and tells her he has been in prison for the past 20 years for murdering her mother that Cassie realises everything she believed was in fact a lie and starts to investigate her mother’s murder.

Once again DS Phyllida Flyte makes an appearance and the sexual chemistry between the two female characters is still quietly simmering in the background.

Another really enjoyable read and nostalgic trip down memory lane as Cassie retraces her parents marriage and lives through the early 90’s.

Highly recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed being back in the world of mortuary technician Cassie Raven. As I'd read the previous book in the series I was familiar with the characters and the back story, but it had been a while since I'd read the first. I think you can read Life Sentence without prior knowledge and still appreciate the sympathetic characters and plot.

absolutely adored Body Language, the first in this series about Cassie Raven, Senior mortuary technician, goth and body whisperer – and this second outing with Life Sentence does not disappoint.

This time the case is much more personal as Cassie Raven is driven by a re-appearance from her past to look into the murder of her mother; a murder for which her father was convicted. Not that Cassie knows any of this.

Cassie’s grandmother, Weronika, who took her in after her mother’s murder, has always been tight lipped about her mother’s death, telling her only that her parents both died in a car accident but spitting out her hatred for Cassie’s father whom she portrays as a violent drunk.

Cassie is also trying to understand what would drive a young boy to take his own life. The most recent visitor to her mortuary is a young goth who seems to have no clear reason for committing suicide. His parents are distraught, blaming themselves, but Cassie imagines this young man speaking to her and she instinctively knows there’s more to his story than she can immediately see.

Cassie Raven is a great character; highly empathetic, individually minded, she has strength of character and an interesting array of friends. She’s not without her flaws, either. A tendency to drink too much when stressed and to sample the more illicit wares that Camden has to offer are vices she’s going to have to control if her sleuthing skills are going to pay off.

When Cassie discovers the facts of her mother’s death she is, of course, determined to find out everything she can, without upsetting her grandmother, though she can’t really understand why she kept the secret for so many years.

With the help of some friends, Cassie begins the deep dive into her mother’s past and what she discovers is both eye opening and very disconcerting. There will no doubt be repercussions from this investigation that will ripple through Cassie’s life for some time.

Cassie’s relationship with DS Phyllida Flyte also takes a more personal tone as both women need each other to help them investigate important moments in the other’s lives.

Verdict: Life Sentence is a character driven slow burn of a book and none the worse for that. I loved Cassie’s second outing which gave me even more of a sense of her character and steadfast resoluteness when it comes to standing by her friends. She is a terrific protagonist and a character I have very quickly come to love. A.K. Turner’s writing pulls you in with its edgy style and intricate plotting and doesn’t let go. This is a series with huge potential that has become unmissable in only two books.