The Resurrectionist: A Twisty Gothic Mystery of Dark Scottish History

By A Rae Dunlap and A. Rae Dunlap

Book Overview

In the tradition of The Alienist and Anatomy: A Love Story, a decadently macabre, dark and twisty gothic debut set in 19th century Scotland - when real-life serial killers Burke and Hare terrorized the streets of Edinburgh - as a young medical student is lured into the illicit underworld of body snatching.

Historical fiction, true crime, and dark academia intertwine in a harrowing tale of murder, greed, and the grisly origins of modern medicine for readers of Lydia Kang, ML Rio, Sarah Perry, and C.E. McGill.

"With wit as sharp as a scalpel, and a plot as dark and twisted as the Edinburgh alleys in which it is set, The Resurrectionist is a thrilling debut that will have readers turning pages deep into the night." --Hester Fox, author of The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

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Edinburgh, Scotland, 1828. Na ve but determined James Willoughby has abandoned his posh, sheltered life at Oxford to pursue a lifelong dream of studying surgery in Edinburgh. A shining beacon of medical discovery in the age of New Enlightenment, the city's university offers everything James desires--except the chance to work on a human cadaver. For that, he needs to join one of the private schools in Surgeon's Square, at a cost he cannot afford. In desperation, he strikes a deal with Aneurin "Nye" MacKinnon, a dashing young dissectionist with an artist's eye for anatomy and a reckless passion for knowledge. Nye promises to help him gain the surgical experience he craves--but it doesn't take long for James to realize he's made a devil's bargain . . .

Nye is a body snatcher. And James has unwittingly become his accomplice. Intoxicated by Nye and his noble mission, James rapidly descends into the underground ranks of the Resurrectionists--the body snatchers infamous for stealing fresh corpses from churchyards to be used as anatomical specimens. Before he knows it, James is caught up in a life-or-death scheme as rival gangs of snatchers compete in a morbid race for power and prestige.

James and Nye soon find themselves in the crosshairs of a shady pair of unscrupulous opportunists known as Burke and Hare, who are dead set on cornering the market, no matter the cost. These unsavory characters will do anything to beat the competition for bodies. Even if it's cold-blooded murder . . .

Exquisitely macabre and delightfully entertaining, The Resurrectionist combines fact and fiction in a rollicking tale of the risks and rewards of scientific pursuit, the passions of its boldest pioneers, and the anatomy of human desire.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1496750349
• ISBN13: 9781496750341
• Release Date: December 2024
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

This book was written FOR me

I picked this up from my library because it had bones & botany on the cover and bragged about body snatching in the pages. I already knew it'd be right up my alley- but then?? The romance plot is GAY!!! My heart SANG. I read this in a single sitting and had the time of my life. I have mild complaints (I got whiffs of inconsistencies in both narrative voice and character development, but again, mild complaints), but I was having so much fun with the story and characters and the content that I didn't care. I loved the old medicine science, I loved the gore (which in my opinion was pretty tasteful), I loved the love interest (my ideal gremlin, I'm still swooning, I never see My Type in romance novels), I loved the body snatching, the conversation about ethics and law, I loved the friendship that developed between characters, i loved the love. In fact, I could have used more of everything, add that to my list of mild complaints: the book had an ending, for some reason??? So rude. After I was done, I kept picking it back up and flipping thru to revisit some of my favorite parts. I'd never resonated with a character so much before, and the fact that he was loved and adored as he was just really sank it's teeth right into my heart. I actually thought it was funny that the serial killers are kinda boasted for this book but they have such little screentime- it made the world feel that much bigger, and I felt even more immersed. I thought their actions having a bigger impact on the story than Hare & Burke in the flesh themselves was such an excellent choice, as this really is James's story about how he took control of his own life and learned how to let go. Just a beautiful story, such a fun and hilarious time. I've never been so heart achey over a romance before, ugh. I loved it SO much.

Just remarkable. No Bore in this book

Just remarkable. No Bore in this book. The detail was amazing but with a beautiful story behind it all.

Interesting

This was an entertaining close look into history at a time when bodysnatching was needed for doctors to learn how to treat people and cure certain diseases and conditions and was quite the flourishing business in Edinburgh right when James travels there to study medicine. He was quite the intricately written character with so many side, from promising young doctor in training, looking to pay his own way after his family loses their fortune, to budding bodysnatcher, diving into the darker world of death and returning alive and knowing what he wants his future to be. Hence, the resurrectionist tie-in. I enjoyed most of the book, though sometimes the proper english felt a bit stilted, and while I loved the detail into the graveyard snatching, as well as the dissections and medical learnings, I was sad that the Burke and Hare part only was really in the last little bit of the book. I would not have minded more of that story. Though I really liked the relationship of James and Nye, which was a nice sweet touch to all the darkness. For a debut, it was well done and I did like this story.