Jo Burdett's Book Review

“The Christopher Killer”
By Alane Ferguson
*****
“The Christopher Killer” is the first novel in a series of three books, with a fourth addition on the way. It is set in a small town of Silverton, Colorado that sits in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Silverton is the type of small town where everyone knows everyone. The main character of the novel is Cameryn Mahoney, the daughter of the small town coroner. Cameryn expresses her dream of being a Forensic Pathologist; her father decides to allow her to be his assistant. Together, they don’t expect to see much more than the bodies of those who have died because of sickness or of age, which her father calls “naturals”.

But they were wrong. Cameryn and her father are called to the scene of a murder, one that was foretold by her best friend’s favorite TV psychic. And what’s more gruesome is that the victim is a girl that Cameryn went to school with, and knew very well. And things only get worse when Cameryn discovers her friend was the fourth victim of the elusive Christopher Killer, a murderer who leaves a medal of Saint Christopher on each of his victim’s bodies. Against her grandmother’s wishes and her father’s advice, Cameryn goes to her first autopsy, which isn’t as beautiful as TV makes it out to be. Meanwhile, the buzz around the town of her friend Rachel’s murder, and that the TV psychic, a man named Dr. Jewel, who predicted Rachel’s murder is coming to town to tape a live show, and ‘talk’ with Rachel’s spirit, who also will add that he sees a new murder, and it will happen soon.

With time, a grouchy medical examiner who thinks she won’t amount to anything, and Dr. Jewel against her, Cameryn embarks on an adventure filled with adventure, suspense, and a lot of interesting insight into the world of forensic pathology only to end with an ending that will entice you into reading the next in the series.

Alane Ferguson went through intensive research by interviewing pathologists, and medical examiners to create the world of death that Cameryn lives in. With excruciating detail and disgusting accuracy, she unveils a world that not many see, but that is also filled with mystery and intrigue. Although in some parts the detail can be considered to be ‘too much’, the details of the autopsy of Cameryn’s friend intrigued me, although some may not have the stomach for the gore. But that aside, it was a fantastic book, and I can only hope that Ferguson can keep up with her success in the Sequel “The Angel of Death”.

This book is totally recommended by me to anyone! Come in and get it today!