The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap Published by Kensington Publishing Corp on December 24, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Gothic, Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Gay, Fiction / Thrillers / Historical
Pages: 336
Format: ARC
ISBN: 9781496750341A 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.
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1828
Naïve 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.
This book was really fun and quite hilarious, which I wasn’t expecting considering the contents of the novel. I do want to protect James like a baby brother and be best friends with Nye!
The whole book was fascinating tale of what body snatchers did along with the why and how. Before such things as body donations became common, there were such strict restrictions on whose bodies could be used for medical schools: prisoners, suicides, orphans, and foundlings. But the way body snatchers came about was that demand far outweighed supply.
Would I say the real-life serial killers did something good by opening politicians eyes to the idea that bodies were needed to advance science? Maybe. Obviously, murder is wrong and not supported on this book blog. However, the fact that Burke and Hare did help change laws was a good thing.
The hilarious parts was how blasé Nye was about the whole situation (including using James’s trunk, affectionately nicknamed “The Beast,” to transport a body), and how super naïve James was. At times, I was really just shaking my head and saying “oh honey” towards how naïve James was acting.
I do have to admit that it took a minute to get into the book. Since it was all James’s first person point-of-view, there was large stretches and chunks of text that James described what was going on. Obviously, the beginning does point out that James is writing this account after everything happens, but it’s still written as if it’s in present tense. I was getting a bit too bogged down with how whiny and annoying James could be.
It definitely picks up once James figures out what’s really going on with Nye’s crew. Plus the romance between James and Nye is adorable and lovely and everything!
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