Tangled Web UK Review March 2007
Without Consent by
Kathryn Fox
pbk out March 07
(Hodder)
at £6.99
An Australian novel by a 'forensic physician' in Sydney, a doctor who
specialises in the medico-legal examination of the living, as opposed to
the dead, who are attended by pathologists. These used be called 'police
surgeons', but that term is no longer 'PC'. The author's lead character,
who undoubtedly contains a professional autobiographical element, is one
of these, a Dr. Anya Crichton who specialises in sexual offences.
Dr Fox wrote a previous debut novel called Malicious Intent, which had
rave reviews, mostly comparing her with Patricia Cornwell and the like.
This one is also very much a 'forensic' saga, mainly about sexual
offences, which all too often tragically escalate into murder.
I am quite the wrong reviewer for this book, after forty-five years 'in the
business', as quite a lot of the author's wordage reads like a forensic
medicine textbook, with masses of quite accurate detail, which no doubt
is fascinating to many lay readers. The same might be said of Kathy
Reich's writing, much of which reads like a treatise on forensic
anthropology.
Some of the details are perhaps too graphic for consumption as
recreation, which is what reading fiction is presumably all about, but
giving the almost insatiable appetite and morbid fascination of the public
with books, films and television about injury and violence, death and
suffering, her books will be highly successful. The cover blurb claims
that the first one pushed Dan Brown off the Amazon Best Seller's crime
list, though I would hardly call De Vinci a crime book as such.
Anyway, Without Consent' is certainly a gritty tale with a strong forensic
elements and will undoubtedly satisfy the forensic aficionados.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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