AFTERSHOCK

 

SYNOPSIS

There’s a body crushed under a load of pipes on a San Francisco construction site, and medical examiner Dr. Jessie Teska is on call. So it’s her job to figure out who it is—and her headache when the autopsy reveals that the death is a homicide staged as an accident.

Jessie is hot on the murderer’s trail, then an earthquake sends her and her whole city reeling. When the dust clears, her case has fallen apart and an innocent man is being framed. Jessie knows she’s the only one who can prove it, and she races to piece together the truth—before it gets buried and brings her down in the rubble.

Title: Aftershock

Author: Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell

Series: Dr. Jessie Teska Mystery #2

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

Publication date: January 19, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

I guess no one will be surprised when I say I love books with a medical examiner as the main character. In fact, the Scarpetta series and the Temperance Brennan series are in part to blame for me being a medical examiner myself. A couple of years back I read the author’s non-fiction book Working Stiff, about her work as a medical examiner and I absolutely loved it, so I was ecstatic when I found out she was gonna write a fiction series along her husband.

Aftershock is the second installment in the Dr. Jessie Teska series. Although a follow up it can be read as a stand alone as enough details about Jessie’s backstory are provided for you to easily catch up. The discovery of a body on a construction site marks the start of a story that, imo, suffered from trying to go in too many directions.

When soon afterwards there’s an earthquake I thought that it would play a more pivotal role in the main plot, but instead it felt like just an excuse to try and fit one specific clue of the investigation. Clue that I catch up on the moment it was first mentioned and could not understand how it took Jessie so long to realize.

Jessie is a headstrong and outspoken woman, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, but sometimes she comes out as a bit brash, making it a bit hard to warm up to her. Also, she makes a really stupid decision that she later tries to justify (even through another character’s actions) and that is one of my pet peeves (no spoilers!).

My favorite parts were, of course, the morgue scenes. The murder mystery came to a not so shocking conclusion. The shocking bit was the social issue that was presented at the end and that I found absolutely abhorrent.

The personal life plot line was closed too quickly but I’m guessing we’ll see more of that in future installments.

Will I be back for book 3? Yes, cause even though this one didn’t grab me as much as I would have liked, both the series and Jessie herself have a lot of room to grow.