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93rd out of 261 books
—
180 voters
Aftermath, Inc.: Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home
by
Gil Reavill
A crime writer who thought he could handle anything confronts the worst of everything. Violent and unattended deaths...suicide...forensics...viral pathology...crime scene myths...The stories behind Aftermath, Inc. are stranger than fiction, and utterly human and compelling.
Like most people, true-crime writer Gil Reavill had never actually experienced a fresh crime scene....more
Like most people, true-crime writer Gil Reavill had never actually experienced a fresh crime scene....more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
May 17th 2007
by Gotham
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Aug 05, 2008
Renee
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
CSI and crime story afficionados
Recommended to Renee by:
Paul Sullivan
Shelves:
crime-forensics,
nonfiction
Aftermath, Inc.: Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home, by Gil Reavill, is not for the faint of heart or the weak-stomached. Reavill, who is a crime story writer for Maxim, decided to do a story about a real-life company who does “bioremediation”; that is, clean-up and removal of the biological mess of violent crimes, suicides, long-unnoticed natural deaths. High Ick Factor but the story is told with humor, respect for those who do this work, and a good dose of self-deprecation (Reavill has a very wea...more
Not exactly a review, but I do mention this book in one of my book vlog videos. Click the image below to watch (opens in YouTube).
Truly a fantastic and fascinating look into the cleaning of crime scenes. Though this book does do a great job at outlining the specifics (types of materials used, and such) it really shines by going into the lives of the survivors and of the cleaners themselves.
Truly a fantastic and fascinating look into the cleaning of crime scenes. Though this book does do a great job at outlining the specifics (types of materials used, and such) it really shines by going into the lives of the survivors and of the cleaners themselves.
Ewwww. Ick. Gross. All that and more. This is a book about the people who clean up when grandpa is found decomposing in the hallway three weeks after he died in the house where he lived alone. This is the story of people who scrape the brains off the wall after junior blows his head off with a shotgun. This is the tale of the maggots and bugs and vomit inducing stench of decomposition. You think you've got stain removal challenges? You don't have stain removal challenges. Bioremediation technici...more
After watching Sunshine Cleaning and reading The Mystical Art of Removing All Signs of Death, I've wondered at the reality of the crime scene cleanup business. Who would get into this business and why? How gruesome can it get?
The answers: Some nice Midwestern boys. Because there's a lot of money in it and it can actually help people. And pretty darn gruesome.
Reavill trails the owners and crews of Aftermath and the reports of what he experienced with this is straightforward, interesting and a li...more
The answers: Some nice Midwestern boys. Because there's a lot of money in it and it can actually help people. And pretty darn gruesome.
Reavill trails the owners and crews of Aftermath and the reports of what he experienced with this is straightforward, interesting and a li...more
In this grisly, swaggering tale of gut-churning crime scenes and the men who clean them up after the forensics team is done, veteran true crime scribe Reavill (Beyond All Reason: My Life with Susan Smith) holds nothing back. From descriptions of crimes ("The fusillade of bullets tore through Johnson's body.... Blood, bits of flesh and bone fragments exploded everywhere") to hepatitis C "bleed-outs" ("All four walls of the bathroom looked like someone had taken a blood hose and turned it on them"...more
This book was right up my street so a 3 star rating was pretty much in the bag already ... in Britain the thankless task of cleaning up crime scenes belong's to the local council's fumigation & pest control team's but there's no such cover in America .... step forward bioremediation companies and in particular Aftermath Inc., ... Gil Reavill shadow's the 'techs' of the title at first like a giddy kid until the unpleasentness of the task's ahead start to sink in ... never mind the smell's.
The...more
The...more
My semi-morbid streak (along with a friend's reccomendation) led me to check this book out from my local library. Reavill is a true-crime writer who decided he should go one step further and learn about what happens to a crime scene once the law is done with it. Therefore, he meets the owners of Aftermath Inc., the heavy-hitters in the field of "bioremediation" - providing cleaning services to bio-contaminated sites; usually death scenes, but not always.
Reavill jumps in with both Tyvek-clad feet...more
Reavill jumps in with both Tyvek-clad feet...more
Having done this job I was ready to be very critical of it especially because the author wrote for Maxim which I think it a magazine that plays to the lowest common denominator. This book was incredibly true to life. I related to his nervousness riding out to his first job. It really rang bells with me about some of his revelations doing this line of work. It truly does make you realize that we are not our bodies. It also is true that once you have done this job that you never look at life or de...more
I have always been a somewhat morbid sort, so you can see why this book appealed to me immensely.
It's an easy read, with tons of gnarly detail and incisive wit. I laughed out loud a number of times while reading, mostly from passages like this, where the author is referring to the death of a kid on his little league team when he was seven:
It's an easy read, with tons of gnarly detail and incisive wit. I laughed out loud a number of times while reading, mostly from passages like this, where the author is referring to the death of a kid on his little league team when he was seven:
"You always remember your first dead body. The following afternoon at the funeral home, Chucky was a waxen figure arrayed in a coffin of polished mahogany, so...more
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This is a fascinating examination into the world of crime and death scene cleanup. Reavill explores the voyeurism and violation involved in looking at and being fascinated by death and decay. But he also discusses the compassion and respect necessary in dealing with the scenes of the dead. Once a person dies, they become an object, a corpse--with toxic fluids and body matter to clean up and obliterate. Reavill reminds us of the person that occupied that space, while explaining the fascinating bi...more
This was an interesting look at a subject no one ever really thinks about. But it was definitely educational. Some sections do not deal with clean up at all, though, and focus on the motives behind crimes, the criminal mind, or just out right philosophical musing about life and death. It all ties together, given the subject matter. But I felt it a little too far off base at times. You pick this up expecting gruesome details (which are present, don't get me wrong) about cleaning up crime scenes....more
This book is an amazing look at who cleans up after traumatic crimes. It opened my eyes to many different situations that I never really thought about. While definitly not for the squeemish, an interesting read. Much like Mary Roach's "Stiff". The author mixes a lot of facts and interesting bits of humanity into his writing, from quoting the Grateful Dead to miscellaneous trivia. If you've ever wondered about what happens after crime, or how the company "Aftermath" was started, you'll get a lot...more
I have never thought about what happens after a murder or any other death. The suicides or even sadder the person who lives alone and isn't found straight away. The mess that is left behind and this does explain why buildings often get burnt down. The author seem to have at times an unhealthy interest in the subject but then we are all a bit like that.
The people who do this job for a living have to have something special as I don't think that I could do the job and I am not particularly squeamis...more
The people who do this job for a living have to have something special as I don't think that I could do the job and I am not particularly squeamis...more
This was a FANTASTIC book! It was gritty, intense, and very interesting. It definitely proves the old adage that fact is often stranger than fiction! Everything was written out in such detail and definitely a very emotional read! In some cases (during the description of some of the murders) I definitely had to put the book down for awhile and then come back to it after a few hours (in the case of the Ed Gein murder description I needed to put the book down for a whole day). It's definitely not f...more
I really enjoyed this book, if "enjoyed" is the proper word to use for a non-fiction book about the people who clean up after death occurs.
While it is difficult to read at times due to it's graphic descriptions, it's also very educational and interesting to read. It's intelligently written. I think it should be required reading for all the fans of the CSI type tv shows. So they can see the less glamorous romanticized side of real life death. And see how those crime scenes are truly handled - th...more
While it is difficult to read at times due to it's graphic descriptions, it's also very educational and interesting to read. It's intelligently written. I think it should be required reading for all the fans of the CSI type tv shows. So they can see the less glamorous romanticized side of real life death. And see how those crime scenes are truly handled - th...more
I have a stomach for gore. My father walked in on his grandmother bludgeoned to death when he was 18, and forbade me to watch horror movies or Law & Order growing up because the vicarious enjoyment of other people's pain via popular entertainment is (let's be real) fucking disgusting.* At any rate, I saw someone reading this on the subway and figured I'd pick it up from the library. It was like a long Maxim article about death with occasional attempts at depth, and the physical book smelled...more
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This is not a book for the faint of heart - it is exactly as it states, a book about "what happens after CSI goes home." What DOES happen after a body is found and the investigation is over? A company in the relatively recent field of "bioremediation" comes in to clean up what's left. Blood, brains, "fluids," fingerprint powder, gunpowder residue, these guys have seen it all and cleaned it up more than once. The author is a crime writer who followed along with a few teams from Aftermath, Inc. to...more
(Non-fiction)
RATING: 3.5
For years, Gil Reavill was a true crime correspondent for Maxim magazine. In spite of the fact that he reported on dozens of true crimes, he never visited a fresh crime scene. Instead, he would rely on one of the professionals at the site for the descriptions that he would use in his articles. So when he has the opportunity to work with a company that cleans up after suicides, murders and other messy deaths, he jumps at the chance.
Two young men by the name of Tim Reifstec...more
RATING: 3.5
For years, Gil Reavill was a true crime correspondent for Maxim magazine. In spite of the fact that he reported on dozens of true crimes, he never visited a fresh crime scene. Instead, he would rely on one of the professionals at the site for the descriptions that he would use in his articles. So when he has the opportunity to work with a company that cleans up after suicides, murders and other messy deaths, he jumps at the chance.
Two young men by the name of Tim Reifstec...more
Aug 05, 2009
Eva Leger
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
CSI fans, ppl interested in this subject
Recommended to Eva by:
found it on-line somwhere
Shelves:
b-non-fiction,
b-true-crime
I've read that some people feel this was written in a magazine article way and I have to disagree. I'm not sure if it was meant to insinuate that this would be a bad thing or not but either way I thought it was written just fine and not like a long article at all.
I think Reavill did pretty good job with the book overall, I learned a lot of things I had no idea about during the course of reading. I had never thought once about who cleans up these crime scenes and I especially never stopped to th...more
I think Reavill did pretty good job with the book overall, I learned a lot of things I had no idea about during the course of reading. I had never thought once about who cleans up these crime scenes and I especially never stopped to th...more
Curious about what goes on after a crime is comitted or a body has been found that's been there for days or even weeks? well then dive into the world of Aftermath Inc. The author wrote for Maxim (Yes I told you people i read it for the articles and not just the pictures!) doing several true crime pieces and this book is about his journey in working with the Aftermath Clean up crew. It basically takes you along to what all the crime shows don't show you with regards to the aftermath.
Not for the squeamish. Gil Reavill delves into the world of Aftermath Inc., a company that cleans up from crime scenes. Much of the content is highly disturbing, but the fact remains that someone has to do this work. Reavill not only recreates the time he spent working on jobs with Aftermath, but also explores our cultures fascination and rejection of death. Reavill sometimes goes off on tangents, but much of it is conducive to understanding Aftermath. Pretty fascinating read, if you can handle...more
Really interesting book about a company that cleans up crime scenes after the coroner has taken the body away and the crime scene techs are done. Who knew that the cleanup wasn't something routinely done by the cops or coroner's office? The book's one flaw is that it doesn't seem very focused - the author flies off on many different tangents not directly related to the main subject matter. However, any fan of crime non-fiction should enjoy the tangents.
I practically devoured this book. It's been a while since I had a book in front of me that made me willfully neglect other aspects of my life. So I give it four stars for that reason. That said, it's really not a four star book in terms of writing. The writing is good, but not amazing or anything. Still. A worthwhile read for folks with a weakness for true crime books and/or the crime scene cleanup business.
I have a habit of picking up stories such as these, that have short stories within, and I really enjoy them. I liked this book. It was like getting details on a crime scene that I wasn't supposed to have, things that aren't released to the public. It made it seem secretive. A different perspective on what happens when someone dies, in a literal sense. I would read this again.
I picked this up in the 1/2 off bin at Borders, and it was definitely only worth $2.99
Pretty gross, although there are some interesting facts, and the writer fawns over his heroes (the owners and workers at Aftermath, Inc, a "bioremediation" company).
All in all, as a dedicated CSI, Law & Order, NCIS (etc, etc) fan, I wish I'd waited to read "Mop Men" instead.
Pretty gross, although there are some interesting facts, and the writer fawns over his heroes (the owners and workers at Aftermath, Inc, a "bioremediation" company).
All in all, as a dedicated CSI, Law & Order, NCIS (etc, etc) fan, I wish I'd waited to read "Mop Men" instead.
I thought there might be more to this particular topic, and I am surprised they got an entire book out of it. Regardless, this is a good, quick, fascinating read. I suspect this subject would work better as a TV show, though. The author spends a lot of time building up tension before introducing his first case, which was indeed ghastly. Overall a worthwhile vacay read.
I really enjoyed this book. I always wondered who took care of crime scene clean up after the cops went home. Really made me think about a lot of different things and what happens when we physically die and our bodies decay. Really gross to think about sometimes but hey, that is me. :) I learned a lot and truth be told, would not mind doing this job.
Heard about this in a magazine article in Maxim.. I loved this book, I devoured it!!! Need to have a strong stomach to get through it, it isn't just about the crime scenes. It also talks about the emotional toll on the families who are trying to recover and regroup after the tragedies they endure.
The writing style in this book is very good. It's very descriptive and graphic, which makes you feel like you are right there on these jobs with the author and the teams. I had never thought about the clean up of crime scenes until I came across this book. I am glad I read this. It's insight to the dirty jobs no one wants to think about and all the preparation and precautions that must be taken.
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