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A Life in Death

Richard Venables,

Kris Hollington

3.92 · Rating details · 157 ratings · 14 reviews

WINNER - PEOPLE'S BOOK PRIZE 2017

“Fascinating. Highly recommended.”
For the Love of Books blog

“I was so absorbed by this book and found it such an easy read that I knocked it over in two days. Venables does a magnificent job of hitting the appropriate tone with a difficult and somewhat unpalatable topic.”
The Bookshelf Gargoyle

“I absolutely loved this book, it is a f ...more

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Kindle Edition, 262 pages

Published May 18th 2016 by Thistle Publishing

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Jun 17, 2017 Bruce Gargoyle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-reviews, body-parts, cemeteries-and-graveyardds, creepy, death-and-dying, detectives, grief, hard-decisions, history, loss

I received a copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley for review.

Ten Second Synopsis:
The author recounts his life's work in Disaster Victim Identification in the UK and abroad and the ways in which the recovery and identification of victims of man-made and natural disasters has evolved in response to lessons learned.

A Life in Death deals with a specific subset of post-death work; Disaster Victim Identification, or the recovery and reunification of a deceased victim of a natural or hum I received a copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley for review.

Ten Second Synopsis:
The author recounts his life's work in Disaster Victim Identification in the UK and abroad and the ways in which the recovery and identification of victims of man-made and natural disasters has evolved in response to lessons learned.

A Life in Death deals with a specific subset of post-death work; Disaster Victim Identification, or the recovery and reunification of a deceased victim of a natural or human-caused disaster with the victim's next of kin.

As well as being an accessible and fascinating read, A Life in Death is, sadly, a particularly timely piece of work. Reading this, as I did, just a day after the terribly tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London and a mere few weeks after terrorist incidents in Manchester and London, really brought home the importance of the work that Venables and his ilk complete, off-putting though it may be to think about. In this tome, retired DI Richard Venables recounts his work in the police force in Disaster Victim Identification, from its early days in the 1980s, when those tasked with the recovery and identification of victims were often required to fly by the seat of their pants, so to speak, to the very recent past, by which time procedures had been created to ensure dignity for victims and their loved ones and the minimisation of mistaken identifications and psychological harm.

In case you should blithely stroll into this reading experience somehow unaware of what might lay within, this book graphically discusses corpses. And not just corpses - putrefecation, body parts separated from their owners, untimely and violent death, mass casualty events of the recent past, the raw grief of victims' families and the psychological scars that can come from working with death for a prolonged period. So there you are. You've been warned.

Having said that, it also deals with these topics in a respectful, non-gratuitous and dignified fashion. I appreciated the tone of the work, and much like Judy Melinek's excellent Working Stiff, being the memoir of a forensic pathologist up to and including the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, the honest approach of the book allows the reader to absorb the technical information, feel moved by the human aspect of the work, yet never feel overwhelmed by the tragic nature of the cases being discussed. Venables frequently notes the difficulties that people who work with death can experience psychologically and champions the importance of workplaces providing support and appropriate assistance. Throughout the book it is also interesting to note ways in which this need for support has been written in to professional procedure, to ensure that workers receive that which they need.

Some of the unique problems discussed throughout the book include the difficulties with securing a scene or scenes immediately after a mass casualty event and the specific problems faced by those - be they emergency service workers or innocent bystanders - who arrive on the scene first. You will be stunned, I'm sure, as I was, by the completely preventable causes of some of the incidents and the unimaginable horror that one person's error or negligence can create. Similarly, the book touches on the thoroughness of the victim identification process and why this can cause upset for families of victims, due to delays that prevent families from having the death of their loved one confirmed.

Venables does a magnificent job of hitting the appropriate tone with a difficult and somewhat unpalatable topic. While never resorting to outright humour or jollity, he nevertheless acknowledges the odd juxtapositions that occur within his line of work. That while he loves his work and wants desperately to learn, practice his skills and improve the practice of disaster victim identification generally, to accomplish this requires mutliple people to die in unexpected and violent fashion with some regularity, for instance. Similarly, he recounts a situation in which he believed that he was about to die a remarkably ironic death in a plane crash, thereby becoming one of the victims requiring recovery and identification that he had always worked with.

I was so absorbed by this book and found it such an easy read that I knocked it over in two days. Since I was reading it amid reports of the Grenfell Tower fire, it was a bit of a surreal experience, but by the end I took some comfort in the fact that at the very least, the families and friends of those people who lost their lives in what will no doubt turn out to be an easily preventable tragedy, can be assured that the identification of the victims will be carried out with professionalism, in a way that respects the dignity of each individual, in spite of the shocking manner of their deaths.

Clearly, this book won't be for everyone but if you have an interest in emergency response and the workings of the post-life industry in its various roles, you might consider giving this a go. ...more

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Jul 04, 2017 Ivory Castle rated it really liked it

Richard Venables was a naive 19 year old when he started in the UK police force. By retirement he had become a disaster response expert after dealing with a large number of fatalities from air and rail disasters in the UK as well as mass fatalities overseas. Thailand’s Tsunami in 2004 where 230,000 people were killed was the greatest challenge for Richard and his team.
He tells an amusing story where as a new recruit he learned an important lesson. Called to make a welfare check on an elderly wom Richard Venables was a naive 19 year old when he started in the UK police force. By retirement he had become a disaster response expert after dealing with a large number of fatalities from air and rail disasters in the UK as well as mass fatalities overseas. Thailand’s Tsunami in 2004 where 230,000 people were killed was the greatest challenge for Richard and his team.
He tells an amusing story where as a new recruit he learned an important lesson. Called to make a welfare check on an elderly woman not sighted for several days he forced entry to her home. Her body was located in the upstairs bedroom and as he checked for a pulse she screamed. The valuable lesson was that looks can be deceiving.
In the early days and for quite a while after officers were expected to deal with dead bodies and just get on with the job without any of the coping mechanisms now in place. At one stage he even found himself picking up body parts while his wife was in hospital giving birth to their first child.
In order to put procedures in place to deal with future events he drew on his vast experience with mass fatalities. Processes were then refined as any flaws arose. He also points out advantages and disadvantages of DNA and viewing body for identification purposes which I assume are still important and relevant.
His years in the job showed him that death could be powerful yet at times serene and of the overwhelming grief involved. Through his eyes you will discover the savagery of some humans due to insanity, the trauma of discovering victim’s especially murdered ones and finding some relief in common grief and bonding. I found it very touching how he treated the dead with respect and wanted to spare the living from further stress.
I was left with a 100 images in my mind after finishing this fascinating read. I was also stunned at the logistics involved in mass fatalities. The human body has always been of great interest to me so the detail wasnt too graphic for me.
A copy of the digital version of the proof edition was kindly provided by the publisher via Netgalley and this review is solely mine
...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Fox rated it liked it · review of another edition

Richard Venables have had a unique position in developing the disaster victim identification work in UK. He shares his experiences with graphic details. This would have been a solid 4-star book, but lack of proofreading was annoying at places and writers contradictory views on his own work. Venables states that a DVI officer should not get attached to the victims, but he himself does – to the degree of publishing list of names and family details of victims. Of course the book is an autobiography ...more

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May 12, 2020 Katia M. Davis rated it it was amazing

This is a highly readable memoir. It delves into the intricacies of disaster victim identification and response to mass events. The author has had a distinguished career, but aside from admitting to a need for control, there is not the arrogance that so often comes across in these types of memoirs. It's well written and absorbing. It has emotion and empathy while still being highly informative. This is well worth the read if you enjoy disaster investigation and police forensics. I couldn't put i ...more

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Feb 26, 2017 Lazy Cornish Cat rated it liked it

It is hard to review this book. It isn't your typical bedtime read but it was interesting and informative and I thought the subject matter was handled sensitively. It was shocking in places (the opening words of the book pull no punches) but it wasn't too in your face to be incredibly upsetting but written just so as to give you a behind the scenes look at something that probably doesn't occur to us when we hear of another tragedy on the evening news. ...more

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Feb 17, 2017 Heather E Petrie rated it really liked it

Fascinating insight

Really interesting book about the complex work of identifying remains following tragedies. I previously worked in bereavement support and breaking bad news by professional medical staff and it is very much about empathy. It was interesting to see the other side where Richard showed obvious respect to every victim but could not allow themselves to be consumed by the human stories while carrying out this work.

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Sep 11, 2018 M rated it it was amazing

Very good

Fascinating insight into the methods behind Disaster Victim Identification (DVI). Told from a personal perspective, this ended up being a much more informative and at points emotionally charged story than expected.

If you have any interest in crime fiction or non fiction, this is a must read.

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Feb 26, 2019 Studvet rated it liked it

Very interesting in parts and grips the attention with some of the well - known UK tragedies, but many parts semi - repetitive and pedestrian. Overall, well worth reading it to know what goes on in mass disasters.

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Jun 22, 2017 Heidi rated it it was ok

The book was ok. I was hoping for more of "him" in the book but it was a lot of data and background for me.

Received this book from NetGalley for my honest review. ...more

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Dec 27, 2018 kirstin mcdonald rated it it was amazing

Interesting Read

I enjoyed this book although I thought it ended a bit abruptly and I felt the author had more to say. A good read though on an interesting subject.

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Mar 19, 2019 Lucie Poxon rated it liked it

Interesting if a little repetitive

Interesting for my field of work but some typos and didn't feel as polished as it should as a published book. ...more

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Feb 12, 2017 Mark Jennings rated it really liked it

Enjoyable factual book, what this guy did for DVI was/is amazing.

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Feb 02, 2017 Snorki rated it liked it

Sounds like it should be a morbid read, but was in fact quite an interesting autobiography of a policemen who ended up as the UK expert on disaster victim identification, working on various air crashes and disasters over the years, including the tsunami in Thailand. Some of the book was a bit procedural, and some parts a bit repetitive, but it was an interesting look into a subject that is rarely discussed, yet very important.

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