Part memoir, part nonfiction, part tangential true-crime, Personal Effects is a stunning and mournful look at the detritus of a death: the keys, receipts, watches, and jewelry we leave behind, and how these artifacts can illuminate what happened. Robert Jensen, the owner of the largest disaster management company in the world, has masterfully woven his experiences with tragedy and its aftereffects into a moving portrait of a life spent on the trail of disaster.

I really enjoyed reading the Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living by Robert A. Jensen because as the subtitle suggests there is great care and empathy when dealing with tragic moments. In a society where people want the answers in an instant, Jensen really describes why there is a need for patience in tragic circumstances, whether it is a terrorist bombing, a condo complex simply collapsing in the middle of the night, or a one person car fatality.

There are few words to use in describing during these investigations that need to take place and the process in returning the deceased's belongings. Jensen was able to describe that tragedies are universal in that people grieve in many different manner and the great ethical care that must be applied to maintain consistency for every single person in the tragedy. It is a evident that that Jensen is a professional and wrote this book in a direct and yet careful manner so that others in his field can avoid missteps that he has witnessed and really translate the recovery process for people that have or will experience a traumatic loss.

***Many thanks to #Netgalley for the free digital ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.***

This is a story about learning about the living by caring for the dead.

This was an excellent, heartbreaking book. I cried a lot, and I think the capacity to spark that much emotion is the hallmark of something excellent. The author’s experiences caring for the dead in a respectful and compassionate manner have left him able to speak to the human condition in such a unique way, and the writing is never dry. I’ll recommend this all around!

Thank you so much Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for this eArc!

This was a deeply interesting book, written with great respect and insight.
It was written with grace and frankness.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

I received a free electronic ARC of this memoir from Netgalley, Robert A. Jensen, and St. Martin's Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Personal Effects of y own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. This is a book I encourage friends and family to read. The sub-title says it all - What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living.

I guess thinking about the logistics of sorting out mass disasters is something I never really wanted to consider. What an enormous responsibility! Robert Jensen's first exposure to the many facets of death was during his time serving as a young man he was a police officer in California, as a serviceman in the Mortuary Affairs Unit in Bosnia after their four years war, and Haiti after their wars, but his first exposure to large scale, politically hot catastrophe in the United States was the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Thereafter, even as a civilian, he played a lifetime's part in the hot spots around d the world, from earthquakes to hurricanes to the war dead and those slain as the result of political rebellions. If we read about it in the news, chances are he was there, taking care of the dead. Jensen's experiences, as horrific as they were, offer a much-appreciated guideline to the proper process of finding out the answers for the questions of the survivors of the dead.

In this world we live in today, this is something we should get right.

Mass fatalities, whether the cause is natural, accidental or intentional, require more than investigation. Someone needs to deal with both what remains and the families of those lost. That's what Robert Jensen's company does. It's complicated and exacting. It entails the physical aspects of recovery and identification of the victims and belongings, , the people skills to work with governments and companies, and tact and empathy while assisting survivors. Jensen's skills at organization are apparent in his writing and the structure of his book. He describes the varied aspects of the work clearly and with examples. His personality and his commitment to giving the victims and their family members respect is welcome.

I thought about this book after the Champlain Towers South condo collapse and found the book had given me greater empathy for all involved. Thanks you, Robert Jensen.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the victims of a disaster and all of their belongings? Who handles the logistics during the aftermath of a mass casualty event? Robert Jensen is an expert on recovery. His job is to recover and ID victims and make sure their possessions are returned to their families. He acts as a go between for the victim’s families and the government or companies involved.

I find this subject matter incredibly fascinating. I am a worse case scenario kind of person. A “why not me?”, as opposed to a “why me?”, if that makes sense. Learning about the process that occurs after a disaster, such as a plane crash, gives me a kind of comfort. Knowing there are people like Jensen who care deeply about the victims, treat them with the utmost respect, and help alleviate the suffering of those left behind, calms me in a way. While this book deals with difficult subject matter, there is not a lot of gore and the morbid details are never overdone or dwelled upon. Jensen’s devotion to his work and deep respect for human life is abundantly clear.

I must say that this book really reads more autobiographical than a forensic study. This isn’t a critique, just wanting to forewarn readers. The book is a bit choppy and repetitive at times. A lot of it also reads like promotional material, which I can appreciate because Jensen is discussing his job, but it felt overdone in my opinion

What an intriguing toping for a book. Disasters happen. We've all seen them play out on live TV, and a smaller number have unfortunately experienced disaster firsthand. But HOW countries, states, cities, and companies manage disasters is an expansive blank space for most of us. SO I was very excited to read this book, written by Robert A Jenson, one of the only people with the life experiences to be its author.

Jenson heads the world's largest disaster management company, and he's responded to almost every significant global disaster for decades. I'm sure his colleagues, friends, and publishers have encouraged him to write his story. It is worthy of telling.

BUT, and this is a big but...

Jenson needed a ghostwriter to help him tell his tale. He's excellent at disasters but not so much at organizing his story. A professional writer could have done so much to improve the readability of this book.

Personal Effects reads like a massive collection of randomly strung-together anecdotes. The content is there, but it's all over the place. I believe Jenson tried to put together a coherent story, as his chapter titles suggest, but I never felt a cohesive narrative.

I can't give this book higher than three stars because of its poor organization. Personal Effects is closer to a first draft or even notes used to pull together a complete story. My brain tried to do this as I read, but ultimately it was just a mish-mash of information going nowhere. It was interesting information, just not a book.

I was completely fascinated and engrossed in this book. I anything about forensics. I'm not sure how I fell in love with this topic, but I read, watch, and listen to whatever I can find on this topic.

I was surprised at the number of incidents this author had worked on throughout the world. He and his team from Kenya (located in Houston) drop whatever they are doing when a call comes in because of a disaster.

I have never thought about the different components which take place following a disaster (airplane crashes, fires, hurricanes, etc.) We see the devastation on TV or read about it online, but after the initial coverage, most people do not think of the impact these situations have on the survivors and familiy members. Jensen goes into detail about how the bodies, the family, and the company, government or business is managed. I was surprised to learn the amount of care the Kenya company go to in order to help the families begin to grasp their new normal.

This book will not be for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

Rating: 2.5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have to say, I found this book fairly underwhelming. The stories were definitely interesting, shocking, and impactful however the delivery was extremely choppy. I think this book could benefit from more organization, a different timeline and much better flow.

Jensen writes about his experience in his career dealing with the aftermath of mass casualty events, generally retrieving the bodies of the deceased or helping to identify bodies to return them to their families and provide closure. It was interesting to read about his work and the outlook on life he's developed because of it. I think the concept I found most interesting in the book, was Jensen's point that we tend to be prepared for the last disaster and not for the disaster that is on the horizon. It felt like a really important idea in this time.

There was a chapter on covid, since it would be difficult to have a book about dealing with that aftermath of mass casualty events without discussion of the current mass casualty event. It did feel a lot more unfocused than the rest of the book, but I think that's due to still being in the middle of covid, so it's lacking the clarity of hindsight.

Personal Effects by Robert A. Jensen provides a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at catastrophes and the necessary work completed for the dead and their families. Jensen has spent three decades recovering the dead and their personal effects in disasters, from plane crashes to earthquakes. The author owns the world’s leading disaster management company and has worked for the federal government in this capacity. Jensen gives his honest accounts and experiences working behind the scenes to help in the face of calamity and confusion. His writing sometimes seem detached, but it seems compartmentalization would be absolutely necessary in his job. He takes us through a variety of tragedies and I learned so much from this book.

In addition to grueling work and stress of recovering bodies and being a contact point for grieving families, he may have to deal with political ramifications, governments, airline and insurance companies, etc. One thing I found striking was the privilege associated with some victims vs. others. This was especially apparent with the treatment of Haitians vs. ambassadors during the devastating Haiti earthquake of 2010. I really appreciate the care and dignity he and people like him show victims. I listened to the audiobook which was well-narrated by Adam Barr and fit the tone of the book.

Thank you St. Martin's Press / Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC.

The topics covered were quite interesting. However, the repetition and self praise was a turn off to this reader.

When death comes, as it will for all of us, who will speak for us to those we leave behind? Who will find all of our pieces, the contents of our pockets, luggage, homes? Who will work to return our mortal remains to those who grieve our passing and so deeply need answers to so many whys that haunt them. Robert A. Jensen has been the man to find the answers, the pieces and has been doing it for many decades. From natural disasters like Katrina, to manmade horrors of domestic terrorism like the Federal building bombing in Oklahoma City, he is the man who speaks for the dead, who tries to keep their dignity intact while people gawk from the sidelines and flashbulbs light the scene. He is the one to gather the pieces and return them to their families and to give them whatever comfort he can to help them face this loss and to feel less lost themselves.
On the face of it this sounds like a very dark book and yes, it is that. At the same time the compassion he brings to his job shines through. He has seen it all starting as a young man working the Oklahoma City bombing as the Commander of the US Army's 54th Quartermaster Company - the main Mortuary Affairs Unit and facing the monumental task of safely recovering all of the remains and not have the members of his team come to harm themselves as the tattered building threatened to collapse on them.
I have to say this is a powerful book that may need to be read by most readers one chapter at a time with a break between each chapter. It is a lot to process but it is a story that is beautifully told, a story that needs to be told. I came away from reading the last page with new knowledge and admiration of Robert A. Jensen and the career he has embraced. This was an amazing book and I'm very glad St. Martin's granted my request for the ARC.
My thanks to the publisher St. Martin's and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

We will all die one day. We all grieve differently for those we miss and those left behind. In his brilliant and thoughtful book, Robert Jensen explains his job of caring for the dead and the living. He owns a world-leading disaster management company which means he is tasked with the grim job of searching for an identifying bodies in natural and manmade disasters, murders, accidents, mass graves and suspicious deaths. He has literally investigated every single major disaster in the last thirty years! This book is about personal objects the dead have left behind such as passport pictures, journals and wedding rings. But they leave behind much more than that to family. Jensen deals with that subject frankly but with much care. As he has been so involved, he knows human nature. He himself was involved in a serious accident and observed reactions. His insight is incredible!

The information is astonishing including the woman with two different shoes, where to store bodies, the importance of religion and culture in death, how crucial it is to find and identify every bit of human tissue possible (more reasons than I knew), people who kill pilots on airplanes which causes death upon impact, New Orleans disasters where bodies were found in deep mud and on beds, mass graves, body farms and the importance of NOT relying on visual identification of bodies.

The author describes the importance of treating bodies with dignity, respect and with an identity. He is meticulously careful when describing to survivors what has happened to those killed. He covers media sensationalism and legal issues and the critical need for better planning for disasters.

Though a morbid topic in ways, it is one which had me asking myself many questions on how disasters and bodies are dealt with. The sheer amount of knowledge is mind blowing and extremely riveting. Jensen's anecdotes, compassion, experiences and advice show he is definitely the one for this job. But he must compartmentalize and remove himself.

This book is not for everyone. You will read many graphic details. I took breaks from the book to read other lighters ones in between as the topic is so heavy. But it is unmissable for those who are scientifically/medically minded or the curious. What I learned makes me smarter! How wonderful that so many questions I had were answered and yet now I thirst for more answers to questions I did not realize I had!

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this incomparable and thought-provoking book!

Robert A. Jensen's Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me about Caring for the Living is a fascinating read. Jensen runs the world's largest disaster recovery business, which contracts with corporations, nations, and NGOs to do recovery of human remains after disasters, provide communications with survivors, and advise on disaster prevention. Jensen's company has worked on hurricane recovery, airline disasters, mass burials resulting from political conflicts, and in the aftermath of terrorism.

Jensen contextualizes the book by emphasizing the importance of respect and communication, which offers a series of excellent lessons in helping others through the most difficult times of their lives. His prose style is conversational. He's a man you want to sit down with over a beer or a cup of tea and talk with for hours at a time. Jensen's book offers a broad overview—as opposed to, say, Eliot Behar's Tell It to the World: International Justice and the Secret Campaign to Hide Mass Murder in Kosovo Tell It to the World International Justice and the Secret Campaign to Hide Mass Murder in Kosovo by Eliott Behar that offers a very specific account of the Hague investigations and prosecutions of the genocides in the Balkans.

If you're at all interested in the process of disaster recovery—and the ways it can (or can't) be done effectively and respectfully—I strongly recommend checking out Personal Effects.

Personal Effects
by Robert A. Jensen
Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
St. Martin's Press

Personal Effects began with so much promise for me but quickly became just a collection of antidotes that needed more organization. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book because it just needs so much more editing.
Thanks to St.Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.

3 star

While dealing entirely with mass casualty events, most incredibly violent, this book isn't gory or grotesques. Instead, the overwhelming feeling it left me with was gratitude for the vast and often extraordinarily expensive measures taken by the author and his team to treat human remains with dignity and to deliver them to their living relatives, in whichever way the relatives find most appropriate. Yes, it's a bit repetitive, but I think it's important that the author continues to stress throughout the book the importance of understanding cultural norms and personal preferences of the grieving. Unfortunately, the author is not a particularly gifted writer - the prose is workmanlike but never particularly great, which is the reason I took off a star.

Personal Effects is a remarkable book filled with stories along with statistics. Robert Jensen has the most interesting life along with the most interesting career. His office is disaster sites as he works with the dead, people who have died in many types of disasters; airplane crash, boats overturned and huge disasters like the 9/11 towers along with so many more and all around the world. It's a fascinating story with tons of information. Thank you #NetGalley#StMartinsPress#PersonalEffects

Parts were interesting but this what not what I expected from the description. It was more biographical than forensic study.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.