Many thanks to Kensington Publishing for a complimentary eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

The Resurrectionist tells the story of James Willoughby, scion of a noble house fallen on hard times, who leaves the hallowed halls of Oxford to study medicine in Edinburgh, birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment. Plucky, determined, and good-natured, James finds himself in surprising company when he turns to body-snatching to help him afford the costs of private anatomy classes.

This book has it all: romance, intrigue, skullduggery, true-crime, historical fiction, dark academia, coming-of-age, you name it! I found this book enormously enjoyable to read, especially having recently travelled to Edinburgh and learned about the sordid tale of Burke and Hare. James is perhaps too good to be true -- he is so generally good-natured and of good character -- but his journey of personal development and realisation is something to which everyone can relate. I was transported back to Edinburgh through the descriptive prose and the tension was palpable as the stakes grew higher and higher! I am shocked to learn that this was Dunlap's debut novel because there is such confidence and maturity in the writing style. This would make a great read for a Hallowe'en book club.

4.5/5

This was a very enjoyable read, and I genuinely appreciate the author's efforts to fully immerse the reader into the atmosphere of the story. I found both main characters to be interesting and likeable, which was a pleasant surprise - to be honest, I was a bit scared I wouldn't like James at first.

I would have liked to get to know the other characters a bit more, but I understand that the length of the story is limited. It did disappoint me a bit to see how the only relevant female character was used as a plot device, specially given that (for obvious historical reasons) everyone else in this novel is a man.

However, I still am very pleased with this book. The descriptions, both of the spaces and the medical procedures, were so atmospheric you got immediately transported. I was rooting for the main couple from the beginning, and I really enjoyed how certain things didn't have to be explicit for the reader to understand. Overall, I really recommend this one!

It's hard to imagine that something can be both macabre and cute, but that's the best way I can describe The Resurrectionist. I picked it up for the promise of a dark and twisty gothic, only to be completely blindsided by the sweetest romance I've read all year.

The writing style matches and enhances the atmosphere of 19th-century Europe. Dunlap makes use of a broad vocabulary in a way that encourages you to love language. It’s decadent and flowery, but not burdened by unnecessary words.

The Resurrectionist is not marketed as the start of a series, but I hope with my whole heart that we see more from these characters. James and Nye are exquisite. They have a Sherlock and Watson vibe that could lend itself to their reappearance.

Note: I recently finished two non-fiction books that paired well with it: *Cabinet of Curiosities* by Aaron Mahnke and *Impossible Monsters* by Michael Taylor. Having read them helped me appreciate some of the historical references sprinkled throughout.

Thank you, A. Rae Dunlap, Kensington Publishing, and NetGalley for my advanced review copy. My opinions are my own.

The Resurrectionist is out December 24th, 2024

Plot - 5
Writing and Editing - 5
Character Development - 5
Personal Bias - 5
Final Score - 5

Thank you to the author,publishers and everyone else involved the privilege of reading this book in exchange for a honest review.
This book surprised me in more ways that one. Some good,mostly good some bad. None of the bad is really is more than preference in the end so it really won't impact the rating all that much.
First of all I did read the acknowledgments , I found it really interesting the author found out about this topic through a podcast and was immediately given muse by it. This lead to a very in my opinion strong sense of theme and vibes. I will say when looking for gay romance I normally look for gay guy writers . As a gay man I really am looking for that authenticity in the work, but I was truely enamored with the way the love interests are written. I saw in the acknowledgements that this book wasn't intended originally to be a romance but you could have fooled me. It was delightful. I tend to be a more stoic reader, more quiet unphased...but I was kicking my feet like a tween. It did leave me wanting more, where the intimacy was there it was so well done. I think it could have even been non fade to black and it would have retained its sweet earnestness. I really liked the depiction of friendship and family. I think.it could be quite healing to for those dealing with the pressure of a family that doesn't want them for who they are finding their place in the sun.
Now I will say this it was gross at times and I loved it for it. The story didn't hold back in my opinion on the horrific imagery but also stayed respectful of the people who were killed or bodies ansconded. Even with the horror it still felt hopeful.
It also felt very educational it inspired me to watch a couple videos on the real history of it all. It was really fun to learn some of those people in the story were real folks.
I will say I did find the pacing at times to be little off and there was a mild amount of repetitiveness of wordage. Which didn't really bother me personally but worth noting. Also personally spoiler ahead! I didn't like how a certain character became a cop. Just a personal opinion though. I will be adding a physical copy to my shelf for shore.

Oh my god I devoured this book. I finished it in a single day because I didn’t want to put it down. I didn’t think it was going to be bad or anything, but I still didn’t expect it to be as good as it was.

Thrillers and body horror stuff usually aren’t my thing, but there’s a perfect balance of it to really create the setting and immerse you in that world without it becoming too grotesque or unbearable. The writing was really good, I loved the characters, and I *really* loved the romance between James and Nye. It felt like a very realistic progression and managed to be this big interesting thing I was rooting for without distracting from the actual plot.

Hold onto your cravats! A. Rae Dunlap’s The Resurrectionist is a wild ride through the creepy history of 19th century medicine, with a pair of real life serial killers added into the mix.

James Willoughby, our loveable, anxious, naive protagonist dreaming of becoming a surgeon is forced to dive into the grimy world of body snatching to make ends meet. His ethics are questioned constantly, and it does make you ponder how far you’d be willing to go in the pursuit of knowledge.

Enter Aneurin MacKinnon, the mysterious dissectionist whose motives are as murky as the Thames after a storm. The banter between these two is highly entertaining, dripping with sarcasm and quips that will make you chuckle. Don’t be afraid of the MM romance angle, this is closed door and adds a beautiful layer to the story.

The portayal of this grim landscape is so vivid, you can almost smell the decay and I absolutely LOVED this book! The pacing, humour, and twists and turns will keep you engaged and hungrily reading into the night. The Resurrectionist is a brilliant dive into the darkness of medical history and the horrors committed by Burke and Hare - unhinged, unsettling and utterly unmissable.

Big big thank you to Net Galley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC

I really struggled with this book in the beginning, I almost put it down a few times but I ended up pushing through and started to enjoy it when things picked up. Recommend if you’re a fan of the gothic atmosphere!

4.5/ 5 stars
"we are members of the league of men who call ourselves not by the mantle of snatchers, but resurrectionists."

let's go back many years to a place where graves get robbed for the sake of learning medicine. that is where this story takes place.

when reading the summary of this book, I was intrigued. mostly due to the time in history when this book takes place. the book was easy to read and the plot was good to follow. while it may start a little slow, the pace picks up quite nicely later on. some characters could be given some personality, although the thought of using characters based on history-based stories made up for it.

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap is a fantastic debut, a historical true-crime adjacent story, with a beautiful love story running through the spine.

The book shines with authenticity - you can tell that the author did a great deal of research into the time period and the history that has inspired this story. The author's note goes into detail about what is real and what was embellished, but from page one, I felt transported to Edinburgh in the 19th century. The story moves along at a quick clip, and what I loved about it is that the romance is additive to an already compelling story. The romance adds depth, but the story itself is fully baked and very satisfying.

This is a great entry into the historical fiction space, and I think it will appeal to fans of many genres! Looking forward to reading more from the author!

5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC.

James Willoughby isn't the favored son in his upscale family. So, that generally means he is designated for a career in the military or the church. But James isn't cut out for either. His real ambition is a life of science and particularly medicine. The hotbed of medical research and education is in Edinburgh, Scotland. So, that's where he heads. He is able to get into one of the leading universities and also into a private school, where the real education came. But he has a problem. He's not getting sufficient funding from home. And even that meager funding comes to an abrupt end.

His only course of action is to take work as a body snatcher, otherwise known as a resurrectionist. The body snatchers are quick to point out that they are not grave robbers. Grave robbers open up graves and steal jewelry and other treasures. But the body snatchers are stealing the bodies to provide to the schools and researchers.

All goes well until a gang moves in and attempts to get a monopoly on the business. Their methods feature many techniques, including murder. James and his accomplices have to shut down the rivals.

My favorite part of this book was the historical information provided. The authors brings in real life personalities and events to tell the story. In addition to the historical knowledge imparted, the is also a ripping good story. The characters are well-developed. The plot is edgy. I highly recommend this book for readers of historical fiction.

The Resurrectionist follows James Willoughby and Aneurin MacKinnon as they raid through the graveyards of Edinburgh, snatching bodies for cash but also for science. It also references real life murderers Burke and Hare, and real-life victims Mary Paterson and Jamie Wilson. I'm not exactly sure I like the addition of these two seeing as they were real people who had their lives ended in a tragic manner but their depiction wasn't offensive and I hope the author did a ton of research before portraying them in the book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It started off kind of meh but switched up on me real fast. I like James and his snobby British attitude, I like his relationship with Nye and how they both complement each other and how endearing they are in every scene they're in.

I'm not sure I like the whole robbing graves part. I understand how cadavers are important to the development of medicine and I'm glad that eventually led to people being able to donate their bodies to science and all that. I just don't like the art of grave robbing as presented in this book. I don't think it's evil but I do feel it's a bit callous the way they dismiss the feelings of families who have had their loved ones corpses spirited away.

Nye, a character who acts unbothered about the bodies he's snatching, loses his shit the minute someone he loves falls victim to this sort of scheme, albeit in a wholly sinister way. He doesn't see his friend's corpse as something to be dissected, to help unravel medical secrets. He sees it as a loved one who was brutally taken from him and sold for a few measly pounds. I wish the author would have used this moment to have a nuanced conversation around body snatching but no, it's never remarked on again.

Don't get me wrong, I still like the book and if there's a sequel, I'm all over it.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy.

This was such an interesting an unusual book! Based on true events, the author tells the story of James Willoughby, a young English aristocrat who moves to Edinburgh in 1828 to study medicine. He soon learns that a key part of his medical education will require him to pay to enroll in one of the many private schools that have sprung up to enable students to work on human cadavers. This leads him to join a group of "Resurrectionists"--people who steal bodies so they can use them as anatomical specimen. James and his fellow Resurrectionists soon run afoul of the real life serial killers Burke and Hare, leading to a dramatic finale.

The author did a masterful job of combining truth and fiction to tell the story of this fascinating period in medical education. The fictional characters were well drawn and made for a very exciting story as we followed their somewhat unsavory methods to advance their knowledge. Definitely recommend for anyone interested in medical history or historical fiction in general.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was set in one of my favorite gothic niches: Scottish grave robbing. My reaction upon receiving this book was pure excitement, and I was not disappointed. This book kept a fast pace throughout that allowed it to be continuously engaging. I had a lot of fun reading this, and will 100% remember it for a while. Anatomy: A love story by Dana Schwartz was one of my favorite books in 2023, and this book had the same urgency and fun energy that made me love that one as much as I did. Overall, really enjoyable and impressive debut.

4.5 ☆

What a stunning debut! The writing was incredibly immersive and so beautiful that I was immediately drawn in. I loved the way the author took the real life events surrounding the Burke and Hare killings and included their own fictional elements while still staying true to the goings on of the time.

Maybe it’s my love of science and true crime that caused it, but I couldn’t help but support them excavating these bodies in the name of research. Aneurin, who is the assistant of the famous Dr. Malstrom, painted such an exquisite picture to make one not view these body snatchings as crimes, but as a way to revolutionize the medical field, the effects trickling down to other aspects of life.

The romance between James and Aneurin was so cute! It didn’t take away from the mystery at all; but was rather just another thing to love about the story! Aneurin, along with his band of body snatchers, greatly contributed to James’s character development and I loved seeing him come into himself.

I’m finding historical fiction to be a genre I enjoy and I can’t wait for more people to read this! If you like gothic writing, macabre settings, hilariously dramatic characters with a little romance, then this is definitely the book for you. Dunlap definitely outdid herself and I’m excited to see what else she delivers in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington publishing for this arc in exchange for a review!

⤷ <b>Fave quotes/lines:

• ’Yet I must insist that in the end, this is not a story about Death. It is perhaps a Life story, or even--yes--a Love story. It is the story of how I clawed my way from the decay of a crumbling legacy into the modern era of Reason and Science. It is the story of how I escaped the prison of archaic superstition to the freedom of enlightenment. It is the story of how a rose can blossom from even the bloodiest soil, of how light can grow from shadow, how love can grow from despair.’

• Aneurin’s eyes raked across my face, and I had the uncomfortable sensation of being dissected without so much as a single incision. At long last, he responded. “I can’t tell whether you’re stupider than you seem, more naive than I’d come to believe, or so intentionally obtuse as to be a rare and volatile combination of the two.”

• “You came to Edinburgh because you were looking for the face of God and couldn’t find it in your Bible. Don’t cast blame on me if His true appearance is not the one of beatific serenity you’d been deceived into believing. This is the face of Progress, James. Don’t you dare look away.”

• ’How could anything be unnatural when our coupling felt as easy as breathing air? How could the life I’d found with Nye be anything other than a benediction, full of grace? How could Nye ever be less than everything?’

I don't usually read historical fiction, but the concept of gay grave robbing just wasn't something I could pass up. Based on the true tales of the Resurrectionist activity in Edinburgh during the early 19th century, this book is full of grotesque descriptions of early anatomists, harrowing capers trough graveyards, and a charming measure of stolen glances and forbidden longing. I was delighted by the unexpected madcap humor sprinkled throughout, it added a much needed balance to the absurdity of the plot.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced digital copy.

Firstly, thank you so much to A. Rae Dunlap, Kensington Publishing, and NetGalley for providing this free eARC of The Resurrectionist in exchange for an honest review.

Dunlap's The Resurrectionist follows high-class James Willoughby and mysterious dissections Nye MacKinnon as they gain surgical experience under some somewhat sketchy circumstances. The circumstances being body snatching--which is oddly enough in a legal grey area as long as no physical items of the deceased are stolen along with the body. Though this book is a work of fiction, our sweet body snatchers will eventually find themselves head to head with some real world threats that were around back in the 1800s when this story takes place. Making an appearance are body snatchers (and creators) William Burke and William Hare, known for a series of sixteen murders committed in quick succession in real-world Edinburgh.

What amazes me is how smoothly Dunlap meshed the worlds of fact and fiction together. While I am always excited to read a fictional macabre story, true crime is one of my favorite genres when it comes to non fiction books. Most of the story follows our main characters as they come to terms with life, love, and death, and also touched upon many other topics such as social class, society, queerness in 19th century Europe, There was a lot packed in to a relatively simple story, which makes this a book for those interested in an abundance of topics--not just body snatching and murder. The characters were loved, and Dunlap made sure to give everyone their own motivations that pushed the plot forward in a way that makes sense. Overall, I really liked this book and would recommend it to others!

“The Resurrectionist,” by A. Rae Dunlap

I loved loved loved everything about this book. 19th century medical student becoming a bodysnatcher was so interesting and a standout story plot. I loved the characters and how one was stuck up a little and trying to see the world through his new friends’ eyes but not giving up his life and dream of being a doctor in the prestigious world, and the other was a street kid who found a career in the medical field even if it is doing things others look down on. The M/M relationship was so perfect, and I saw how opposites attracted and how they complimented each other’s bad and good personality traits. I loved the world and scenery being sort of gross but also really cool at the same time. I could not put this book down, and it will definitely be a book I reread many times. 5 out of 5 stars.

-M/M
-19th century
-Medical Students
-Body Snatchers

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

This was a slow read. It took a while for the storyline to get really good, so I picked this up and put it down a few times over a month. The spooky horror of the character's education was wild, and the last 1/3 or so of the book took a turn I didn't see coming.

I loved the LGBTQ+ storyline, the nods to actual historical events and the fact I couldn't read this in the dark because I am a giant chicken.

After reading a quarter of The Resurrectionist, even though I knew it had to appear at some point because of the synopsis, I couldn't see how a love story could emerge in such an eclectic Edinburgh setting where scientific aspects of the human body were highlighted along with the afterlife of those who have passed away. Everything started so timidly, but I was happy to see that young James had no preconceived ideas and did not curb his desires for fear of society's judgment. He took a step forward and realized that it was more important to live up to his own standards instead of doing what would be acceptable from the standpoint of the public opinion in the 1800s.

I must admit that at the moment of discovering what was to become James's future hobby, I had the same opinion as him regarding this activity, but Aneurin manages throughout the book to be the voice of reason and to convince through logical and infallible arguments how appearances are deceiving and how some actions can be interpreted wrongly when the background context is not known. This is also one of the reasons why Aneurin is and will always be one of my favorite characters who made his way with the precision of a scalpel into one of the four chambers of my heart.

The language used throughout the book is a refined, exquisite one, an interpenetration of some archaic terms, with specialized terms from the medical field (as expected) and with expressions rarely found in the usual vocabulary found in other books.

In addition, I appreciated the author's help from the beginning regarding the pronunciation of Aneurin's name. If it wasn't for this aid, I probably would have pronounced it wrong until the end.

A. Rae Dunlap successfully managed to weave elements of historical fiction and true crime to create The Resurrectionist and I must warn you, this book is not for the faint of heart, so proceed with caution.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am an absolute sucker for dark academia, and this was no exception. From the moment I read the first paragraph, I knew I was going to be hooked. I absolutely adore James and Nye, and Dunlap's decision to blend their story with the true crime of Burke and Hare was magnificent. I can't wait until this book is published so that I can have this baby on my shelves.