Delightfully macabre and beautifully eerie, The Resurrectionist is a tale of crime and death and - perhaps most importantly - life in turn of the century Edenborough. 

James Willoughby is from a well-to-do family with dreams of studying surgery. He leaves behind his studies at Oxford and enrolls in one of the Scottish schools. All he needs is to procure a spot in one of the anatomy labs in the Surgeon's Square. When funds get tight, James finds himself making a grim deal with Aneurin MacKinnon, assistant to Dr. Malstrom and resurrectionist - a body snatcher who brings fresh life to the dead through scientific advancement in the field of medicine. 

What I loved most about this novel was the blend of fact and fiction and science. Dunlap draws on a string of sixteen real-life murders that took place in Edenborough in 1828 perpetrated by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures. Knox and his gang had a monopoly on the body trade during the period, putting them at odds with Malstrom's school. 

James truly comes into himself as the story progresses. We start off with someone timid and unsure of himself, but he is, nonetheless, determined and willing to fight for what he wants. Disturbed by the actions of Aneurin, he still choses to get his hands dirty and dive headfirst into the dark underbelly of academia. Despite himself, he also finds himself developing feelings for the body thief. Their romance is taboo, much like the services they provide, but sweet. 

A novel about the dead that is full of life. Despite its dark themes and atmosphere, the characters and their interactions frequently had me chuckling and smiling. I highly recommend The Resurrectionist to fans of historical fiction, true crime, and the morbid. 

Thank you to Kensington Publishing, A. Rae Dunlap, and Netgalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Kensington Publishing for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap is a historical fiction coming-of-age novel that intersects with one of history’s most sordid true crimes. Following James, a well-bred but ultimately destitute student at one of Edinburgh’s medical universities, fate propels him into making choices that take him to the dark side of early modern medicine—body snatching. Against this dark and somewhat macabre background is a love story. James becomes deeply entwined with the Aneurin, an anatomist. James is now forced to attempt two double lives at once—one where he hides his means of income, and one where he hides the truth of his relationship with the school’s anatomist.

I loved the work that the author did in setting the scene and in creating a sense of place and time. The details of things like clothing, furniture, and room descriptions were all really wonderful in putting the reader in to the time period. The language wasn’t perfectly dated, but the visual atmosphere more than made up for it.

I also really liked the romance between the main two characters. It has a really cute “what if we stopped beating around the bush and Holmes and Watson were explicitly queer” thing that was subversive and refreshing. There was also a genuine sense of attraction and chemistry between the key players, which made it easy to care about.

Where I think this book didn’t fully live up to its potential was showing the tenuous balance of James’ double life. We would get a few reassuring sentences about him going to university lectures or what have you, but almost 95% of the content talks about his hidden activities. I think that giving a little more interaction with Charlie or Hamish would have given more tension to the balancing act. The way it’s written makes it seem quite easy going and as if there isn’t any difficulty in trying to hide his employment.

Personally I really enjoyed this book a lot. I thought the love story was engaging and that the historical medical studies plot was also really interesting and well told. 4/5 stars!

(Trigger warnings: gore, cadavers, medical dissections, and descriptions of anatomical specimens.)

Gothic horrors are quite popular these days and this one with a little mystery twist should fit right into the taste of enjoyers of this very dark, very mystic sub genre. This historical horror fiction set in 19-th century Scotland is written in a very enjoyable way, one could read it in one sitting. What I personally found interesting was the world building and the overall atmosphere that fits perfectly into misty cold fall days.

<i>My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

James seems fated to be the disappointment of his whole family (look how he's introduced! look! it's🤌: <i>my father never had particularly high aspirations for me, so the fact that I was able to underwhelm him so completely was quite the accomplishment indeed</i>). A younger son, he's expected to go into the military, but is uniquely ill-suited for that career. The family comes up with an alternative option: the clergy. James manages to thwart even those expectations:

<blockquote><i>it quickly became clear to me that life in the Church could never suffice. As ill-suited as I was to be a leader, it was evident that I was a considerably worse follower, and uniquely repelled by both mundanity and tradition. Classics bored me, rhetoric confounded me, and the few Theology lectures I attended failed to ignite wonder.</i></blockquote>

He does have an intellectual passion though: medicine. Edinburgh is the place to be in the 1830s if you are really serious about having a front-row seat for the advancement of medical science and for learning through hands-on experience rather than rote memorization of outdated texts. So off to Edinburgh James scarpers, whereupon he discovers ever new and exciting ways to disappoint his family: digging up graves to procure specimen for the study of anatomy! disregarding the marriage plot that his family concocts for him! entering a relationship with his employer (who's both male and lower-class and Scottish--I'm not sure which point is more scandalous here)!

If you are into the history of body-snatching, chances are you will enjoy this. (This sordid episode in the history of science was my niche interest for about 15 minutes--to the point where I could see one plot twist in this novel coming because I remembered the victim's name--so I greatly enjoyed the grisly logistics of this trade, etc.) If you don't have residual fondness for the Burke and Hare debacle and don't enjoy verbose faux-archaic prose (which I love with a passion, but still found certain passages overwritten), then this might be not for you. It's somewhat hard to tell what the book's load-bearing structure was supposed to be, plot-wise. Is it a history novel about the murky borderlands between two eras and two regimes of knowledge, the weird combination of enlightenment and gothic horror? It seems to posit so: <i>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.</i> But ultimately, that doesn't seem to be the focus. Is it a Bildungsroman? While some of the trappings of the genre are there, James doesn't have any dilemmas and doubts and character growth. Is it a romance? The romantic subplot doesn't start until ~50% in, with little setup prior to that. Is it a murder mystery? Burke and Hare don't show up until ~70% in, and the investigation, such as it was, felt very rushed and perfunctory. I still enjoyed it because I have a morbid fascination with this story, but the pacing and structure did feel a bit odd.

The cover was first what really drew me in - I love health and anatomy. Once I read the blurb where it said it's about the dark world of medical schools, body snatchers, AND it's queer?!.. heck yes I was so in.

It's set in Scotland in the 1800s, which is very cool, albeit not a typical era I'm drawn towards. But as the romance blossomed and the story went on, I realized it really was the perfect setting for the book. I loved the romance, the coming of age journey and it was a lot funnier than I was expecting! Sometimes some plot lines didn't always connect, so it wasn't a full home run for me, but I do think this will be a book a lot of people enjoy!

Thank you Kensington Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was captivated by this right from the start. The prose is lovely; straightforward yet vividly descriptive. It felt a little like reading a classic, like a Holmes and Watson tale, but perhaps a little less stuffy.

This book has elements of both a thriller and horror, yet it somehow manages to feel almost cosy with injections of humour throughout. Or perhaps I’m as mad as the characters in this story.

James is a brilliant POV character. Watching everything unfold through his eyes, being inside his mind as his worldview started to shift, feeling the same thrill he felt while completing his work, was all-encompassing as a reader.

Nye is such an enigmatic colleague, friend, partner in crime and lover. He’s witty and charming and morally grey as heck. He’s utterly wonderful and I couldn’t help but fall for him alongside James.

I LOVED the mesh of history and fiction. Burke and Hare fascinate me, as does the evolution of medicine during the 19th century. Having all these nods to real history nestled amongst this fictional story was a real joy.

I highly recommend this if you’re interested in true crime, history, and/or historical gays.

loved this. it took me a while to read (thanks law school) but every time i picked it up i couldn’t put it down. the characters flew off the page. even though it was a quick read o was so invested in james, nye, and even smaller characters like malstrom, mary, and charlie. such an interesting subject for a book (grave robbers) and i just thought it was perfect. fantastic for the other three fans of the artful dodger tv show.

This book - a queer, anatomy-heavy romance about body snatchers in the time of Burke and Hare - was essentially created just for me. I LOVED the protagonists' earnest enthusiasm for science and its gruesome beauty, and their relationship was so fantastically written that I was literally kicking my feet and twirling my hair at parts.

I really hoped to love this book, and while I was able to enjoy it, it was a bit of a struggle. There are certainly things I enjoyed, so let’s focus on those, first. The whole concept is one I really appreciate; it is a fun piece of history to play with. By superimposing these two outsider identities, queerness and being a body snatcher, never mind the contrasts between the class and social status of the various characters, there is a great opportunity for commentary about how society works and what is expected of different individuals. I don’t think those opportunities are exploited as much as they could be, but the ideas are definitely floated about. Additionally, while there is a part of me that is frustrated by the nonchalance of the queer awakening in this story, I also appreciate it for that, as well. There is no self-torture or denial, there is never anything other than this feels right and so I am going to follow that instinct, and I appreciate that. I would have liked a little internal conversation, some sort of reckoning or acknowledgment, especially given how dangerous it was to be queer at that time, which is brought up later in the story, and that never really happens, which was disappointing. I don’t need hysterics and self-damnation, but it felt like we got little internal shift or recognition of something quite monumental. Still, I found myself appreciating how little drama this occupied in our character’s mind.

The characters were on the right path to me, but didn’t quite get there. They weren’t bland, but they did feel like they slipped into easy archetypes or expectations. Nothing they did really surprised me, I should say. I think if we had spent more time with his other friends, who we only get bits of here and there, we could have seen more sides of the characters and let them feel more lived-in and robust. Still, they didn’t bore me, and I think we did see a decent amount of character growth in James, even if the trajectory was expected.

I think what really made the book hard for me, though, was the writing and plotting. Now, the writing and plotting weren’t bad, but they just didn’t work for me. Firstly, I really didn’t like that the narrator broke the fourth wall to address the reader, and more than once. This immediately created a sense of artifice that I think harmed my investment, because it didn’t add anything or change the stakes in any useful way. But in addition to that narrative framing, the writing felt too eager for me, maybe a little twee, and because of that slightly tortured. For instance, there were words italicized in what felt like every paragraph, and I am sure it wasn’t that many, but it certainly felt that way. Both dialogue and narration, there were just italics running around all over the place and it made everything feel a little forced. Additionally, there were some language choices and turns of phrase that felt belabored. A few of that, sprinkled throughout, adds style and tone and I really appreciate it. Here it was just too much, too often. I do get the point, the whole story is from the point of view of a character who has a very specific upbringing and history and education, and he thinks in these kinds of florid, too-smart-for-his-own-good kind of turns of phrase. I like it when the writing style does some of the character-building work, but they were overly frequent enough to distract me.

I think part of my issue, to be fair, is that this story is far more YA than I had anticipated. The plot is very simple, and each obstacle comes up and then is mostly solved right away before moving on, with only minimal lingering effects. Even the deadly obstacle alluded to in the description is barely an important plot point, it is introduced very late in the story and solved readily. So, the plotting feels very much like it sets something up and then knocks it down, I didn’t feel anything lingering in any meaningful way throughout the whole book. Everything was tidy and convenient, which made it less interesting to me. The book actually borders on cozy, with very brief on-page violence near the end but otherwise nothing happens on the page in any titillating or violent ways, which just made everything feel really safe. For a story about a queer man—at a time when being queer could get you handed—who steals bodies from graves. I never really felt any danger in the story. The florid writing and sequential/episodic plotting combine with this to just feel far less complicated and messy and deeply intriguing than the premise and characters held the promise of being. Which, I think, is fine. Like I said, it feels like a YA, almost cozy exploration of a macabre topic. While the writing and plotting didn’t work for me, there was a clear style that might be exactly what others are looking for in this book. While I think everything could have been turned up a little—from character depth to more intricate plotting to introducing actual feelings of dread or danger, physical or emotional, that lasted more than a page before being resolved—and that would have made the book more appealing to me, there is a definite competency in the authorial voice and decisions.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Kensington Publishing, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae DunlapHistorical fiction | LGBTQIAP+ | Mystery/Thriller
5 STARS

While real-life serial killers Burke & Hare terrorize the streets of Edinburgh in the 19th century, a young medical student is lured into the illicit underworld of body snatching. 

You guys KNOW I love a medical drama, medical historical fiction, medical thriller, so I requested the advanced readers’ copy of this one SOFAST, and it did NOT disappoint!! The blurb is too perfect to not use here: “Exquisitely macabre and delightfully entertaining.” Also just love the cheeky banter books from this time period often have!
This book teaches us about true crime case of serial killers (Burke & Hare) in 19th century Scotland while we follow James, a medical student to Edinburgh for medical school. However, because James wishes to study on a human cadaver, he needs to enroll in a private surgical school as well.
While studying at Malstrom’s surgical school, he becomes involved with a group of body snatchers that call themselves The Resurrectionists. There are digs at night under the cover of darkness, tavern discussions over a pint about the time’s scientific progress, specifically medical, in the age of the New Enlightenment, and a sprinkle of romance (not smutty). 
TL; DR: Body snatchers have to lay low while a rival surgical school’s namesake tries to monopolize the local body-snatching industry. Exquisitely macabre and delightfully entertaining, indeed! 
HIGHLY recommend.

This is a historical fiction debut novel by A. Rae Dunlap. If you enjoy twisty gothic tales set in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1828, then this may be the book for you. It pulls from true crime of the period with some real people, including criminals, being featured in this fictional story of a dark period in Scottish history.

James Willoughby, as the third son of a landed gentry family, is too physically inept to join the military and abandons his studies at Oxford to pursue a dream of studying surgery in Edinburgh. The city’s university offers everything he desires except the change to work on a human cadaver. To do this, he must join a private school in Surgeon’s Square. Without the necessary funds, he strikes a deal with Aneurin (Nye) MacKinnon for half tuition in return for helping him without realizing that Nye is a body-snatcher. With rival gangs and unsavory characters mixing with pioneering medical procedures and the pursuit of science plus a forbidden love for the time-period, there’s a combination of fact and fiction.

James tends to have physical ineptitude, wants a sense of belonging, yearns for a purpose, and is a loyal friend. He’s also a driven student, somewhat innocent, and an advocate for justice. The other characters are well-defined.

Besides great characterization, the world-building was fantastic. From James’s room at the inn to the surgery center to scenes of gore and violence, it was easy to visualize. The blend of true crime and historical fiction had me researching this time-period to find out more about the true crime aspect of this story and the body-snatching business of the time. My biggest quibbles with the book were that I felt the writing style was somewhat formal and sometimes this resulted in more telling than showing. While many have classified this as a historical mystery, I didn’t get the feel that there was much of a mystery. It was more of a straight historical fiction novel to me. Other threads woven through the story include friendship, academic exploits, power, concepts of morality, class divisions, and treatment of women.

Overall, this was an entertaining story that had great characterization and was very atmospheric. The author’s note and the discussion questions are worth reading and thinking about them.

Kensington Publishing and A. Rae Dunlap provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for December 24, 2024.

This book was really fun and quite hilarious, which I wasn't expecting considering the contents of the novel. I do want to protect James like a baby brother and be best friends with Nye!

The whole book was fascinating tale of what body snatchers did along with the why and how. Before such things as body donations became common, there were such strict restrictions on whose bodies could be used for medical schools: prisoners, suicides, orphans, and foundlings. But the way body snatchers came about was that demand far outweighed supply.

Would I say the real-life serial killers did something good by opening politicians eyes to the idea that bodies were needed to advance science? Maybe. Obviously, murder is wrong and not supported on this book blog. However, the fact that Burke and Hare did help change laws was a good thing.

The hilarious parts was how blasé Nye was about the whole situation (including using James's trunk, affectionately nicknamed "The Beast," to transport a body), and how super naïve James was. At times, I was really just shaking my head and saying "oh honey" towards how naïve James was acting.

I do have to admit that it took a minute to get into the book. Since it was all James's first person point-of-view, there was large stretches and chunks of text that James described what was going on. Obviously, the beginning does point out that James is writing this account after everything happens, but it's still written as if it's in present tense. I was getting a bit too bogged down with how whiny and annoying James could be.

It definitely picks up once James figures out what's really going on with Nye's crew. Plus the romance between James and Nye is adorable and lovely and everything!

Who knew a book about body snatching could be so wholesome?

For once, we are burying everyone EXCEPT our gays.

"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."

We follow "Posh-Boy" James Willoughby as he leaves a cushy life at Oxford for the medical schools in Edinburgh, longing to become a surgeon and get as far away from his family as possible. When his financial position threatens his academic pursuits, he seeks out employment from the city's gruesome underbelly via dissectionist Aneurin "Nye" MacKinnon. Nye's ways intoxicate, challenge, and resurrect our dear James in areas he never could've expected.

James (read: Watson) provides an endearing perspective into the macabre world of New Enlightenment medicine. His passions for scientific advancement and moral defensibility work in tandem to redefine what it means to lead a life he can be proud of. Our dream boy that danced on the edge of manic pixie, Nye, is darkly entertaining and yet represents so much of the sweet vulnerability that bled into this story.

My main issue is that it needed another round of edits. The writing alternated from contrived wordiness reeking of thesaurus overuse to mind-numbing repetition. I cannot tell you how many times these characters "grin", and the excessive italics have already been called out in other reviews. These stylistic choices kept a good read from being a great one - but a good one all the same. As a true crime enthusiast, health care scholar, and 19th-century romance devotee, this was a delight.

Thank you to Kensington Publishing for the e-ARC.

I really struggled with this book, and only kept reading it till the end because of the queer theme. In the beginning, I found a strange disconnect between James's uncomplicated acceptance of his sexuality given the time the story is based in. But I changed my mind about this after reading the author's note at the end—queer people have always existed and not all their stories are about sexuality! So both the 2 stars are for this.

However, I did not enjoy that laboured writing. For instance, when every other sentence sounds like this:

<blockquote>The unexpected slide of frigid toes against my bare calf elicited an undignified squawk from me, and I thrashed about clumsily beneath the blankets, struggling to roll back over and confront their source.</blockquote>

it really mars the pacing. Not only that, the story was really, really slow, and the main action takes place in the last third or so. Even Hare and Burke, real historical characters, were introduced far too late in the story, given what a big role they had.

I wish I could have enjoyed this as much as other people have. What I did enjoy was the amount of research that must have gone into it. I will look out for the author's future books. Many thanks to NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

Set in 19th century Edinburgh, The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap is beautifully irreverent., gothic coming-of -age story. The story follows a young medical student as he falls head first into a dark and seedy underworld at the heart of the medical community, but comes to find it may not be so dark and seedy after all. Be prepared to be shocked and awed alongside our main man, readers are in for a wild ride.

The Resurrectionists is a coming of age, historical fiction about a man going to medical school in Edinburgh after college at Oxford. It reminded me of my bright eyed days as a young medical student in the cadaver lab. Every bit of that process helped solidify my understanding of anatomy and I found it completely fascinating. There is a similar fascination with the human body in this book. Although some parts were more believable than others, this is a damn good book! It gave me Frankenstein vibes with the crazy dissections and experiments. The writing feels like classic literature. As the story of James unfolds, he finds he is able to do more unethical things to secure his education in his calling of medicine. A lovely love story blooms in the midst of death and crime. This is based on a true story and I found it captivating! Do not read if you are squeamish about blood and guts.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced release copy in exchange for a honest review

Historical fiction at its debut finest! James, a posh former Oxford boy who arrives in Scotland eager to become a man of science. Edinburg has become the hotspot for scientific enlightenment and he is excited to learn the skills of a physician. Unfortunately, his new life and education are threatened when his family’s financial struggles are revealed. Desperate to earn some coin to continue paying his board and tuition, he stumbles upon the underground world of body snatching. Brought into a crew by a handsome dissection expert named Nye, he begins to learn the process of procuring cadavers for the various schools around town. But when new competition comes to town, all of their jobs— and possibly lives— are in danger.

*special thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for this e-arc.*

“I would recognize his face always, in any manifestation, in this life or any other. Always.”

Give me a historical book set in Scotland, and I’ll read it no questions asked.

What I liked:

The plot moved along quite quickly. It was an easy read that made me want to keep turning the pages.

The setting. I love me a book set in Scotland - especially a darker, dreary, historical fiction.

What didn’t work for me:

I wanted more character development. I didn’t get invested in any of these characters, and I feel like I would’ve if we had more development.

I loved everything about this!! I’ll admit that by the time I started reading, I had forgotten entirely what the synopsis said, so I was pleasantly surprised by everything.

The historical time period feels perfect in tone, dialogue, setting, etc. while also not feeling bogged down or forced in the slightest. It really is apparent that the author knows her stuff (to me, a person who is not especially knowledgeable about the ins and outs at least).

James is a delight and his naïveté and jocular manner at the start endeared me to him right away. The side characters are equally as lovable. The profession in which James finds himself forced into was fun to read about. I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like this and was very happy with how much I enjoyed it.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I don't think I've ever read a book like this. it truly kept me on the edge of my seat, and i couldn't stop reading. the story is so unique and so interesting. the characters are on the one hand relatable, and on the other hand so different. they are really well thought out, and i love that there is not a clear good guy, everyone is morally grey in this. I also enjoy the time this was set in, and while i say that, i do realize that the story also feels timeless at the same time. really good, i enjoyed it.

thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review.