📖Book Review📖

💀Today, I am bringing you guys a review/recommendation for a book I just finished.

🔪The Specimen🔪
‐‐‐‐‐ by Jaima Fixsen -----

🪦SYNOPSIS🪦
A haunting historical mystery perfect for readers of The London Seance Society and A History of Fear

Edinburgh, 1826. Isobel Tait does her best to raise her young son Thomas alone, but yellow fever has left him with a scarred heart. Even a specialist, the renowned Dr. Connall Burnett, can do nothing for him. Isobel decides to make the most the remaining time with her son.

Until he goes missing. A chance visit to Dr. Burnett's collection of specimens elicits a horrifying there, in a small jar among stuffed lizards and misshapen bones, is a new addition. A tiny human heart. The use of stolen bodies by Edinburgh's medical men is a controversial but open secret. But she can't shake a horrible suspicion that the doctor's a proxy killer obsessed with his quest for specimens.

Determined to find proof, Isobel goes undercover as a maid in Burnett's house and soon becomes the keeper of his specimens. She'll have to gather evidence, must protect his patients, and exact justice—and not get caught.

⚰️MY THOUGHTS⚰️
I LOVE Historical Fiction Murder Mysteries. While this book started out slow, it picked up, and I was wholly invested by the end.

Medical advancement, like many other advancements, ride on the back of some unscrupulous beginnings, but the whole stealing bodies or even killing people for bodies/to display their oddities is always interesting to me.

💬ⓆⓄⓉⒹ: How far would you go to avenge someone you love?

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A slow historical thrill of a ride, that I thoroughly enjoyed. This one builds as it goes, giving you time with the characters, inviting you in, making you care for them and about what will happen to them. I devoured this in a couple of days and think the ending was impeccably delivered. This is an engaging novel and I will happily read more from this author.

I listened to this as an audiobook and I have to say the narrator did a fantastic job. Sometimes I find my mind can wander if an audiobook isn’t quite hitting the spot, but this one held me captive from start to end. Bravo for a fantastic, gripping and heartfelt performance. I had a wonderful time and will thoroughly recommend.

An absolute delight! I loved not only the pacing of the story, but the telling of it as well. From start to end, I was given an adventure!

Although not in my typical genre, this book was surprisingly very good. I enjoyed the narrator's pacing and style, and the characters were well written and established within the story.

The Specimen is a slow historical thriller that follows a mother’s determination to find out what happened to her son after he goes missing and a medical exhibition soon after suspiciously obtains a heart with her son’s same defect.

I really enjoyed following the characters and interwoven stories within Jaima Fixsen’s novel. Isobel, Adam, and Nan all felt distinctive and I cared about what happened to them. The writing was engaging and even the fantastical elements felt realistic. I do wish this had been about 20% shorter though as I felt the middle dragged a bit. The ending was so satisfying though!

Highly recommend this via audiobook as the narrator does a great job bringing the characters to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

The Specimen is a historical fiction with a gothic feel that when I found out was based on real crimes, truly added a whole new layer to my feelings about this book.

Jaima Fixsen perfectly draws the reader in and once your in there is no putting this down. You have to know more and the main character Isobel is so perfectly written. She is a perfect main character and I challenge anyone to not be routing for her at every twist and turn through this mystery.

Overall the story combined some of my favourite genres rolled into one. If you love true crime, historical fiction and mystery then this is the book for you.

This historical gothic mystery was an excellent read and I am horrified to learn that it is based on true events. If you suspect or know of horrible wrongdoing by someone powerful and highly respected in society, how do you go about finding proof and ensuring justice is served? I did not read the synopsis prior and was initially unsure where the story was going but was shocked by the main event that happens so early in the book and it just kept getting better from there! I especially loved that the main character, Isobel Tait, is a strong intelligent female who wouldn’t stop at anything to uncover the truth. She is a force I would not want to mess with and I connected with her and empathized with her immediately. I felt her pain and frustration throughout and was rooting for her to come out on top. I don’t want to go into too much detail in an effort to avoid spoilers, but the way the events in this book unfolded, there were so many twists and I never knew what was going to happen next. I did listen to the audiobook and I loved the narrator’s accent and was engaged throughout. I will say that I felt the book was a little too long and there were a few parts in the middle that dragged a bit where it just felt like she was not making any progress in her endeavors. But overall, a dark, twisty, heartbreaking, wonderful story – I am really glad I read it and I would highly recommend to others, especially those who love gothic and historical fiction reads! Thank you to NetGalley, Jaima Fixsen, and RB Media for the gifted ALC in an exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this story, the premise was so interesting and everything felt well developed. Also, the narrator did a great job.

It didn't become a favorite, but I highly recommend.

🫀THE SPECIMEN🫀 by @byjaimafixsen was a perfectly atmospheric historical mystery based on actual historical crimes. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @recordedbooks for the audio-ARC.

🫁🫁🫁

In 1826 Edinburgh, Isobel Tait is barely making ends meet as a piano teacher and her son Thomas's heart murmur will surely incur more cash to see a doctor. A Dr. Burnette, well-respected and known to collect rare medical specimens sees her and Thomas and says the boy has a rare case and he will set up the appropriate appointments. Thomas is kidnapped days later from his elderly nanny's care and is never seen again. Devastated, Isobel tries to move forward when her friend takes her back to Dr. Burnette's curiosity displays as a way to get her out of the house. At the show, Isobel realizes the doctor has a brand new child's heart specimen and is determined to prove Burnette is responsible for the kidnapping and death of her Thomas.

The story includes discussions of the historical illegal body snatching trade (usually dead bodies but not always) that many medical doctors used as a way to research as well as for more nefarious purposes in this age.

This book has everything I want in my historical fiction:
🫀Based on actual historical events
🫁Strong female lead out of f*cks
🫀A mystery to solve
🫁Underdogs against the establishment

I had a great time following Isobel's journey into proving her son's murderer and enjoyed the historical references, the feminist agency undertones and Isobel's determination.

Based loosely on the true case of the Burke and Hare murders, this is the story of a man who terrorized the streets of Edinburgh... and the woman determined to stop him at any cost.

In Edinburgh, where the birth of so many great doctors and medical miracles, become a dark city filled with unsavory characters both posh and everyday.
In the 1800's grave robbing was almost seen as expected in order for doctors to learn how the human body worked. The cure for so many afflictions were aided by this awful practice.
But where does the line lay when acceptable becomes nafarious?

A woman must in danger herself to find her missing child.a child with a rare heart condition that will soon take him. What about the others who had some rare illness and disappeared?
Has grave robbing escalated to murder?What to do when all the powers that be decide to protect the culprit and the practice.
Fascinating story that is very well written. Hard to put down. Highly recommend.

Thanks @netgalley and RBMedia/ recorded books for the opportunity to listen to this arc audiobook in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Absolutely loved this bizarre and interesting mystery of a book. I had to listen to it twice because there was a lot here to absorb. Great narration and a fascinating book.

This is a strong work of historical fiction. While the plot is a little on the slower side, I never once felt like it lagged and never lost my interest. It was easy to stay invested in the uncovering of information and watch as the different threads slowly started to come together. The little hints of magical realism were also good additions, and the overall atmosphere was quite strong.

Part of what made this work so strong is the characters. The author did a really excellent job adding depth to all of them, even the secondary ones, and their development added much to the work. I loved how smoothly Adam’s background was incorporated in a way that was informative and believable. Isabel was a relatable and strong protagonist, and her portrayal made it that much easier to stay invested in the work.

If you enjoy historical fiction with darker themes, then you’ll likely enjoy this one. The narrator of this audiobook did an excellent job bringing all the characters to life and elevated the experience. My thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I absolutely loved this book! The last hour of the book had me on the edge of my seat and panicking. I've been in the mood for a really good gothic historical thriller and this really hit the spot! This book is based on true events which I found interesting since its hard to come by a truly amazing historical fiction that is also a thriller! I enjoy researching Victorian era murders so this was fantastic! I will continue to hype this book and I definitely plan on buying a physical copy as soon as possible!! I do also want to note that this book does go into detail about the human body i.e. organs, blood and mutations/medical disorders so it is not for the faint of heart. This is not a who did it type of thriller it is a omg what is going to happen next?! type of thriller. If you love thrillers, gothic/Victorian setting, and murder this is the book for you!

Walk carefully, lest you become a part of Dr. Burnett's collection…

1826. Isobel Tait finds herself, by chance, staring at a tiny human heart floating in a jar. It should be of little consequence; Dr. Burnett is renowned for his collection of oddities and medical specimens, and this, a juvenile heart with a damaged mitral valve, is not the strangest thing on display. Except that the condition is rare, and that Isobel's young son, who has been missing for months, suffered from the ailment.

A phantom pulse beats in Isobel's ears. She knows something here isn't right.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book. The characters were well developed and the plot moved quickly and well. I did find it hard at times to keep the characters straight since some of them had similar names. So that took some getting used to. I enjoyed the bit of magical aspects in the book, but not anything that didn't make much sense. Overall, a good, fast read.

I liked the narrator. I felt like she really brought the book alive and did a great job of doing different voices for the various characters.

4.5

I enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator was perfect for the main character and she gave each character their own voice. I love the accent as it was perfect for the time and place.
I also enjoyed the story. Although I felt it stretched a bit too long, I loved seeing it reach a conclusion that included justice. This book is said to be based on aspects of things going on during that time. I found it rather educational.
I also loved the Poe-like addition of the son's heartbeat.

I've been in a slight reading slump lately. I remembered I'd been approved for this on NetGalley, and I thought I'd give it a chance. I went in totally blind; I just liked the cover. I was pleased to find a gloomy, engaging, rich thriller. The overall eerie feeling of the book was oddly cozy and made this a real page-turner. It was slow but never felt like it dragged. I could easily see this making a great limited series.

The Specimen by Jaima Fixsen
4.5 ⭐️

Thanks, @netgalley for the audiobook. My honest review:

The sinister story of Doctors buying corpses for medical teachings and the mother and detective determined to find justice.

I didn’t know about Edinburgh’s Resurrection Men and this was an absolute delight! It was sad and creepy and had me entertained the whole time.

Historical fiction mixed with thriller and sprinkled with magical realism.

I honestly think this book would be a great physical read, but the narrator was really good and brought real emotions to the story.

first, I'm always down when it comes to a fiction with real life events, in this case it's historical from the 19th century. The setting is perfect (Edinburgh) for a spooky/gothic/horror story. Reading it in autumn is a great way for setting an ambiance and getting cosy with a good tea and a blanket.

thank you net galley for the copy

Set during the height of medical curiosity and body stealing in 1820s Edinburgh, a mother sets out to find her missing son whom she believes has been kidnapped and murdered for the purpose of "collecting" his damaged heart. She discovers that many other people with "interesting" deformities are going missing, too.

I enjoyed Anatomy by Dana Schwartz, and this has similar vibes. It is mystery mixed with fantasy and horror. We also meet the Ribbonmen, an Irish secret society, and get a taste of the politics of that time.

Isabel's quest to bring her son's killers to justice is inspiring and heartbreaking. And I thought the story of investigator Adam Kair and his background was interesting. I love historical fiction and this book did not disappoint. The audiobook narrator did an excellent job voicing all of the characters. I listened at normal speed so that I could understand the accents!