The Embalmer by Alison Belsham

The Embalmer: A gripping new thriller from the international bestseller by Alison Belsham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 416

Publisher - Orion Trapeze

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

Has the ancient Egyptian cult of immortality resurfaced in Brighton?

When a freshly-mummified body is discovered at the Brighton Museum of Natural History, Detective Francis Sullivan is at a loss to identify the desiccated woman. But as Egyptian burial jars of body parts with cryptic messages attached start appearing, he realises he has a serial killer on his hands. Revenge, obsession and an ancient religion form a potent mix, unleashing a wave of terror throughout the city. Caught in a race against time while battling his own demons, Francis must fight to uncover the true identity of the Embalmer before it's too late...


My Review

Guys this is not for the faint hearted, from the opening chapters it is graphic, brutal, we know what embalming is and we get an insight into what the killer does to his victims. He isn't called the embalmer for nothing and soon a body, mummified, turns up and the police investigate, hello Detective Francis Sullivan. If you have read the previous books in the series you will be familiar with Francis and Marnie - it is totally complicated.

Marnie, poor Marnie cannot catch a break. Every book she ends up involved in what is happening she also has a bit of a history with our Francis so there is tons of threads to the story, if you haven't read the previous you can get away with this one but I would go back.

The bad guy is icky, brutal - in what he does to his victims and his disregard for them, Belsham doesn't hold back in describing what happens so not for the faint hearted. With mummification there is nods and links to Egyptian mythology which I found really interesting as I do like that kind of stuff yet never seem to get round to reading it. Police investigation, gruesome murders, friction between Francis, his colleagues, Marnie, his family. There is a lot going on but you can follow it easily enough, nothing distracts away from the threads and you are pulled in quite quickly. I have read the previous books and very much look forward to the next in the series, maybe not be eating noodles next time just incase, boke, 4/5 for me this time.

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