A poor man is hired by a rich man to dig up the body of a different rich man's wife. Set amid the body-snatching days of Victorian England, when doctors needed more bodies than they could get for the study of anatomy, the details here are great but the characters are dull; the class-warfare angle is intriguing but not fully followed on; and overall the writing was nothing special. You can give this one a miss.

The premise was intriguing, the atmosphere was captured well, the violence was expected, but the middle felt tedious with pacing issues. A promising book with some flaws that steal from the overall enjoyment.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

This book was a bit too slow for me. I appreciated the historical accuracy and research that the author put into it, but the pace, the way the story was presented, made it a struggle to finish.

I don't know where to start with this book. The first few pages threw me and I almost quit. It was horrific, gross and very dark. But I kept on going and having faith and I'm so glad I did because I ended up loving it! While it definitely is bleak there is so much to find hope in, especially the perfectly crafted sentences that stay with you. The characters are wonderfully real and their experiences horrible to share. But it all has an underlying strength of character and finding hope even in the bleakest circumstances. This book is not for everyone but if you like a challenge that will make you cringe all the while making you FEEL, this is it.

Thank you Net Galley and to the publisher for this earc.

Off the back it seems that this book had already been release, so that was a tad confusing but onto the story. I really was expecting to enjoy the premise of the book because it seemed up my alley. Though as others have said the book is relatively slow and the different characters didn’t give me anything to really sink my teeth into.

I should have loved this. I really should have but honestly I could just never bring myself to care that much about anything happening. The writing and I just did not get along, I felt like the author was trying too hard to convey every characters miserable existences and how those miserable existences brought them all together.

I found it really slow to start as well, with again, way too much time trying to explain the character's backstories and not enough time getting to the actual point. I also really didn't like any of the characters, if I had clicked with even one of them this would be a four star review.

That all being said it did have a really interesting premise that touched on an important portion of medical history that is probably not talked about enough. So on that count it's worth the read.

Overall, sadly just a meh read for me.

And as always thanks to Netgalley and PR by the Book for the eArc!

The Resurrectionist by Paul T. Scheuring caught my attention, especially as someone who studied medical history and has worked in medical history museums. While the premise of the book sounded great, it overall did not live up to my excitement for it. Though there were a moments that I felt as if there was a lot to learn from the book. Scheuring does a good job of building this atmospheric environment. I felt transported to the past and could clearly see the research that went into this narrative. It really helped me finish the book because while I felt the plot and characters were lacking, I was still enthralled to find myself in 1820s London.

Right from the start readers are brought into the past as two individuals sneak into a cemetery to steal a body. There's this contrast built between the slums of London against the cemeteries against the glistening wealthy world. While I expected a lot of grisly details, it was a bit over the top when dealing with violence against women and animals. It served more as a distraction than supportive of the narrative.

Overall the narrative loses track of itself as too much comes into play making feel confused yet I stayed for the macabre details. I've been looking for a decent gothic novel and while I don't think this is it, there is a lot to learn for writing purposes of how to weave those historic inspiration details throughout a narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley and PR by the Book for this opportunity to read, rate and review g the is arc which is available now!

Come with me on a journey into body snatching in 1820s England.

This book. THIS BOOK! Oh it was epic. It didn’t feel like it was like reading a book. It felt like you were in stinky 1820s London digging up bodies for science. The main character was a solid character. The story was phenomenal and I swear to god this author researched the absolute crap out of whatever he could get his hands on to write a true account of Resurrectionists in this fiction novel. I’m totally buying this. So damn good.

The body snatching phenomenon has always fascinated me. So upon reading the synopsis on Netgalley, I was sold (thank you for the arc). The premise was interesting and entertaining to read. Certainly not for the faint of heart so readers be warned- it airs on the side of graphic in its descriptions of the bodies and the art of anatomy. If the crimes of Burke & Hare interest you, I would highly recommend giving this book a try. Although fiction is does feel like you are immersing in the criminal underworld of body snatchers.
The language in the novel is fun- as I tend to read more fantasy/sci-fi re-immersing into more historical jargon is wonderful.
I do have a complaint however- there were too many POV switches, to the point where it was easy to get lost in the story. I think I would have enjoyed it more if we had focused more on a few characters. However I see what the author was doing by immersing us (the reader) into the community of the story as opposed to simply giving us a window to a handful of individuals.
Long story short- if you are interested in London and the morbid study of anatomists I would certainly recommend giving The Resurrectionist a try.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this ebook. This book sounded like such a gem but quickly fell apart due to the variety or characters and flow of the story. I found myself frustrated and annoyed, which isn’t how I want to feel reading for enjoyment.

The premise of this book had me super intrigued, but I struggled with this one. I found it hard to connect with any of the characters and the story seemed to drag.
This book just didn't work for me.

Thank you to netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.

Job Mowatt, a resurrectionist working in London in 1820, is asked to perform his most dangerous work yet, stealing the wife of a very dangerous man. The recompense can mean a change of life for his daughter and the body can save the life of an innocent.
Amazing premise! And I promise you that you will be transported to the slums and cemeteries of Victorian England. But that is where the praise ends.
The story loses track of itself, diverging into many characters, many that are not focal for what is going on and some of them you never spend enough time with to care about.
To further disrupt any pleasure the book focuses on all the nasty and gruesome details that you would expect from such a story and never gives us a rest from it. That way you end up sick of all the misery really quick and by the time the action finally picks up all shock value has been completely obliterated.
Overall this is a novel that you can skip with no regrets.

I received this ARC complimentary from NetGalley and PR by the Book in exchange for an honest review. The book may have been complimentary, but this review is all mine.

"The Resurrectionist" by Paul T. Scheuring takes place in London in the early 19th century. The story follows multiple characters through a night when an epic grave digging takes place.

Oh my! There are two main things I loved about this book. One - the Lovecraft horror elements. A good portion of this book takes place in a graveyard and I won't give away spoilers, but do not read if you're claustrophobic! Two - the writing. Each chapter is from a different character's point of view, and it doesn't just go back and forth between two different characters. There is an entire cast of characters whose mind we have the pleasure (or not) of entering. At first, I thought this would be confusing to follow. However, Scheuring did a fantastic job of writing each chapter from that character's point of view. Some characters had more poetic chapters, some more foul, depending on the characteristics of the chosen narrator. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing.

Aside from a horror novel, this book is also historical fiction. I love learning about the past from books and this one did not disappoint. I learned what a mortsafe is, that one of the first successful caesarian sections was performed by a women, and about how early 19th century anatomists obtained their cadavers. This book was full of information about London and grave digging in the time period.

I really enjoyed this book. If you like horror and historical fiction, I highly recommend!

Trigger warnings: violence, death, murder, blood, grave-digging, descriptions of dead bodies, claustrophobic, alluded rape

This was everything I hoped it would be. It transported me into a different time among the London slums. There was gore, as I was hoping with grave digging and anatomists, which is dirty work in more ways than one for the pursuit of developing science. I think the book presented the different point of views/ motivations of individuals well. Overall this book is macabre, perfect for a book called The Resurrectionist.
Thank you to NetGallery for an ARC of this book, this is my honest voluntary review.

While there were a few things that I liked about this book, there were too many things that made it hard to get through. The book was told from too many points of view, at least 7 from what I counted, and the character development was never enough. I wanted to read more about Job and Ivy's background and journey of survival. Job's love for his daughter Ivy was endearing Sadly, all the other characters story arcs took away the impact of their story.

Even though there were too many characters to follow, they all had interesting lives that I wanted to explore. The setting and lives of the characters were intriguing from a historical aspect. I enjoy reading books from this time period and some of the characters introduced concepts and themes that were new to me. I particularly liked that many of the characters were on the lower end of the social classes and the opportunity to learn more about their lives was enriching.

I was surprised to see that this book was just over 300 pages because it felt like to took forever for me to get through. The beginning and ending of the book were the strongest parts. The middle was where I really struggled. With each different character's point of view, the author gives a backstory and more inner dialogue than I knew what to do with. It dragged down the pacing and I often had to think hard to connect the pieces of what was actually going on with the main storyline.

This was alot better than I had expected. I really got hooked in the story and it took me on a Rollercoaster ride. I was so vested in this. It was a great book.
I just reviewed The Resurrectionist by Paul T. Scheuring. #TheResurrectionist #NetGalley
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The Resurrectionist by Paul T Scheuring is set in 1820 (except for the very end, in 1821) and follows a small cast of characters, switching to their different POVs within the story, connecting them all like the constellations that Ivy, a girl stuck in the slums but dreaming of more, loves so well. It is a story of the pain and suffering contained within a city, and it is a look at how desperation often has people grabbing and stomping on one another to try to lift themselves out of poor circumstances, like crabs in a bucket.

It centres around the trade of exhuming bodies to use in anatomy schools, and there are varying reasons why each person does this, from securing opium, to paying for class to become a doctor, to elevating a daughter into a better life than the one you will ever have, to saving the life of your wife and unborn child. It is an intriguing premise, and I enjoyed unravelling the threads that bind and connect each of these people to one another.

There is, of course, violence--quite a bit of it--and a lot of it is directed at women. Squeamish ought to take note. It is a heavy, grim read, but one with a bright spark of hope at the end.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely a trigger warning for violence against women and animals, it felt like...too much. That aside, this was an interesting, gothic, sinister story and it gave me the creeps. I would give this 3.75 stars.

This dark, gothic, historical fiction novel is set in the early 1800s and follows anatomist Percival Quinn. His wife’s pregnancy is complicated and the odds of mother and child surviving are not good. Quinn has turned all his knowledge and skills toward finding a solution. When he hears of a recently deceased pregnant woman, he is determined to acquire her corpse for dissection, setting in motion a nightmarish series of events. Job Mowatt is the aptly named resurrectionist who takes on the job, hoping to fund a better life for his daughter Ivy. Throw in a pair of ruthless thieves and a grieving widower who will do anything to protect his beloved wife’s body from being desecrated and you’ve got a book I couldn’t put down.

Scheuring’s writing is beautiful and unhurried. I was fascinated by all the historical details, which never crossed the line into too much information, but just fit the story. The characters are well-developed,the pacing was perfect and I loved the glimpse we get of Quinn’s marriage. I highly recommend this one, especially to fans of historical fiction.

I was unable to get past the first few pages of this title because of the violence against women and animals it contained. As a reader, I find those kinds of abuses deeply disturbing.

I do want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to look over this title.