Interesting idea, decent story. I didn't feel like anything particularly stood out. Overall ok read.

This was a truly captivating and beautifully written historical mystery. It was morbid and interspersed with dark humor. The romantic subplot was very enjoyable, and the overall story was intriguing. I loved the setting along with the entertaining cast of characters.

This wasn't the first book I've read that brought up the infamous Hare and Burke, but this one did go into more detail. It really piqued my interest. I might end up going down that rabbit hole soon.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A recommended read! A combination of the gothic, history, dark academia and mystery with elements of queer fiction. This is a perfect read for fans of Robert Louis Stephenson’s ‘The Body Snatchers’ and novels including The Alienist and The Lieberman Papers where readers will enjoy this dark exploration of Victorian era medicine and queer fiction.

In The Resurrectionist, Dunlap has crafted a compelling gothic atmosphere that portrays the eerie 19th-century Edinburgh and the illegal practices of body-snatching. Dunlap provides thorough depictions of medical practices and the 19th century Edinburgh when scientific curiosity often clashed with the societal and religious norms of the time. It is pleasing to see character development from a naive aristocrat to a morally conflicted surgeon contrasted with secondary character Nye’s charm and recklessness adds depth to their relationship. The inclusion of a queer romance between the protagonists is wonderful to see and crafted with sensitivity.

The Resurrectionist explores the ethical dilemmas during a historical time of medical advancement and societal prejudice. These themes combine with personal transformations and queer elements of the novel. The inclusion of the infamous figures of Burke and Hare add menace and tension to the plot as the illegal cadaver market of 19th century Edinburgh escalates dangerously.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved this sweet little macabre tale. I greatly enjoyed the use of more flowery, historical language because it made the novel feel more true to the time period. I also adored the characters and found the romance between Nye and James to be adorable! James was an excellent main character who I was cheering on the whole way. I really liked that the author explained in the author's notes which parts of the novel were based in history, and which were embellishments. It was interesting to see how much of the novel was based in history.

I found the ending to feel a bit rushed and not quite as satisfying as I would hope for. But the rest of the story made up for that for sure. :)

I had high hopes for this book, and while I did enjoy parts of it, I found it a bit of a struggle overall. The concept really grabbed my attention—exploring the intersection of queerness and body snatching felt unique and full of potential. I liked how the story touched on class and social dynamics without being heavy-handed. However, I would’ve liked to see a little more introspection or conversation around identity, as it sometimes felt like the story sidestepped deeper emotional moments.

The characters were almost there but didn’t fully click for me. They weren’t bland, but they leaned into familiar archetypes, and none really surprised me. James himself had some decent character growth, but the trajectory felt predictable.

What really made this book tough for me, though, was the writing and plotting. It’s not that they were *bad*, but they just didn’t work for me. The writing style felt overly eager, almost trying too hard to be clever. There were so many italicized phrases and elaborate turns of speech that it became distracting. I understand the choice, given the character’s background, but it felt excessive.

Another issue for me was the plot’s simplicity. It felt very YA—obstacles would pop up and get resolved almost immediately, with no lingering tension. Even a supposedly major plot point introduced late in the book was handled quickly and neatly. The book leaned more toward cozy than thrilling, with only brief flashes of real danger or intensity.

I think many readers might find this style to bring a lot to tbe story, so it really comes to what you look in a book with this premis, really. If the characters had been a little deeper and the plot more intricate, I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more. As it stands, it didn’t fully deliver for me.

I enjoyed the historical vibe that was in this book. It is gothic, taking place in Scotland in the early 1800s. I felt a connection to the characters and the writing was very good with true gothic vibes. I would categorize this more as historical fiction with romance sprinkled throughout.
It was a true pleasure to read. Thank you to Kensington Publishing, Rae Dunlap and NetGalley for the EARC!
4 star

This one went on my keeper shelf (because I had already ordered a copy when I got the galley for the January Indie Press List from Currently Reading). It was excellent historical fiction, just the right amount of gory and gross, and I loved the central relationship. Will look for more from Dunlap!

4.25

What an absolute delight! I admit that I was excited about this when I requested it, and then sort of lost interest by the time I actually received it so I did go in with middling expectations but I was pleasantly surprised by this. Set in 1828 Edinburgh during the Burke and Hare murders, The Resurrectionist follows James Willoughby, a second son determined to study surgery. He is naive and starts out feeling a bit like a wet blanket but I ultimately loved the journey we follow him on. The book feels a little young, as we are following a coming of age story and James is a student, but I love the way Dunlap wove together this coming of age story with gothic historical fiction and an almost true crime element. This feels quite reminiscent of Dana Schwartz's Anatomy: A Love Story, but where the romance felt flat for me in that one (which ultimately left me frustrated because it was marketed as a love story), I was living for this one. Though I am admittedly a sucker for a queer historical. I found the writing and setting very atmospheric which was refreshing after seeing some of books set in this era feel too modern. The writing is a bit more flowery than I generally prefer but it worked for me considering the time period of the setting. Overall, I think this was very much the right book at the right time for me, and I really enjoyed my experience. I'd be interested in seeing what Dunlap writes next.

The Resurrectionist is an addictive historical fiction novel based in 1800’s Edinburgh. James finds himself accepted to university for medicine and surgery. Here he learns the disturbing events of body snatching are very real, very frequent and very fascinating.
Overcoming naïveté, making strides against his views on class and falling in love with a male colleague, this book is a page-turner. I especially enjoyed James’ personal growth and growing ability to stand up for himself against family and giving up on university when things get tough, which I often find is missing from historical-based novels.
I will definitely be highly recommending it to customers!

James Willoughby has abandoned his sheltered life to pursue a life studying surgery in Edinburgh the University offers all the knowledge he wants but not the chance to work on a human cadaver. James decides to join one of the private schools in surgeon square but he can't afford the tution in desperation he strikes a deal with Nye a disseectionist in one of the private schools. James soon realises he has got himself involved in something far more sinister than he expected.

This book was not at all what I expected but still loved it. The relationship between James and Nye was just perfect and didn't overshadow the story. I am not always a fan of historical fiction but this had me hooked from the start.

Thank you to Netgalley, Kensington Publishing and A Rae Dunlap for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“‘The ends, as it’s said, surely justify the means.’ ‘You rob graves--‘ ‘I snatch bodies. There is a difference. I do not desecrate or dishonour the dead. I do not deprive them of their worldly possessions.’”

This book was a straight up cover download as I am a respiratory therapist and am always intrigued by skeletons and lungs/ribs. For obvious reasons.

The Resurrectionist was entertaining but I did skim quite a bit of. These characters are wild and to know that they are based on real people just adds to that allure. Equal parts historical fiction, true crime, and gothic this book wasn’t what I expected based on the cover but still an intriguing read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Kensington Books, and the author for the complimentary ARC.

Probably closer to a 3.75 than a full 4 for me. Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I found it really compelling and I loved the true crime elements of it - I didn’t realize that Burke and Hare were real serial killers until the Author’s Note and I loved how that was incorporated! I also really enjoyed the story - I found the first half to be really tedious and I struggled to really get into it, despite liking the writing - but once the story progressed, I had a fantastic time with it! James is a great, empathetic character and I LOVED his relationship and dynamic with Aneirin/Ni. I just…loved them together - I know that the romance wasn’t the main point of this story, but it certainly helped.

I think it balanced the macabre very well and while it was dark and the descriptions were gory, it didn’t feel over the top to me.

My biggest complaint and confusion is how different the physical and e-book copies are from the audiobook. I ended up picking up the audio so that I could finish it and wasn’t able to match up where I was in the book becuase they’re completely different. Whole chapters are written differently, character arcs and scenes with Edith are different…I don’t understand why there re multiple copies of this book without any notice??

Overall, I really liked this! I highly recommend and would definitely pick up more from this author! A great debut.

James Willoughby has always felt ill at ease being the third son of a modestly-landed English family. While his father has tried to steer him into either the military or the Church, he only finds his passion when he’s exposed to medicine and science.

This being the 1820s, the only real place for a young Englishman looking to become a physician to study at is the University of Edinburgh. For the somewhat sheltered and foppish young James, Scotland and his somewhat rudimentary inn lodgings are a far cry from the pampering he’s used to. As he falls in with his fellow medical students, however, he slowly discovers not only an easy camaraderie with them but also grows into his talents as a surgeon.

Alas that money troubles soon have him looking for ways to further his studies both at the university and at the private surgical school run by Dr Louis Malstrom, where he learns most of his practical anatomy. At first Aneurin MacKinnon, Malstrom’s forbidding assistant, is dismissive of his problems with making tuition. When he realizes exactly where James resides, though, he’s suddenly sympathetic. For a discount on his school fees, all James has to do is help Aneurin keep an eye on the sexton of the church next door to the inn. Aneurin says it’s to make sure that the sexton is correctly performing his duties. After James discovers that the other man has unwittingly made him the lookout for Aneurin’s gang of body snatchers, however, he finds himself both outraged and curiously conflicted:

QUOTE
But a part of me wanted to be reckless. For while I’d come to appreciate my life in Edinburgh– my classes, my peers, the whole steady, certain predictability of a meaningful routine outside the confines of my elite pedigree, there had still been a niggling, nagging sense of wanting more. I felt like I was standing upon the tip on an iceberg, marveling at its beauty in its own right but knowing that further below, there was so much more to attain, to experience, to know. And here was Aneurin, this solemn, stoic stranger, cunning and manipulative and yet so charismatic that to not follow him down that darkened stairs into the dismal recesses of whatever world he wanted to show me; well, that seemed to me to be the true madness, indeed.

With a (slightly troubling) spring in my step, I followed him.
END QUOTE

The more James gets to know Aneurin, the more alluring the life of a body snatcher becomes, even if James is doing little more than acting as lookout for the rest of the crew. But when troubling news arrives from England, James will have to become even more involved with Aneurin’s gang, even as he attempts to navigate the strange new feelings that Aneurin himself is arousing in James’ well-bred breast.

As if that wasn’t enough turmoil for one young man, everything changes again when one of their gang is found brutally killed. Someone is murdering body snatchers, but who and why? Worse, could James and Aneurin be next?

This queer coming-of-age tale is surprisingly sweet, even as it contends with the historical (and arguably evergreen) issue of progress versus propriety. Aneurin doesn’t even see himself as a body snatcher, much less a thief. Instead, he holds himself to a higher standard, one which he urges on James as well:

QUOTE
“James, you cannot join this world out of necessity, or because of your financial desperation. True, there are far too many scoundrels and wastrels in this game who do what it takes for profit and think of little else, but that isn’t Malstrom. And that isn’t me. We are members of the league of men who call ourselves not by the mantle of snatchers, but Resurrectionists. Our motivation is not the value of the bodies we steal, but in the second life we give them; postmortem Prometheus, bringing fire to mankind.

“If you are to become one of us, a true Resurrectionist, you must believe in the work we are doing, in our purpose and our plan.[“]
END QUOTE

Regardless of one’s feelings on the subject of body snatching, one ethical standard everyone can agree on is the fact that murder is bad. James and Aneurin’s pursuit of the truth will place both of their lives in danger, as they seek to bring a killer to justice. This historical mystery does a terrific job of bringing the chaos of 19th century Edinburgh to life, even as it showcases a tender romance and grapples – admirably if not necessarily successfully – with the ethics of medicine and consent.

Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for the ARC. This is my honest review.

An incredibly fun, spooky, chaotic romp through turn of the century Scotland. I loved the juxtaposition of two serial killing real historical figures against our poor sweet MCs.

I loved this book, I thought the character development was done well. The story wasn't the best I've ever read, but it was still throughly enjoyable. It's so nice to see LGBTQIA characters in all settings, not just rom coms.

this was a surprising delight. I think reading the authors note after made it even better. I didn’t even realize that some of the characters were real. also love historical queer romance

Dunlap serves up a juicy helping of graphic human anatomy exploring how surgical acumen was gleaned in 19th-century Edinburgh, which is how medical student James Willoughby fulfills his dreams of becoming a first-rate surgeon. He and a gaggle of like-minded students scramble for places under anatomist Dr Malstrom, who spots James’s ability with a scalpel during an initial demonstration. However, when James comes up short on the tuition fee, he makes a deal with surgical assistant, Nye MacKinnon, to keep watch over the sexton’s surveillance of the kirkyard, directly beneath his lodgings, while Nye supposedly tracks thieves! Everything runs smoothly until Nye scrambles through his window one night with a freshly exhumed corpse, bringing James face-to-face with some repugnant facts about the unscrupulous events he has implicated himself in. Chastising his naïveté, he distances himself from Nye, but when his sister cuts off his allowance, he must either forgo his education or succumb to becoming a digger.

The attraction between James and Nye provides a lightly erotic sideline to a plot which focuses primarily on the skullduggery involved in the advancement of medical science. James is many things – an avid student, skilled surgeon, friend, lover, and fellow body snatcher, entreating his ‘dear reader’ to empathise with his choices. I enjoyed the company of the charismatic Nye as much as James does.

The Resurrectionist weaves around the Burke and Hare murder spree which culminated in 1828. This macabre, skin-crawling gothic includes well-researched details on how to snatch an interred body without leaving a trace, should you wish to know! Edinburgh’s backstreet taverns, gambling dens, and bawdy houses seep with a malodourous grime, and for each turn of the page the imagination is fed something even more ghastly, although it never feels gratuitous. Dunlap draws her story to a nicely open-ended denouement, perhaps not for the squeamish, but expertly pulled off.

This has such an interesting vibe and definitely falls into this historical horror genre that can be hit or miss for me. This one was fine, but historical novels are always a risk since they generally aren't my favorite genre. I think the narrator had a super strong presence and I enjoyed reading from his perspective even when he was making questionable decisions. There are a ton of people who I know will love this book, but it was just okay for me based on the writing style and historical aspects. I was looking for something a bit more horror than historical. I'm still giving it a high rating though because I think a lot of people will love this and it's just a me problem because of the genre.

From a certain station in society, James Willoughby sought to pursue his educational passion in medicine despite his family’s demands, but upon arriving in Scotland circumstances change and James partners with Aneurin “Nye” MacKinnon to delve into the underground world.

“What unholy abomination has been wrought here?”

Narrated in first person, the story begins with the focus on James and his acclimation to his new surroundings. Being a bit naïve and posh for his new associates, James stands out yet he adapts due to his mutual interest in anatomy. Yet, as complications arise in the community, James and Nye discover there is more than just scientific pursuits at play

From the beginning, I was intrigued with the characters and the measures medical institutions had to take to teach students. The banter between James and Nye was amusing and their connection was a driving force in the book. The Resurrectionist would appeal to those seeking coming of age story set against a macabre historical fiction crime account.

This book was such a delightful, fun, and well researched dive into the art of body snatching for medical research in early 19th century Edinburgh. There were no fewer than 5 times that I found myself laughing out loud and ‘tittering off the deep end’ along with the two main characters. As always, I’m very particular about historical fiction and its ability to transport you to the time, and I felt this one did a wonderful job of it. Coupled with all the medical knowledge that needed to be in line with the current research of the time, a coming of age romance, and a true crime basis-this book is a gem. I hope there is a sequel! Most of all, I enjoyed the writing style, and being with the narrator all the way through. My only critique would be that the end seemed to be in a bit more of a hurry than the beginning, but then again no one likes a book that needlessly drones on and on. Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. 5 stars.

Publishing date: 24.12.2024 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC. My opinions are my own.


TLDR: Gothic, romantic, a little slow to start, and also full of dead bodies

I have many thoughts about this book, and this review is not going to be coherent so strap in.

The setting and the atmosphere of this book? Oh I loved it dearly. It was so gothic and so London I simply couldn't believe it. I was envisioning dingy brick buildings, a light drizzle, dark streets lit up by too few street lamps, the smell of petrichor in the air, and of course people dressed in suits and simple gowns. The whole time reading I was somewhere completely different than where I was really sitting. I felt like a spectator to the spectacle in front of me.

The characters ... Hit and miss. There is a very clear distinction between the main characters and the side-characters. Some weren't fleshed out at all and had only their name to go by. Some had attempted "fleshings" but were still somewhat flat and bare. This is a little nitpick only, I wish more people in the background had more going on for them.

The romance? Oh hell yeah. It had the perfect amount of "we don't care who catches us in the act", but also "ohmygod we are going to be hanged if anyone sees us". A good blend of companionship and desire. These two were so good together. The moment the relationship was "estabølished" I was hooked. Stunning work.

The story itself had a hard time actually catching me in the beginning I fear. I was waiting for things to happen, things happened, then it didn't really carry on anywhere. It kept this strange pace almost throughout the whole book. Except for the final 20% or so, that's where the story took a more exciting turn. For me at least. Maybe the pace fits others fine, but I wish it was more focused or had more events scattered throughout. Another nitpick truly.

All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the book. Really enjoyed the time I got with it. Highly recommend to those who like the "walk in a graveyard" vibe. 4.5 stars, stunning read.