Book Review: AFTERSHOCK (Dr. Jessie Teska Mystery, #2) by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell @drjudymelinek

AFTERSHOCK
Dr. Jessie Teska Mystery, #2
by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell

 

AmazonĀ  / B&N / Apple / GP

ISBN: 9781335147295

Publication Date: January 19, 2020

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

 

When an earthquake strikes San Francisco, forensics expert Jessie Teska faces her biggest threat yet in this explosive new mystery from the New York Times bestselling authors of Working Stiff and First Cut.

At first glance, the death appears to be an accident. The body is located on a construction site under what looks like a collapsed beam. But when Dr. Jessie Teska arrives on the scene, she notices the tell-tale signs of a staged death. The victim has been murdered. A rising star in the San Francisco forensics world, Jessie is ready to unravel the case, help bring the murderer to justice, and prevent him from potentially striking again.

But when a major earthquake strikes San Francisco right at Halloween, Jessie and the rest of the city are left reeling. And even if she emerges from the rubble, there’s no guaranteeing she’ll make it out alive.

With their trademark blend of propulsive prose, deft plotting, and mordant humor, this electrifying new installment in the Jessie Teska Mystery series offers the highest stakes yet.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

A steel band cover of ā€œDonā€™t Fear the Reaperā€ makes for a lousy way to lurch awake. Couple of months back, some clown of a coworker got a hold of my cell phone while I was busy in the autopsy suite, and reprogrammed the ringtone for incoming calls from the Medical Examiner Operations and Investigation Dispatch Communications Center. I keep forgetting to fix it.

Ā 

Oskar had nervous eyes under bushy brows, small nostrils in a mousy nose, and bluish stubble against a complexion like an altar candle. He impressed me as a man who climbed out of bed every morning wound up three turns too tight.

 

My Review:

 

This was an active, nonstop, wryly written, and superbly crafted tale that was shrewdly paced, cunningly plotted, and cast with a wide variety of curiously compelling characters. I had great difficulty putting my Kindle down for those senseless interruptions that dared to interfere with my perusal such as thirst, hunger, dying batteries, and need for sleep.

The busy storylines were written from the first-person POV of the brilliant and hard-working medical examiner Jessie Teska, M.D., and were taut with intrigue and pernicious conflicts with arrogant and egregious detectives and lawyers who didnā€™t have the good sense to listen to her sagacious theories and perceptive observations. I wanted to kick them in the shins for her. Lashing of amusing and clever wit cropped up to balance the emotional tone, which I always appreciate. This is my second time reading this dynamic duoā€™s exceptional wordcraft and I am so enamored with their mad skills that I have added them to my list of favorites and will be eagerly awaiting Dr. Teskaā€™s next case.

About the Authors

Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell are the New York Times bestselling co-authors of Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner, and the novel First Cut. Dr. Melinek studied at Harvard and UCLA, was a medical examiner in San Francisco for nine years, and today works as a forensic pathologist in Oakland and as CEO of PathologyExpert Inc. T.J. Mitchell, her husband, is a writer with an English degree from Harvard, and worked in the film industry before becoming a full-time stay-at-home dad to their children.

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TWITTER: Judy: @drjudymelinekĀ  TJ: @TJMitchellWS

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