Blood, Bullets, and Bones: The Story of Forensic Science from Sherlock Holmes to DNA by Bridget Heos
Expected publication: October 4th 2016
Published by: Balzer + Bray
Synopsis:
Ever since the introduction of DNA testing, forensic science has been in the forefront of the public’s imagination, thanks especially to popular television shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. But forensic analysis has been practiced for thousands of years. Ancient Chinese detectives studied dead bodies for signs of foul play, and in Victorian England, officials used crime scene photography and criminal profiling to investigate the Jack the Ripper murders. In the intervening decades, forensic science has evolved to use the most cutting-edge, innovative techniques and technologies.
In this book, acclaimed author Bridget Heos uses real-life cases to tell the fascinating history of modern forensic science, from the first test for arsenic poisoning to fingerprinting, firearm and blood spatter analysis, DNA evidence, and all the important milestones in between. By turns captivating and shocking, Blood, Bullets, and Bones demonstrates the essential role forensic science has played in our criminal justice system.
Review
This is my first time to review a nonfiction book and this is also the first nonfiction I've read this year! I'm not big on nonfics but after seeing this on Edelweiss, I just couldn't not read it because forensic science!
After reading Blood, Bullets, and Bones, I feel like I now have what it takes to solve a cold case. But of course that's a stretch.
Point is: I learned so many things from this book. From the science of murder investigations to the State laws (which doesn't really have any significance to me unless Philippines and USA have the same laws but it's nonetheless interesting.)
Serial killers stories have always fascinated (and terrified) me. Sometimes, I'd spend several hours on r/unsolvedmystery and other parts of the Internet just reading about real life murder stories and cold cases. But reading this book, I have come to the conclusion that murder investigations are 10000000x even more captivating and impressive. Science truly is amazing. But even if it has greatly evolved compared to centuries ago, it's true that it's still lacking in some aspects and the state laws still have several loopholes.
It's so depressing to read about people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they didn't commit only to be exonerated 30 years later. In worse cases, they die from death sentence before their innocence is proved several years later. But, it's also terrifying when the ones who truly committed the crime gets acquitted only to confess to it after.
This book is very fast paced. There were no dull moments because it doesn't linger very long on any one case and the accounts are all brief and straight to the point, and neutral too. The transitions between stories are very smooth as well which made this unputdownable.
I rarely read nonfiction books (If I do at all) but for me this was a really good read.
Disclaimer: An early review copy was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5 stars
I rarely read nonfiction but this one would definitely appeal to me because forensic science is so interesting. It's a good thing we don't have the death penalty here.
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