Book Review of The Perfect Corpse by Giles Milton

Official description:

When the frozen corpse of Ferris Clark is found in the Greenland ice, forensic archaeologist Jack Raven is hired to investigate. He is suspicious from the outset. The corpse is not only naked, but in an absolutely pristine state.

As Jack unravels the mystery of Ferris Clark’s final hours, he uncovers a dark and terrible past. He also finds himself caught in a race against time. There is a murderer on the loose and Jack alone can stop the killings.

But first he must solve the greatest riddle of all. How did Ferris Clark die? And why?

Frankenstein meets Fatherland in the debut thriller by internationally bestselling author, Giles Milton.

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I want to thank the publisher Prospero Press and www.netgalley.com for providing me with a copy of this novel in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Well, I quite enjoyed it. I am not going to give any of the plot away so my review won't be going into too much detail about specific people or parts of the story as I personally don't like that ... my review is a general outline from my perspective.

This is a unique idea (as far as books I have read before) and very inventive. The author provided a clever mix of history, the present and possible future.  Yes, it stretches the boundaries of reality in a big way but isn't that what novels are supposed/allowed to do?

The main characters were an interesting mixed bag of likeable, annoying, boring and not-so-nice people some of which were developed more than others and some seemed to be just thrown in there to fill the pages. I would have liked to have had more of the story focused on "Ferris" as there was virtually none and I think this would have added a little more interest for the reader and would have tied things together a little better especially when you get close to the end.

It was also a bit technical at times and went into detail in some depth some of which, in my opinion, didn't add to the story. I did like the way in which the history and research was tackled. This, for me, was interesting and I enjoyed the way the pieces of the puzzle were put together.

I can forgive the little annoyances as mentioned above but what I can't forgive is the ending of this book. It was a HUGE let-down for me and a massive anti-climax - it could have been so much better but it felt rushed and I was extremely disappointed. In addition, the last chapter (before going back to 1944) was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story or the ending. I think the ending is as important, if not more so, than the beginning as it is what lingers in your mind long after you have finished and unfortunately, the ending of this left a lot to be desired and was quickly forgotten.

This had a lot of potential but just didn't deliver for me. I was excited at the beginning and was giving a running commentary to my husband throughout until the end which left me really disappointed which I find quite sad.

This could have been a 5 out of 5 but, given all of the above, I have to give it a 2 out of 5.