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 duo There’s a body crushed under a load of pipes on a San Francisco construction site, and medical examiner Dr. Jessie Teska is on call. So it’s her job to figure out who it is–and her headache when the autopsy reveals that the … that the death is a homicide staged as an accident.
Jessie is hot on the murderer’s trail, then an earthquake sends her and her whole city reeling. When the dust clears, her case has fallen apart and an innocent man is being framed. Jessie knows she’s the only one who can prove it, and she races to piece together the truth–before it gets buried and brings her down in the rubble.
With Melinek and Mitchell’s trademark blend of propulsive prose, deft plotting and mordant humor, this rollicking new installment in the Jessie Teska Mystery series will shake you up and leave you rattled.
more
AFTERSHOCK (Dr. Jessie Teska Mystery Book #2) by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell is a thrilling second book in this mystery series. I love that the intelligent and persistent Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jessie Teska can never stop questioning with just the autopsy. Even though this is the second book in the series it can easily be read as a standalone.
Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jessie Teska gets an early morning call for a dead body that appears to be the result of a terrible construction accident. The deceased is a famous architect who appears daily on the construction site and causes problems with the workers. On further inspection at the construction site and at autopsy, Dr. Jessie Teska discovers the accident is a cover-up for a murder.
As Jessie investigates, an earthquake rocks San Francisco and derails her investigation. When she is able to look into the murder once again, an innocent man is being framed. Will Jessie be able to unearth the truth before she becomes another construction site casualty?
I love this series and protagonist! The authors bring you into medical examiners autopsy rooms and lives with writing that brings them to life on the page. Jessie is an intelligent, determined and dogged seeker of truth with a messy personal life that I love to follow and cheer on. The plot of this book throws plenty of twists and red herrings at the reader which keeps the pages turning. While I suspected the guilty individual, it was the “How” that kept me guessing. This is an excellent addition to this mystery series and I am looking forward to many more.
I highly recommend this mystery, protagonist and authors!
Favorite Quotes:
A steel band cover of “Don’t Fear the Reaper” 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.
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 didn’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 duo’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. Teska’s next case.
AFTERSHOCK by Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell is the second book in the Dr. Jessie Teska Mystery series. I haven’t read the first book but I felt sufficient information was given throughout this book to understand her background.
On the whole, I felt the writing was satisfactory; the story moved along at an acceptable pace and the final showdown scenes produced some excitement. Beyond that, I wasn’t a fan of either the narrative or many of the characters – including Jessie.
I often found Jessie’s professional behaviour to be contradictory, and her colleagues were frequently painted in a poor light to lift Jessie up in the eyes of the reader. Her relationship with her partner Anup showed immaturity on both sides, while her familial relationship was also at odds in terms of Jessie’s thoughts versus her actions. Bluntly put, sometimes these characters made no sense.
The identity of the killer was obvious to me as soon as they appeared on the page, but that’s not such a big deal because reading about the ‘why’ can still make for a good fictional crime book.
The one rare gem in this book was bail bond business owner, Sparkle. Her business and her family interested me more than Jessie did. I would have happily read more about her story.
Ultimately, there was not enough to excite me about this story or the series.
A book written by real forensic medical examiner, isn’t that cool, so yeah of course I’m super excited and expected a lot, and I do get a lot, especially the gory details of dead bodies.
It’s my first book from Dr.Jessie Teska mystery series, and just found out this is the second book, but definitely can read it as a stand alone, I didn’t feel anything missing or needed to read the first book, because I can really get to know the heroine very well in this second book, all her issues, insecurities, and vulnerabilities, and her bravery and how she determined to go above and beyond to found out the truth, a stubborn, smart and brave woman, I admire her a lot.
As for the mystery…I like it a lot. Three suspects plus one who’s been set up to take the blame, and the the twist at the end….OMG..I really didn’t see that coming, I’m a big fan of this person and then bam!!! this person is the murderer, that makes me love this book, although it’s a bit slow and rushed at the end, with the twist like that and the great journey to find the murdered, I totally recommended this book for suspense readers out there.
Reading this book made me feel like a was reading a script for a medical mystery show. It truly kept me turning the pages.
I will say having not read the first book I did kind of feel like I stepped into the series mid-season but quickly got the vibe. Jessie is an ME that seems to get herself into trouble following the clues of the bodies that end up on her table.
I felt like this book could be the script for a future Hallmark Mystery series and really loved meeting Jessie. Overall I enjoyed the book and will be interested in reading more by this writing duo.
Aftershock by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell
Jessie Teska #2
Jessie is woken early to come into assess a dead body as happens when one is a medical examiner. Upon arrival there is a messy scene with a very dead man beneath a pile of pipes. Everyone seems eager to write it off as an accident…except Jessie and someone she works with. Police arrive, crime scene techs come do their thing and for some reason Jessie becomes a sleuth along with being a medical examiner a bit like Quincy or perhaps Crossing Jordan on TV. I have trouble wrapping my head around that idea but putting that aside and thinking of it the context of one of these shows I can see the story working better.
Soon after the first dead body is found there is a big earthquake while Jessie is out with her boyfriend of eight months and this is the first hint in the story that though they have been together awhile there may be future problems. Why? Well, Jessie feels she needs to go out and work after the earthquake as there will be dead bodies and her main squeeze, Anup the lawyer, thinks she should go home and stay safe.
There are scenes with Jessie doing autopsies, talking to the homicide detectives, interacting with Anup, spending time with her PI friend Sparkle, on the job with coworkers, talking to her mother, talking to suspects, meeting Anup’s family, dealing with relationship issues, with potential love interests other than Anup and…a few other things. It was a busy story with a lot going on with plenty of twists and turns, red herrings, positive and negative people and eventually the sussing out of who murdered the first dead body.
I did not read book one in the series and wonder if I would know Jessie better if I had. I had trouble warming up to her as I read and wondered if she would grow on me or not. She is brash, outspoken, aggressive, says what she thinks, backs down for no one, and tends to rub people wrong. So, perhaps I will give the next book in this series a chance to see if Jessie and I can hit it off or if perhaps she and her series will not be for me. I have a feeling the author(s) will grow as they write more in the series and would like to see how they and this character develop over time.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Hanover Square Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.
3-4 Stars
This was the second book in this series but the first one I have ever read by this author. I am looking forward to reading many more books by this author. I do not believe that you have to read the first book in the series to enjoy this one but if it is as good as this one I think you will want to read it. I love Jessie and the people she works with. This story had some thrills and I enjoy medical novels also. I received a copy of this book from Harlequin for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
This is a very cool series, and this second book was every bit as entertaining as the first.
I must confess, I had forgotten some of the details of the interpersonal relationships, but I very quickly fell right back into the rhythm of Jesse Teska’s world. She is a delightful protagonist – blunt and curious and committed heart and soul to her beliefs – and if her escapades often require a hearty suspension of disbelief to accept as the choices of an otherwise very smart woman, it’s a suspension I willingly make book after book.
The action in this one is literally thick on the ground, with an earthquake striking San Francisco in the middle of a mysterious workplace accident cum murder investigation. Overlaid on top of the action and mystery is a series of interpersonal developments that made for very interesting character development.
This is a well-written, well-paced, well plotted series that I find deliciously gruesome in it’s detailed death investigations and heartily entertaining in everything else!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.
This writing duo has managed to tie up medical mystery and crime in a big fat bow. Because we are given a front-row look at the life of a medical examiner, we get to witness the digging and diving this examiner goes to in order to get her man.
Diving into the mystery of how and why someone died takes a big turn when Jessie is on the case. Instead of working side by side with the detectives, she works on her own, which can cause issues for many especially if she is looking for you.
The authors give us a unique look at the life of a medical examiner with clarity, intrigue, and all of the grit and gore you can think of. They keep nothing back and we are subject to vivid detail of patients that land on Jessie’s table.
The story is a twisty tale that takes us through San Francisco and into construction zones, earthquakes, hospital settings, and even into the personal life of Jessie as she tracks the killer. Jessie is a strong personality and we witness her downfalls and disappointments but celebrate her wins too.
This book offers plenty of ups and downs with just the right amount of suspense and edge of your seat action, especially at the end as we reach the climax.
Entertaining, captivating, and intense choice for those that love medical mystery. Just be aware the realism of the job is on display.
This is one of those stories that splits you down the middle. On the one hand I applaud the effort on the other I shake my head and wonder. While the plot itself is decent the presentation was muddled. She isn’t totally unlikeable but what’s up with the polish speckled throughout the book?? It really doesn’t add to the story unless it’s just to muddle it more. While she comes off as dedicated to her work her past and her curt attitude seem to cause her more problems and puts her in bad situations that could be avoided. Did I like it yeah but it could have easily been so much better and smoother. Will I read these authors again yes because when they get it right it will be off the hook. I think the right editor will help these two merge better and therefor create a more cohesive story with a smoother flow.