A partially eaten body, security footage of what appears to be a walking corpse, and forensic evidence that defies conventional explanation? Welcome to Savannah, Georgia, where FBI Special Agent Ella Penrose and her Paranormal Crimes Unit have one heck of an investigation on their hands! Ella is brilliant, gritty, fiercely guarded, and determined to follow the science, regardless of how bizarre the findings become. From flesh eating dermestid beetles and mysterious fabric dyes to bite marks, bone fragments, and microscopic evidence, every discovery raises another question. For Ella, the more impossible a case appears, the more determined she becomes to explain it.
Josh Berman's television background is unmistakable in this wonderfully cinematic forensic thriller. The investigative details are fascinating, the dialogue is sharp, and the imagery is so vivid that I cannot guarantee you won’t be seeing beetles! Yet the real strength of Dead Matters is how much Berman gives us beyond the central investigation. Ella's haunting nightmares, her complicated history with fellow agent Grant, and the unexplained disappearance of her brilliant mother gradually reveal the vulnerability beneath her carefully maintained exterior. Her mother's background and research in cryptozoology introduces another intriguing mystery, one that may hold answers Ella has spent years searching for. Equally compelling is the story of Ella's foster sister Celeste, whose decade behind bars following the death of an abusive man raises difficult questions about race, justice, and the consequences of a system that does not treat everyone equally. Add Celeste's son Holden, a newly minted FBI agent with a talent for testing boundaries, a terrific investigative team, and Lilly's dog Beaker (seriously, how perfect is that name?), and there is an entire cast worth getting invested in.
Berman balances meticulous forensic investigation with complicated family relationships, personal trauma, unsettling possibilities, and just enough unanswered questions to make the future of these characters every bit as intriguing as the crime itself. The multiple storylines give the novel substance without sacrificing its investigative momentum, and the developing relationships make this feel like the beginning of something much bigger. That final breadcrumb concerning Ella's mother? Oh, there had better be more where that came from! For readers who love intelligent crime procedurals, fascinating forensic science, unconventional mysteries, and characters with plenty left to uncover, Dead Matters is an excellent introduction to a world worth revisiting.
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