Product Description

Now in paperback, a look into the disturbing but fascinating new field of bio-recovery, as a critically acclaimed crime writer rolls up his sleeves and delves into the world of Aftermath, Inc.

The best way to understand the world of Aftermath, Inc. is to imagine life before it. Grief-stricken families of suicide or homicide victims were left to cope on their own. Sometimes police would leave a can of ground coffee behind to soak up the mess. Sometimes local church groups offered to help with the horrific chaos of the scene.

Into this void stepped Tim Reifsteck and Chris Wilson, who filled a desperate need by founding their bio-remediation company. Gil Reavill traces their history, introducing us to their clients and employees, and the cops, coroners, and detectives they encounter in their work.

Their stories are stranger than fiction, and utterly human and compelling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #400097 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this grisly, swaggering tale of gut-churning crime scenes and the men who clean them up after the forensics team is done, veteran true crime scribe Reavill (Beyond All Reason: My Life with Susan Smith) holds nothing back. From descriptions of crimes ("The fusillade of bullets tore through Johnson's body.... Blood, bits of flesh and bone fragments exploded everywhere") to hepatitis C "bleed-outs" ("All four walls of the bathroom looked like someone had taken a blood hose and turned it on them"), Reavill grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let go. He follows the techs from Aftermath, Inc.—a bioremediation outfit in suburban Chicago—as they make the rounds of shotgun suicides, multiple murders and meth lab cleanups; dealing not only with the gross-out of the work but trying to stay sane doing it. While some black humor seeps in around the edges, Reavill mostly depicts a cadre of low-key, hardworking men doing a horrible job with respect and compassion. The narrative pace flags a bit in the last 50 pages when Reavill tries to connect Aftermath's work with larger moral issues, but otherwise, if anything can get CSI watchers to flip off the tube and pick up a book, this is it. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Thanks to the popularity of TV crime shows such as CSI and Law and Order, most people have a feel for what happens around a crime scene (a fictional one, anyhow). But once the body of the victim has been removed, who cleans up the blood, the guts, or--for that matter--the couch? Reavill, a crime writer by trade, pursues the answers by signing on with a company called Aftermath, which specializes in "bio-remediation"--the removal of bio matter from scenes of violent death. Despite his chosen vocation, Reavill never had encountered an actual crime scene and felt it was time to get his hands dirty. Working with the cleanup crews of Aftermath, he enters residences where atrocities have occurred, sees the grisly remnants, and, finally, helps clean them up. He tells the stories leading up to the bloodshed with compassion for both sides as he comes face-to-face with humanity's messiness. His eye for morbid details and grasp of forensic science are impressive, but it is his empathy for people that will affect readers most. Jerry Eberle
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved