Customer Reviews

Resurrection Men

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
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I bought a few copies of this book for my nephews who find it hard to find books that interest them. They could hardly put it down, they loved the grisly bits but surprisingly also loved the plot. I enjoy T.K. Welsh's books as an adult and my daughter loved The Unresolved but my nephews have had such a wonderful time with this book that they keep re-reading their favorite parts! My sister is ecstatic by their love of reading and is buying the Unrsolved for them also.

It's very hard to find books that boys will enjoy and to find a historical fiction book that captures the senses and is well written is a godsend. I think this is a book that can be read by sons and fathers as well as mothers and daughters. Once again, bravo to T.K. Welsh and as my nephews would say, "Dude, this rocks!"

While working on a poor street child that was run over along a road, Dr. Lambro has a story to tell. It's the story of Victor, a young Italian lad, who saw his parents murdered before his own eyes, and then was sold into virtual slavery as a ship's cabin boy. Ending up in England, Victor experiences street life in Victorian England, with all of its poverty, degeneracy, and downright murderous danger.

This book is written for young adult readers, and is intended to teach them the depths of the horrors that some people experienced in Victorian England. Now, as you might expect from the above description, this is not a happy book, and is bound to be upsetting for younger or more sensitive readers. But, if you are willing to take this book for what it is, you will find it to be an interesting look into the dark, dark side of The Good Old Days.

Personally, I found it to be a very interesting read, and a very educational one. I highly recommend this book.

What makes this book so remarkable to me, as a mom of a son who NEVER reads, is that he LOVED this book. In fact, he couldn't put it down, and was genuinely sad when he'd finished it.

It's so difficult for parents to find books for boys these days. Most young adult books are written for girls by girls. Here's a book written for boys about a subject that's gory and ghoulish...but extremely well written and historical to boot.

In an age when boys are playing graphic video games, the vividness of the language and the story kept his interest. While the story has some gruesome scenes, based on what I know of the period, it is a very realistic portrayal of what life was actually like.

He also completely related to the young boy protagonist. He felt the kid's pain and suffering, and learned that when struggling against the worst possible odds, courage and strength of character will see you through.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

This book is GREAT! These body snatchers aren't intellecutally vapid, they just choose to be evil. It was a real mindtrip to accept that some people in this world are just plain bad. This book is the prime example of the coined phrase, "money is the root of all evil." I could not imagine living and trying to survive the way Victor did, especially at that age. This book got me thinking about our present times. People are "snatching" from us now, leaving us "dead" or soulless. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I see a clear connection. Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. If we choose to acquire money, fame, status, etc, with no conscience of right or wrong, won't we turn into a society of body snatchers...again?

1830, Modena, Italy. 12-year-old Victor returned to his home and had to watch with horror the cruel murder of his parents by three Tyrolean soldiers. The reason? They were Carboniaris, a group of revolutionaries that fought to keep Italy united.

After the massacre, the soldiers sold Victor as a cabin boy to the Chief Mate of the Ceres, a ship that was about to set sail. The ship departed from Italy, and sailed along the Mediterranean coast through the Strait of Gibraltar. It sailed past the coasts of Portugal, northern Spain, and France.

One day, in the middle of a big storm, Victor climbed up the mainmast, all the way to the topgallant, trying to escape from a crew member whom he had accused of stealing food. But as the seaman drew closer, Victor lost his footing, fell on the deck, and crushed his leg completely. The Chief Mate didn't think twice: "A cabin boy who cannot walk is of no value to this ship.... Throw him overboard." Which he did.

Clinging to a gaff, Victor drifted in the middle of the sea for several days, until he arrived at the coast of England. He was rescued by an old man and his dog. The old man treated his leg, fed him, and taught him how to speak English and fight with his crutch.

After a few months, the old man couldn't afford to keep Victor any more and, once again, Victor was sold. This time to Tipple and Biggs, two unscrupulous men who took Victor to London, by hiding him in a coffin with a decaying body.

In London, Victor lived in a house full of children and animals. He was forced to beg in the streets during the day. Life in London at that time was difficult: jobs were scarce, health conditions were deplorable, the streets were full of excrement and mud; people were dying of cholera. Victor soon discovered that there was a black market for dead bodies and body parts. Doctors wanted to study the human body and were willing to pay high amounts of money for them. People like Tripple and Biggs met the demand, and were willing to do anything for a few guineas, including digging up corpses, kidnapping, selling, or even killing someone. Victor found out that Tripple and Biggs were after some of his friends, and he decided that he had to reveal the mastermind of this wicked market and put an end to it.

RESURRECTION MEN is an intense, dark work of historical fiction that made me read every page intently to the end, while trying to cope with the knot of sadness and anguish that I had in my stomach. T. K. Welsh's rich vocabulary and detailed descriptions, where almost no noun goes without an adjective, transported me to the streets of London, and made me smell the putrid odors of the city, live the horrors of the children's lives, witness the horrid dissections of the dead bodies, and hear the unsettling noise of the broken bones.

When I finished the novel, I was looking forward to reading the section at the end of the book that explained which historical facts of the book were real, but unfortunately, there was none.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction and is interested in learning more about an unfortunate time in the history of medicine and the city of London. But if you're looking for a fun, happy read, this may not be it!

Reviewed by: Christian C.

If you are a fan of really scary adventure stories--the kind that are read around the campfire at night and that evoke fears of the things that go bump in the night, you'll love this one. Grave robbers, strange medical experiments, vile depraved men making a mockery of the law and victimizing homeless children with no one to look out for them. If all of that doesn't creep you out, you must have nerves of steel.

Yet buried in the horror is an inspiring well written story of a heroic boy who manages to find his way through it all to fight for the things worth fighting for. No, not in a corny way, but in a very human one, complete with flaws and imperfections, yet determined to do what's right, no matter what the cost, win or lose.

Someone once said if you dare to struggle, you'll deserve to win, but if you don't dare to scale the heights, you really don't deserve to win. Teenage boys, I suspect, will find themselves whether willingly and consciously or unwittingly and subconsciously, learning many important and valuable lessons about life from this one.

Adults will recognize the lessons more readily, having heard them before, since they amount to the sum and substance of all genuinely good literature. But even if they are jaded about the substance of those lessons, they can't help but be entertained by this really great story.

Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher is a gripping historical fiction written especially for teenage boys, but is sure to be enjoyed by readers of all ages. J.G. Sandom did a wonderful job of describing the atmosphere of Victorian London..poor, dirty and dangerous. Sandom portrayed Victor and his thoughts and feelings very well, too. I felt sorry for Victor when the old man was forced to sell him for the second time in his life. And, I also felt pure terror for Victor when he was forced to lie in a coffin with a dead body to be smuggled into London. Overall, a very entertaining and educational tale. I will definitely be reading Sandom's other novels very soon.

When Dr. Lambo is taking care of a young boy that was hit by a car, he decides to tell him a tale of a young man named Victor. Victor as a child watched his parents get murdered and then was sold in to slavert to work on a ship as a cabin boy. This J.G Sandom book takes us on a trip through Victorian England as we watch Victor grow up in the most unpleasant environments. When Victor discovers that his current masters are planning on killing his friends to sell their bodies, it becomes his chance to expose them for what they really are. This book is a dark and sometimes unpleasant look someone's life and how horribly wrong it can go. I found I couldn't put this book down because I wanted to see what happened next. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a historically relevant tales.

I was so surprised by how great this book was! This is not typically my type of story but the cover intrigued me and it did not disappoint. It was so well written and although it was a "horror" story it was very well balanced and not too gruesome. It's great for all ages which is usually hard for authors to accomplish. It is great for young adults but also very interesting fo adults too. You instantly get caught up in the plot and I found it hard to put the book down. Get your copy now!

Set in 1852 in England, J.G. Sandom's "Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher" lures you into this frightening world of danger and survival. Sandom's talent shines through once again, in this well written and exciting novel. I always love reading Sandom's books, and I especially enjoyed reading this one. Sandom's elegant and excellent style of writing is so impressive -- the way he moves the story forward, vividly depicts each scene and leaves you wanting more as you read each page. I just couldn't stop reading it -- once I started.