Beyond The Tape: The Life and Many Deaths of a State Pathologist by Dr Marie Cassidy. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Beyond The Tape by Dr Marie Cassidy was a strange book to read. I'm not sure whether the issues I had were down to me or the book itself.
I really enjoyed learning about the differences between the Scottish and Irish legal systems and how that impacts the work Cassidy did as a pathologist in each country. Her discussions about the early days of forensic science and its continued evolution were fascinating. I could have read an entire book dedicated to just this topic.
The cases detailed are many, varied and quite graphic in the level of information shared. This isn’t unexpected, it is a memoir about Cassidy's time as a state pathologist after all. In many of the cases mentioned the victims and perpetrators are named, while in other cases no names are given. Again, not unexpected given Cassidy worked on many high profile cases.
My issue is with the tone in some sections of the book. There is a flippancy that surprised me. It's possible this is a personality or sense of humour thing that doesn't translate well into print. That these particular stories are best shared during a chat in a pub or over coffee, where tone is easier to detect. I found some of her descriptions really jarring.
Beyond The Tape: The Life and Many Deaths of a State Pathologist by Dr Marie Cassidy is published by Hachette Books Ireland and is available in paperback, ebook and audiobook format.