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The Coroner (Jenny Cooper 1)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Many are the debuts in the crime fiction field that create a brief flurry of interest then sink without trace. It’s a fairly safe bet, however, that MR Hall’s The Coroner won’t suffer that fate – this is a fresh and original piece of work that is already gleaning a fair measure of praise. Hall has worked extensively in television on such successful series as Judge John Deed, Kavanagh QC and Dalziel and Pascoe, and the expertise gained there is parleyed into very impressive results here.
The beleaguered heroine, Jenny Cooper, is not in the best of shape. She has been recently divorced, and has suffered a nervous breakdown. But Jenny is hoping that her new job – Coroner for the Severn Vale -- will get her life back on an even keel. Living on a desperate diet of anti-depressants and downers, she finds herself involved in looking into something worrying: the deaths of several teenagers at local detention centres. Has her predecessor neglected some crucial information in this area? As Jenny digs deeper, she encounters a solid wall of bureaucratic resistance. But however screwed up her own life is, Jenny is not going to give up on the uphill task she’s set herself.
We have, of course, encountered the troubled, damaged protagonist before, many times – both in male and female form. But such is M R Hall’s skill that even in this over-familiar territory, cliché is kept firmly at bay. Hall has experience of the world of the coroner, and that gives the book (the first in a series) a pithy verisimilitude. But so compelling is the narrative voice in The Coroner, that readers will be keen to enter the messy, conflicted world of Jenny Cooper again. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
`A gripping debut novel'
--Daily Express
--Daily Express
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
One of those books where I felt I knew the characters and wondered what happened to them afterwards.
27 Jun 2010
Format:Paperback
This review is from: The Coroner (Paperback)
I did wonder at the start whether this was a thriller or a text book on the role and duties of a coroner, but luckily that didn't last, and I was soon drawn into the well written story. So many books in this genre are set in the States it was refreshing to find one that was set in familiar places and actually applied to us in the UK.
I was intrigued by the subplot which kept me guessing right to the end of the book, and probably well into The Disappeared the next book in the series. Our heroine is full of temazipan and doubts (a far cry from Scarpetta) but somehow muddles through.
This book was interesting and informative, and I can't help thinking that if nothing else, it is useful to have a better insight into the work a coroner does. I was a bit surprised to read that according to ancient charter an inquest is never held in a pub, as towards the end of the 19th century the inquest on someone in my family history was held in the local hostelry.
After finishing the book I was surprised to find I actually cared what happened to the characters next which is quite unusual for me.
I did wonder at the start whether this was a thriller or a text book on the role and duties of a coroner, but luckily that didn't last, and I was soon drawn into the well written story. So many books in this genre are set in the States it was refreshing to find one that was set in familiar places and actually applied to us in the UK.
I was intrigued by the subplot which kept me guessing right to the end of the book, and probably well into The Disappeared the next book in the series. Our heroine is full of temazipan and doubts (a far cry from Scarpetta) but somehow muddles through.
This book was interesting and informative, and I can't help thinking that if nothing else, it is useful to have a better insight into the work a coroner does. I was a bit surprised to read that according to ancient charter an inquest is never held in a pub, as towards the end of the 19th century the inquest on someone in my family history was held in the local hostelry.
After finishing the book I was surprised to find I actually cared what happened to the characters next which is quite unusual for me.
38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
According to the dust jacket, this is M.R. Hall's first novel and it's a good one. Rather intriguingly choosing as a male author to focus on a main female character, he pulls it off well. Jenny Cooper, 42, just short of beautiful, has had some kind of a nervous breakdown following the acrimonious collapse of her marriage. Choosing to leave her career as a child lawyer, she takes a job as a coroner in the Severn valley and moves into a rural cottage on the borders of Wales and England.
But the previous coroner died of a heart attack in bed, and has left a couple of messy cases: the suicide in custody of a 15 year old boy, and the apparent death of a 15 year old girl through a heroin overdose. Dogged by an unco-operative assistant, NHS pathologists, local authority bureaucrats and an assortment of social workers, Jenny fights to find out what really happened to these kids and why everyone is so keen to have these cases closed.
I'm not someone who reads every crime book out there, but I do enjoy them occasionally and found this a refreshing change from the genre ennui I so often encounter. There is a freshness to the story, the characters and the writing, and Hall does a fine job of holding the balance between the case and Jenny's troubled personal life. There were times where I felt that he perhaps went too far in making her such an emotional cripple - pill-popping every half an hour, drinking her way through two bottles of wine an evening, barely eating with a vague hint of anorexia at the start where she admits to making herself throw up because she doesn't want to be fat - that it didn't quite make sense that she also manages to not just hold down a responsible job, but also deliver some extremely hard-hitting court-room speeches.
However this is a small flaw and not one which in any way spoils the enjoyment of the book. Intelligent, unobtrusively written, the story twists and turns, revealing secrets and hidden motivations as it goes. A far cry from the gore-fest that so many crime novels have become, this instead relies on plot to keep the reader gripped, and though there is sex, it's glossed over rather than indulged. And the acid test - would I read another Hall novel? Yes, definitely - though personally I think I'd prefer that he move on rather than turn the coroner into the start of a series. Recommended.
But the previous coroner died of a heart attack in bed, and has left a couple of messy cases: the suicide in custody of a 15 year old boy, and the apparent death of a 15 year old girl through a heroin overdose. Dogged by an unco-operative assistant, NHS pathologists, local authority bureaucrats and an assortment of social workers, Jenny fights to find out what really happened to these kids and why everyone is so keen to have these cases closed.
I'm not someone who reads every crime book out there, but I do enjoy them occasionally and found this a refreshing change from the genre ennui I so often encounter. There is a freshness to the story, the characters and the writing, and Hall does a fine job of holding the balance between the case and Jenny's troubled personal life. There were times where I felt that he perhaps went too far in making her such an emotional cripple - pill-popping every half an hour, drinking her way through two bottles of wine an evening, barely eating with a vague hint of anorexia at the start where she admits to making herself throw up because she doesn't want to be fat - that it didn't quite make sense that she also manages to not just hold down a responsible job, but also deliver some extremely hard-hitting court-room speeches.
However this is a small flaw and not one which in any way spoils the enjoyment of the book. Intelligent, unobtrusively written, the story twists and turns, revealing secrets and hidden motivations as it goes. A far cry from the gore-fest that so many crime novels have become, this instead relies on plot to keep the reader gripped, and though there is sex, it's glossed over rather than indulged. And the acid test - would I read another Hall novel? Yes, definitely - though personally I think I'd prefer that he move on rather than turn the coroner into the start of a series. Recommended.
50 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The tag line on the front of this book is 'I'm a Coroner. I spend my life laying things to rest'. We are introduced to the new Coroner of Severn Vale. Her name is Jenny Cooper, newly divorced and recovering from a breakdown, her teenage son lives with his father and new girlfriend and it is made clear from the very start of the book that Jenny has some deep childhood trauma in her life that has affected her personality and made her doubt herself and her abilities.
OK so we have the usual maverick type person, knocking back tranquilizers and wine as if they are going out of fashion, full of angst and generally falling apart and I felt a weariness of spirit come upon me and thought Do I really really want to read this? Do I really want to end up feeling as if I too would like to put my head in the gas oven? (As I am all electric decided there was no danger so on I went). I persevered and glad I did as I gradually became drawn into the story. Jenny's curiosity is aroused by the previous coroner's behaviour prior to his death and the fact he was trying to get to the bottom of the death of a teenager who had committed suicide in a young offender's institution. Then there was the drug related death of a young teenage girl, another suicide, seems a clear open and shut case, but as with all good crime stories, we begin to doubt that all is as it seems and Jenny decides to investigate further.
Once again, the usual stock characters pop up, the local businessman and Member of the Council, obnoxious and pompous who does not want Jennie to get involved, he is clearly on the make and has been taking backhanders from the owners of the offender's facility who want to build a bigger and better commercially run building elsewhere; the policeman, ambitious and ruthless who has skimmed over the investigation into the teenage girl's drug induced death; a slimy lawyer and an investigative journalist seeking a good story.
As she digs deeper into the mystery and cover up nasty things begin to happen to Jenny and her friends and her new lover, but the reader knows that ultimately she will find the guilty party. She does but it is not quite such a clear cut ending as normal and we are left with characters who are obviously going to reappear in the next story of what we are told is 'a fantastic new series heroine who takes on the establishment in a search of truth and justice whilst dealing with a very broken personal life'.
I always feel if you are going to use a cliche or two, then you may as well go the whole hog and The Coroner certainly does not hold back in this regard. And yet, and yet - I found myself becoming more and more engrossed with this story, I began to feel great sympathy for Jennie and though there were times when I felt like screaming DON'T DO THAT as I could see disaster just around the corner, ultimately this turned into a real page turner and one that I thoroughly enjoyed, despite my initial doubts. The final scene in the court room was very exciting and extremely filmic and I did my usual trick of casting actors in the various roles - already have an idea for Jennie - and I find that I can recommend this book to you as a good start to the series and I am looking forward to the next one.
I had assumed, that like JK Rowling, M R Hall was a woman as the book is certainly written from a woman's viewpoint and is sympathetic to Jenny's unhappiness and vulnerability. However, I have just checked and have discovered that he is "a screenwriter and producer and former criminal barrister, a profession he left due to a constitutional inability to prosecute".
So now we know.
OK so we have the usual maverick type person, knocking back tranquilizers and wine as if they are going out of fashion, full of angst and generally falling apart and I felt a weariness of spirit come upon me and thought Do I really really want to read this? Do I really want to end up feeling as if I too would like to put my head in the gas oven? (As I am all electric decided there was no danger so on I went). I persevered and glad I did as I gradually became drawn into the story. Jenny's curiosity is aroused by the previous coroner's behaviour prior to his death and the fact he was trying to get to the bottom of the death of a teenager who had committed suicide in a young offender's institution. Then there was the drug related death of a young teenage girl, another suicide, seems a clear open and shut case, but as with all good crime stories, we begin to doubt that all is as it seems and Jenny decides to investigate further.
Once again, the usual stock characters pop up, the local businessman and Member of the Council, obnoxious and pompous who does not want Jennie to get involved, he is clearly on the make and has been taking backhanders from the owners of the offender's facility who want to build a bigger and better commercially run building elsewhere; the policeman, ambitious and ruthless who has skimmed over the investigation into the teenage girl's drug induced death; a slimy lawyer and an investigative journalist seeking a good story.
As she digs deeper into the mystery and cover up nasty things begin to happen to Jenny and her friends and her new lover, but the reader knows that ultimately she will find the guilty party. She does but it is not quite such a clear cut ending as normal and we are left with characters who are obviously going to reappear in the next story of what we are told is 'a fantastic new series heroine who takes on the establishment in a search of truth and justice whilst dealing with a very broken personal life'.
I always feel if you are going to use a cliche or two, then you may as well go the whole hog and The Coroner certainly does not hold back in this regard. And yet, and yet - I found myself becoming more and more engrossed with this story, I began to feel great sympathy for Jennie and though there were times when I felt like screaming DON'T DO THAT as I could see disaster just around the corner, ultimately this turned into a real page turner and one that I thoroughly enjoyed, despite my initial doubts. The final scene in the court room was very exciting and extremely filmic and I did my usual trick of casting actors in the various roles - already have an idea for Jennie - and I find that I can recommend this book to you as a good start to the series and I am looking forward to the next one.
I had assumed, that like JK Rowling, M R Hall was a woman as the book is certainly written from a woman's viewpoint and is sympathetic to Jenny's unhappiness and vulnerability. However, I have just checked and have discovered that he is "a screenwriter and producer and former criminal barrister, a profession he left due to a constitutional inability to prosecute".
So now we know.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
6 hours later...
Yes. 6 hours is all it took for me to read this.
I'm quite a fan of crime fiction and I read quite a lot of it, however something about The Coroner would not let me... Read more
I'm quite a fan of crime fiction and I read quite a lot of it, however something about The Coroner would not let me... Read more
Published 4 days ago by E. Wolfson
A top read
Loved the story and the intrigue surrounding the deaths of the children in the correctional facility although there were some unexplained questions at the end for me. Read more
Published 11 days ago by samcam
At last - a realistic central character!
Have now read all the books in the Jenny Cooper series by M R Hall &can thoroughly recommend this author. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Suze
The Coroner
On the whole, I enjoyed this book. I will certainly look out for others in the series. I just hope that Jenny gets a grip on her pill intake! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Hobbyist
Thank you Amazon
Thank you Amazon for introducing me to M R Hall, through your Christmas sale.
Through the Kindle sale I have a found a couple of new authors that I might have missed but that... Read more
Through the Kindle sale I have a found a couple of new authors that I might have missed but that... Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. Hanby
Brilliant read
As someone who deals with Coroners regularly, this book does not fail to deliver an accurate description of the life of the Coroner in the UK. Brilliant story. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mildie
Interesting page turner
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down. Loved the characters and gained an insight into the world of a Coroner. Read more
Published 6 months ago by agroovychick
A story about a sad and damaged woman.
I was really looking foreword to this book as it had been recommended by a friend I trust. However I hated it, the story line was good but completely spoilt for me because of the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by annie
Great read
I really enjoyed this book as a new slant on crime novels. The main character is a flawed but likable newly appointed coroner, she has several issues in her personal life which are... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Nanna Ann
The Coroner
Fast-paced novel investigating cases with an unusual slant as well as the mental recovery (and set backs) of the newly appointed coroner. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Julia Drum
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