Book MYView: First the Dead by Tim Downs

When a national disaster strikes, "first the living" is the rule.

Unless you're the Bug Man.

When Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans, forensic entomologist Nick Polchak signs up to help with the recovery effort. He is known as the Bug Man for his knowledge of insects and what they can reveal about the dead. The government's mandate is clear--rescue the living first, recover the dead later.

But something is very wrong in the toxic soup-bowl of post-Katrina New Orleans.

Someone is using the cover of disaster to kill...hiding the victims of murder in the same watery grave as the victims of Katrina.

It's a tale only the dead can tell. But no one besides the Bug Man is listening.

MYView: (Gush alert!) I love the Bug Man! Ever since I was hooked onto the television show, Bones, I found I can't enough of those forensic-type shows or books. I particularly enjoy when the investigation uses anthropology or geology to solve the crime. Here the Bug Man uses, you guessed it: entomology!

Squeamish readers may have to skip some scenes, but I don't think the author was gratuitous in his descriptions. The science speaks for itself; it is what it is. I found the descriptions about the different stages in insect infestation in the dead fascinating. Furthermore, the BugMan or Nick Polchak is such a unique character that his wit, intellect, and total disregard for authority (within reason!) will have you hooked from page one.

I'm usually not a fan of books surrounding natural disasters, but Downs handled the subject matter with care in First the Dead . I didn't feel he exploited the disaster, rather I felt he offered insights into recovery missions I would have otherwise not known.

Another Bug Man novel is coming out soon. Be on the look out for Ends of the Earth: A Bug Man Novel to hit shelves in September.