The Specimen - Jaima Fixsen - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Jaima Fixsen

NARRATOR: Cathleen McCarron

GENRE: Historical Mystery

PUBLICATION DATE: October 15, 2024

RATING: 4.5 stars

In a Nutshell: A historical Gothic mystery focussed on some stomach-churning crimes. Based on true events. Not exactly a whodunnit as we already know the guilty party. But fabulous as a story depicting the extent a mother can go for her son. Slow-paced, yet gripping all the way. I loved it!

Plot Preview:

1826. Edinburgh. Isobel Tait, a single mother who teaches piano to earn a living, loves one person more than anyone else in the world: her seven-year-old son Thomas. Unfortunately, Thomas has been sickly ever since he contracted scarlet fever about a year before. When an acquaintance suggests that Isobel take Thomas to the acclaimed Dr. Burnett for a reliable cure, little does the young mother know that her life is soon to turn into a nightmare.

With frequent kidnappings and grisly human organ museums and phantom voices and nefarious activities under the guise of medical research, this plot thus turns into a horrifying slow-burn historical mystery.

The story comes to us in Isobel’s first-person point of view, along with two other character perspectives in third person: Dr. Burnett and police detective Adam Kerr.

PSA: Do yourself a favour and don't read the Goodreads blurb. It doesn't reveal too much, but it does reveal a key point that botches some of the initial suspense. Just trust me and go in blind.

Bookish Yays:

❤︎ Isobel – What an amazing character! Courageous and determined, Isobel depicts the extent to which a mother can go for her child. As a fellow mother, I felt her pain throughout and was rooting for her with all my heart.

❤︎ The two kids in the story: Thomas and ten-year-old Nan. Child characters anyway win my heart more often than not, but these two are especially memorable.

❤︎ Police detective Adam Kerr, whose biracial roots, neither from England, ensure that he faces racial discrimination from within the police force. Loved the realistic way in which his character is portrayed.

❤︎ The other supporting characters. There are quite a few of them but the book never felt overloaded to me. Each one’s personality is carved so sharply that within just a few lines, we get a pulse of their personality. None of the women in the story are weak, though not all might be angelic. The characters serve as a masterclass in human behaviour and how social aspirations and/or requirements affect personal behaviour. Brilliantly done!

❤︎ Beautiful lyrical writing with such lovely imagery that the scenes played like a movie in my head. (Admittedly, this isn't the best thing to happen in a story with such a grisly plot… Oh well!)

❤︎ As Isobel teaches the piano, Isobel’s first-person narration had plenty of musical metaphors, which I relished. These depict Isobel's musical aptitude as well as her music-oriented manner of thinking even in her descriptions of people and sounds. Best of all, these are not written in a technical way, so even readers without knowhow of classical music would be able to understand them.

❤︎ Fabulous atmosphere throughout, with several scenes causing my pulse to beat faster. The macabre medical practices thrill and chill in equal measure. The historical setting is used excellently, whether in the police investigation or the local superstitions or the medical professionals’ clique-like behaviour or the dark truth behind some medical practices.

❤︎ Several brilliant scenes where characters tell scary stories to each other – perfect to amp up the spook factor of the book.

❤︎ Multiple parallel arcs, thanks to so many events and characters, but every single arc fits into the narrative neatly without its feeling forced, and the whole plot is even settled smoothly by the end.

❤︎ So many emotions generated by this story – it is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking, possibly more of the latter.

❤︎ No forced romance or any romance. The focus stays where it ought to be.

❤︎ The ending. Can’t go into spoilers so I’ll just say: Loved almost all of it!

Bookish-Yays-For-Me-Might-Be-Nays-For-Others

💕 This is not a whodunnit as the “mystery” becomes clear quite early in the plot. It is more about avenging a crime than trying to figure out the guilty party. I wasn’t reading it for the mystery anyway, so this didn’t bother me. Mystery lovers might need to realign their expectations.

💕 The proceedings are on the slower side, but this didn't bother me at all as the plotline was engrossing. Not once did my attention dip! Those who don’t like slowburn stories might need to have patience.

💕 There are some mildly paranormal events, nothing spooky or nightmare-inducing. However, these are not explained, so if you are the kind to need answers for everything, you just have to go with the flow for this.

💕 The overall story comes from three characters, two in third person and one in first person. Each of these is written brilliantly with never any confusion about why the plot needed these three points of view. Moreover, each of the perspectives has a lot happening and are thus equally important in the overall storyline. Those who don’t enjoy multi-character perspectives might struggle to keep up.

Bookish Nays:

💔 Without going into major spoilers, all I can say is: the witchy content in the final quarter doesn’t fit smoothly into the overall plot. It’s not bad, but it just feels awkwardly shoved in.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at a little more than 13 hours, is narrated by Cathleen McCarron. How have I not heard any book narrated by her before!??! She is outstanding! She has a mild Scot accent, which worried me at first as I am not too used to it. But her lilt was impeccable and not at all difficult to comprehend. The way she voices every single character distinctly was just brilliant. Emotions, conversations, inner monologues – no confusion about anything. I’d love to hear more books narrated by her.

The only issue with the audio version is that I wanted to go even faster! There were so many scenes in this fascinating story where I would have flipped the pages at full speed had I had the physical/digital version, in which case I'd have devoured the book in a day! Of course, you can increase the tempo of the audio to crazy levels if you want, but I never go above 1.75x as I want to feel like I am actually listening to a human and not a chipmunk.

The author’s note is yet again missing from the audio copy. A peek at some other reviews showed me that the note details the actual case this story was based on, so it is a vital part of the reading experience. I don’t know why we don’t get access to it. So annoying!

(Editing to Add: The author is such a gem of a person. When I wrote to her about this issue, she emailed me the author's note! Reading it confirms that it should have been added to the ALC as it reveals several vital details and writing choices.)

Newbie audiobook listeners might have trouble keeping up with the multiple character perspectives, so better if they stick to reading. They could also try immersion reading – eyes plus ears at once. This would work well with such a wonderful narrator.

All in all, this is easily one of my top reads for 2024. It’s a great option for the spooky season, though it might work better for historical fiction lovers than mystery lovers.

Do note that it isn't an easy read considering the theme. There are many disturbing events so do check out the content warnings before you opt for this. The ending is highly satisfying, if that helps.

I had assumed this to be my first book by this author, but as it turns out, it is the second one! As ‘Audrey Blake’, this author co-writes STEMinist historical fiction with fellow author and friend Regina Sirois. I remember reading ‘The Surgeon’s Daughter’, and while I was quite annoyed that it hadn’t been marked as a sequel, I had enjoyed the historical and medical parts of that novel. Those aspects are fabulous in this book as well. I am definitely going to keep a keen eye out for her future works.

Much, much recommended to every historical fiction lover who doesn’t mind dark content based on true crimes. If you are an audio aficionado, do opt for the audio version.

My thanks to Recorded Books for providing the ALC of “The Specimen” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

Content Warnings: (DO NOTE THAT THIS LIST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS AND MIGHT NOT BE EXTENSIVE.)

Child death, heart issues, organ harvesting, body snatching, murder, physical assault, racial discrimination, bullying, prostitution, extramarital pregnancy.