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First Cut by [Judy Melinek, T.J. Mitchell, M.D.]

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Judy Melinek MD

First Cut Kindle Edition

by Judy Melinek (Author), T.J. Mitchell, M.D. (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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A hard-nosed San Francisco medical examiner uncovers an underworld plot in this fiction debut by the New York Times bestselling authors of Working Stiff.

For San Francisco’s newest medical examiner, Dr Jessie Teska, it was supposed to be a fresh start. A new job in a new city. A way to escape her own dark past. Instead she faces a chilling discovery when a suspected overdose case contains hints of something more sinister. Jessie’s superiors urge her to close the case, but as more bodies land on her autopsy table, she uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to an elaborate plot involving nefarious opioid traffickers and flashy tech titans who got rich off Bitcoin. Autopsy means ‘see for yourself,’ and Jessie Teska won’t stop until she has seen it all — even if it means the next corpse on the table could be her own.

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Product description

About the Author

Judy Melinek, M.D. was an assistant medical examiner in San Francisco for nine years, and today works as a forensic pathologist in Oakland and as CEO of PathologyExpert Inc. She and T.J. Mitchell met as undergraduates at Harvard, after which she studied medicine and practiced pathology at UCLA. Her training in forensics at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner is the subject of her and T.J's first book, the memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Review

"Scalpel sharp. First Cut allows a peek into the autopsy room through the eyes of a pro."

-- "Kathy Reichs, #1 New York Times bestselling author"

"Who better to deliver a genuinely compelling mystery than real-life medical examiners? Fans of CSI and Forensic Files will devour this well-plotted story.""

-- "Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN : B07TT89LR6
Publisher : HQ Fiction (1 January 2020)
Language : English
File size : 557 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 400 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 19,230 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 62 in Medical Fiction (Books)
- 512 in Women Sleuths
- 584 in Women Sleuth Mysteries (Books)

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96 ratings

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5 star		79%
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3 star		7%
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1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Jacinta Penn

Thrilling action and real characters

Reviewed in Australia on 28 December 2020

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Great read with a nice balance of developing real characters and thrilling action with lots of forensics thrown in. Not shying away from the details the authors still managed to not gross me out too much, a fine balance indeed in a forensic mystery. Touches of humour and a strong female character won me over to becoming a fan. Look forward to the next one.

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Matthew Barker

Intriguing, Intelligent Thriller

Reviewed in Australia on 22 December 2019

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Loved First Cut. Sharp, intriguing thriller in the world of forensic pathology. Anybody who enjoys Kay Scarpetta will love Jessie Teska!

Helpful

Good story with a slow start

Reviewed in Australia on 23 January 2020

I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.

We meet Jessie Teska when she is starting her new job with the medical examiner’s office in San Francisco, having moved there from LA. The start Jessie’s story is really slow and 15% in I was wondering what the point of the story was and I was bored. I decided I probably wasting going to bother reading any further. But later the same day I decided I was being too hasty and gave the book a second go and I’m glad I did.

It still took me to more than a third of the way in to First Cut to get really involved with the story, for me to see how that different cases, people and things in Jessie’s new life weren’t entirely random. I liked the way all of the parts of the story came together and there were a few good suspenseful action scenes that got my blood pumping. Ultimately First Cut was good reading, it just had a slow start. At the conclusion to the story I got the impression that maybe there would be more books featuring Jessie. I hope here will be.

Wicked Reads Review Team

Helpful

A complex story with plot twists and turns you won’t see coming

Reviewed in Australia on 6 January 2020

Written by a husband and wife team, First Cut is a fictional story of a medical examiner starting a career in a new city (San Francisco) and finding herself in at the deep end, with underworld figures determined to see that what she’s found is never used to bring them to justice. Dr. Jessie Teska is a fascinating and very realistic and relatable character, with her working-class Polish-Boston background, her massive student debts to pay off and her not-terrific taste in men.

Judy Melinek is a real-life medical examiner and brings a wealth of knowledge to the plot, making it feel extremely realistic - far more so than any given episode of CSI, for example, where DNA results come back in a day. The terminology does occasionally get a bit technically dense, not just in medical stuff but sometimes in computer terminology as well as a bitcoin-laundering side plot pops up, but I think it’s actually handled very well, with Jessie demanding her techie brother who she uses as a source break down the computerese for her and Jessie herself explaining her pathology findings to medical students and homicide detectives as a vehicle for the reader to understand.

If you enjoy TV shows like CSI, Silent Witness or Crossing Jordan, I think you’ll really like First Cut. It’s a complex story with plot twists and turns you won’t see coming. If forensic detail and the inner workings of a medical examiner’s office aren’t your thing - you will want a fairly strong stomach as there’s quite a lot of gruesome detail which the main character just takes in her stride - you might want to give this a miss, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to see it as the first of a series about Jessie and the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office. Five stars.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.

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Candy Jeffries

Not for the squeamish

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2021

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I really loved this book and can't wait for the next in the series. FULL of authentic and gruesome details and loved the setting in San Francisco.

Sewing Pigeon

Brilliant book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 December 2020

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Our eldest daughter is Studying Forensic Science with Criminal Investigation at Uni so I thought it would be right up her street for Christmas and she loves it. Arrived as expected so a great gift.

Medina Molly

Grabs your attention - and keeps it!

Reviewed in the United States on 15 January 2020

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This is the best mystery I've read in quite some time. I found the detail of procedural information is fascinating, and well-balanced by the book's page-turning, twisting plot. Bravo to the authors: you managed to educate us while entertaining us.

My only reservations: - 1. The quantity of Polish expressions seemed extraneous, and 2. - more significantly: (this my fervent plea to ALL recent fiction writers): please, please, leave out the EFF-word altogether.

Unlike some editorial reviews, I hope First Cut is NOT intended as the first in an ongoing series. By all means, do keep writing: just give us a new medical examiner next time with a different personal history, and leave First Cut for what it is: a great stand-alone.

7 people found this helpful

Kim A

Entralling forensic crime mystery novel

Reviewed in the United States on 24 March 2020

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I pre-ordered First Cut after reading Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell’s first book: Working Stiff. That book was excellent too!

First Cut was as riveting and full of wit; I felt the characters were well developed and interesting. The authors wrote the book in a way one could visualize what is going on. The main character, Dr. Jessie Teska, transfers from the L.A. Coroner’s office to S. F. and is immediately brought into an overdose case. Jessie is very shrewd and notices that there are possibly other drug-related cases. The plot ramps up from here with twists and turns. What I love and appreciate is that when they talk about forensics and autopsies, you know the details come from a real-life medical examiner and forensic pathologist. There are a lot of details in the book, and the authors have Dr Teska investigate and put together facts in a way that were intriguing and made me want to keep reading.
I couldn’t put this book down and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it . If you have read books with protagonists like Temperance Brennan and Kay Scarpetta you will like this one too!
I can’t wait for their next book!!

2 people found this helpful

cobbsox

I loved it!

Reviewed in the United States on 20 January 2020

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I bought First Cut because I loved Working Stiff. I rarely read fiction because I find nonfiction so much more fascinating, but this book was absolutely riveting. The characters were well developed and human, the plot was unpredictable, and the details about the job of a Medical Examiner were educational. I loved it! I recommend First Cut to anyone who enjoys a good read. I can't wait for the authors' next book!

4 people found this helpful

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