Catherine Raynes: Anti Hero and The Dead Speak

Anti Hero: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz   Once a black ops assassin for the government known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak broke with the program and went deep underground, using his operational rules and skills to help the truly desperate with nowhere else to turn.  When Luke Devine, one of the most powerful men in the world has a psychological crisis, Evan flies to the East Coast to meet Luke. While there, he learns of a young woman who was kidnapped off the New York City subway, clearly in danger and in need of aid. With no name and few clues, Evan and his team track down the missing woman, who was assaulted and abandoned. Evan offers his help―and sets out tracking down the young men responsible. But the woman insists that Evan abandon his usual methods―no vengeance and, in particular, no killing. Which will prove no easy feat given the mounting incoming threats from all sides. In a mission that takes Evan from coast to coast, from the poorest corners of society to the richest, Orphan X must figure out a way to protect the innocent, avenge the victimized, and balance justice, with a measure of mercy.     The Dead Speak: My Life In Forensics by Thomas Coyle   In this empathetic and darkly funny memoir, Thomas Coyle – one of New Zealand's most seasoned forensic investigators – pulls back the police tape and walks us straight into the crime scenes.  With sharp detail, he reveals how the tiniest fragment of evidence can expose a suspect, prove a motive or confirm an identity. Sometimes, all at once.  But crime scenes are only part of his story. The Dead Speak also plunges us into the world of disaster victim identification – a discipline where time, science and compassion collide. Where forensic experts are flung into a race against time to identify bodies in makeshift morgues as desperate families wait for news of their loved ones.  Taking us from meticulous casework at New Scotland Yard to the chaos of the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand and the devastation of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, The Dead Speak is both a gripping insider's account of forensic investigation and an unflinching portrait of humanity at its best and worst. Fair warning, though: it's not for the faint-hearted.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.