Consumed

Dr. Cooper Allen #2

by Greg Buchanan

A slick, smart, stylish - and shocking - thriller from one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction.

On a lonely farmstead, a 70-year-old woman falls down outside and, unable to move, is consumed overnight by two of her pigs.

It seems like a tragic accident, except the woman was well-known photographer Sophia Bertilak - and inside her house, someone has removed all her photos from their frames, seemingly erasing her past...

The first photo Sophia ever took remains her most a missing girl who was never seen again. Forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen is drafted in for the post-mortem - and slowly becomes obsessed with the victim, her family, and the crimes she brought to light decades ago.

As Cooper pulls on a dark thread of deception, secrets and lies, she begins to unravel the case - as well as herself...

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Adult, Contemporary

528 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2023

About the author

Greg Buchanan is a BAFTA-longlisted writer for interactive and screen. His acclaimed debut novel SIXTEEN HORSES was selected for BBC Two's Between The Covers and was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. A TV adaptation produced by Gaumont Television is on the way. His second novel CONSUMED is out summer 2023.

Greg also teaches a writing interactive narrative workshop, see his website for further details.

Greg studied English at the University of Cambridge and completed a PhD at King’s College London in identification and ethics. He is a graduate of UEA’s Creative Writing MA.


Twitter: @gregbuchanan
Instagram: @gregbuchananwriter

Reviews

[Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

70-year-old Sophie Bertilak was a famous photographer. Her most famous photograph, the photo that launched her career was an accident. When Sophie was 17, she was given a camera for her birthday. On that day, she went to the woods photographing everything. One photo was of a man and a young girl. A girl who had been missing for three years. A girl who was never seen again after the photo. The other shot was taken from above a pipe in the ground. When the photo was developed, it revealed an eye looking back from beneath the earth.

In the present-day Sophie is the victim of what the police believe to be a tragic accident. Living on her own back on the farmstead she grew up on, it appears that she has, quite macabrely, been consumed by her two pet pigs.

Cooper Allen is a forensic veterinarian who is tasked with the investigation and autopsy of the pigs. Although the police believe it to be an accident, Cooper, after meeting Sophie’s son and daughter, becomes infatuated with Sophie. Against the wishes of the police, she starts to investigate Sophie’s life. Strange evidence suggests that Sophie’s death may not have been an accident after all. In her house all the photos have been removed leaving empty frames.

Buchanan creates an eerie miasma that shrouds the story, pervading the novel with a sense of suspense and confusion. Confusion that is strengthened by a non-linear timeline and some dark mysterious characters.

The structure of the narrative is well written with emails and voicemails used to progress the story and flesh out the characters.

I must admit to being lost and confused a few times, but perseverance is rewarded with an ending that is hard to see coming.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice interesting premise.

Now elderly famous photographer Sophie Bertilak falls down outside her home and is consumed by her pigs.
Certainly interested!

What initially seems like an accident, do turns much deeper as forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen soon discovers.

The big mystery running through the book concerns one of Sophie's earliest pictures from the 1960s, which actually captured two missing children in the shot.

I'd not previously read this author's other novel, but I found the writing style unique though hard to follow.
The various snippets of podcast transcripts and e-mails to introduce clues to piece together.
A little long at times, despite the short chapters.

[Nathan Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greg Buchanan’s writing oozes a sense of dreadful inevitability. The mystery draws you in, and the bleak, often scary atmosphere holds you in the narrative.
Special note should be given to his attention to detail and richness of backstory for our hero, Cooper. She feels well rounded and someone who you want to know more about.
I loved this take on the detective genre, working through animals to see the horrors of humanity. And Cooper is the perfect guide through these traumas.
It’s been a while since I devoured (or consumed, hehehe) a book so quickly.

I can’t wait to see what’s next for Cooper.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sophia Bertilak, a famous photographer especially famed for a specific photo, falls outside her house and as she is stuck she is consumed by her two pigs. Forensic Veterinarian Cooper Allen ends up assisting with this case. Is it a tragic accident or could something more sinister be at play?

This book was nothing at all like I was expecting! I am still unsure what to make of it or how to rate it. I found the role of Forensic Veterinarian fascinating and it is definitely a unique premise from all the usual books focused on police officers. The storyline itself, especially the famous photograph taken by Sophia, has a very creepy premise and is quite haunting. The author does a great job in slowly building a dark, disturbing atmosphere.

The writing style is very different to anything I have come across and took me a while to get used to. I can only describe it as having a poetic quality but slightly jumpy in parts. The story is well written, although I did have to concentrate a lot to make sense of what was happening. Although the characters are also well written I did not fully connect with them, this may be partly due to the writing style.

Overall, this started off well but I found my concentration wavering as the book went on. This is probably personal preference as I usually enjoy books that are bit more fast paced with a bit less filler. Although I found some parts slow, I can say this is a disconcerting, interesting story with a lot of positive elements and would be greatly enjoyed by those who love atmospheric, slow burn crime fiction. I will definitely be interested in seeing what the author creates next! Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this early copy in return for an honest review.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

So glad to have finally finished this weird book. It was dark, disjointed. Unpleasant experience that I nearly gave up so many times but kept thinking it should get better having read reviews on the cover. It didn’t

[Carol - Reading Writing and Riesling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bizarre. Horrific. Hard work to read.

[Britta · Rating 2 out of 5]

No one in this book talks or behaves like a real human being.

[Maria Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consumed by Greg Buchanan
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Publication Date: 20/7/23

4.5 ⭐️ /5

No Spoilers

I loved the authors debut “Sixteen Horses”, it was one of my favourite books of 2021. This second book featuring Cooper Allen, the forensic vet we were introduced to in Sixteen Horses, is as original, gripping and thrilling as the first. I did find the timelines harder to follow, which may be resolved in the formatting of the final copy, but it is still a fantastic read.
Be warned it’s very dark and quite disturbing in places but the premise and its conclusion make it a must read.
Thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for providing me with this advance digital proof in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

[Alison Court]

Crap from start to end. Zero stars from me.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that I initially picked up because of the cover. where it sat on the rack in the bookshop, it stood out amongst the current crop of new releases. I suppose it really does help to have a distinctive image to draw people in. So I picked it up and flipped it over. Now I may have read crime fiction in its many guises from contemporary right back to the classic, but for me, a forensic veterinarian was most definitely a first. Now it does take a great deal to work out what it meant she did for a living. But I suppose in your mind this would seem like a very small part of an investigation. It peeked my curious as to just know how this author was going to spread this out to cover its five hundred and twenty-eight pages. But as someone who is always curious about new authors, I was willing to take the chances and see how this was going to pay out. Now it turns out it has only been a couple of weeks since buying it when I found myself opening the cover and jumping in.

Did I know this was a sequel... no does it seem to matter... as it turns out apparently not as I quickly got to grips with our hero without realizing the above. But this may just go to show the writer's skill in that his style means we as readers can jump in a pick up the threads very quickly. As for Cooper, she is a character that I have come to really enjoy reading. She is smart quick-witted and has the dogged determination that one would expect from any good detective. Now on the other hand because she does not work as a police officer we can give her far more leeway within the story than otherwise might be given. What this means is that whilst we may not always agree with the choices she makes we can see a little of ourselves in them. Someone who does not have to follow procedure or for that matter no what they are. She is willing to take the risks need to get to the bottom of the case that has become her whole world.

When it comes to the actual narrative of this book, I must say that I was captivated after the first chapter. Buchanan has done an amazing job of creating the world in which Cooper inhabits. Each location can be seen clearly in our mind's eyes. And it all helps to bring us into the story. It is in my opinion one of those books where the story has been so perfectly crafted that you simply do not want to put it down. Buchanan brings us each of the twists and turns at what feels like exactly the right moment. And for me at least I think I became just as invested as Coooper in finding out what exactly took place all those years ago. Consumed, however, does not deliver just one mystery that Cooper has to decipher. It at times feels like we are peeling back the layers of the onion. This is probably part of the reason why this book becomes so consuming. As we delve deeper we get these little wins but must keep going in the hunt for the complete truth of this work.

This I suspected has been one of my favorite books that have read this year. It has a feeling all of its own and the author's style means that I suspect any crime fan will be able to jump in and have a great experience with it. He shows that stories like this can be written without the need for a police detective as its hero. And in some ways, I think this adds a little more peril to the tale. We know there is no big force behind her that could come swooping in just in the nick of time. What I am left with is a story that I'm sure will stay with me for quite some time and one I can highly recommend
.

[Juliet Bookliterati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greg Buchanan’s first novel Sixteen Horses was a huge success, and I have a copy sitting on one of my many bookshelves. Consumed is the sequel and has the same central character of Dr Cooper Allen, a forensic veterinarian, a job I had never heard of before this book. Cooper finds herself in the quaint town of Lethwick for a weekend with her mother and sister. But on her first night she is called by the police to do an autopsy on two pigs who have eaten their owner, renowned photographer Sophia Bertilak. Cooper finds herself pulled into the mystery of Sophia’s death, and the mystery of two missing children over fifty years ago. The timeline is split and starts in 1964 with Sophie’s story at seventeen and up to the present day and the investigation of her death and Cooper’s story.

Consumed is such a wonderful and fitting title for this book; not only is Sophie (her prefered name) consumed by her pigs, Cooper is consumed by the investigation, and Sophie spent her life wanting to find out what happened to those girls whose photo she took at seventeen. The writing of this book is sublime, the short staccato chapters giving only as much information as needed, the inclusion of e-mails and reports, and the many red herrings make this such a gripping read. Greg Buchanan also has a mystery within a mystery within a mystery; the death of Sophie, the mystery of Stephanie Earlsham, the buried child and the death of a police officer soon after. This book has so many layers and threads which had me engaged and immersed in this story, so much so it was hard to put the book down. My brain was working overtime to try and keep up with what was happening and how it was all going to come together. The tension was kept throughout, and you didn’t know which characters to trust and who had there own agenda.

I haven’t read Sixteen Horses yet so Dr Cooper Allen was a new character to me. I found her a fascinating but flawed character which added interest to the plot of the book. Obviously I don’t know how much information about her from Sixteen Horses but in Consumed she is distant from her mother and sister, to the extent that being part of the investigation is more appealing than spending time with them. She was a complex character, seeming lost in parts, adrift from her life, but being drawn into Sophie’s story gives her more of a purpose that becomes almost an obsession that sees her her cross the lines of her perimeters in her investigation. Sophie’s story was intriguing, capturing an image of a child buried alive and a missing teenager that will always be her most famous work and influences her choice to be a war photographer, capturing death. There are a host of compelling characters, many flawed and many keeping secrets that are intricate part to this complex thriller.

Consumed is one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time. I loved everything about it, the writing style, the complex and multi faceted plot, the flawed characters and the the mystery within a mystery. Full of suspense, this is a thrilling and engaing read that had me consumed (sorry for the pun). I can’t recommend this book highly enough !!

[Greenreadsbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is written in the third person and opens in 1964. The timeline moves between past and present and mainly focuses on the two main characters, Sophia, the photographer, and Cooper, the forensic veterinarian. The chapters are variable in length and interwoven with the narrative are emails, podcast transcripts and other snippets of information. Initially I found the format a little distracting, but I soon fell into the rhythm of it and felt that it reflected the mental state of the protagonists.

The characters are flawed and well formed, and whilst not necessarily likeable I was invested in their stories. The book keeps you on your toes and keeps you guessing right until the end. There are twists and turns and layers of intrigue, mystery and detail. It really makes you think and you need to give it your full attention!

There are some dark themes addressed in the book including murder, child death, kidnap, stalking, drug use, and much more. Family dynamics and relationships are explored really well.

The descriptive writing is very well executed and there are some really compelling paragraphs, with excellent scene setting and character development. I loved the way the author captures the essence of the landscape and the buildings. I could really imagine Sophia’s house, the basement and the woods.
The author has done a fantastic job of creating a well paced, tightly woven narrative with intricate backstories and the right level of tension. I still have questions and may need to read it again! It was a real page turner and I was really keen to carry on reading even when I was too tired. I enjoyed the way the story played out and I liked the ending. This is an intelligent thriller with an unusual plot, dark and unsettling vibes and an interesting story arc. Highly recommended!

[Emma Minazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! So many emotions while reading this! The story of Sophie, Stephanie and Cooper is heartbreaking. Such powerful words and a story I didn't want to end!

Imagine getting a camera for your birthday, going on a walk so you can get inspiration for your pictures in the woods and come across (and photograph) a man and a young child. A young child that had gone missing and then finding a pipe in the wood floor, unsure of it's relevance but taking a picture anyway as it was interesting and out of the ordinary. Those photographs coming to life and setting up your life as you get older. A point of interest in the forest, full of mystery of the people and circumstances.

Look forward to more books from Greg!
Well worth a read!

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consumed, by Greg Buchanan
Rating: 3/5
Published: 20th July
Another dark and chilling read from the talented author of Sixteen Horses. On a lonely farmstead, an elderly woman falls and is consumed by her pigs. They obliterate her – piece by piece – and forensic veterinarian, Cooper Allen, is called in to try and salvage the woman from their stomachs for investigation. She becomes obsessed with the victim, an eminent photographer who was responsible for capturing one of the last known sightings of a kidnap victim when she was a child. It becomes clear that Cooper is linked to the missing girl, and she makes it her mission to discover how. This book is artfully told, with lots of twists and turns. Like Sixteen Horses, the descriptions get right under your skin. It is quite haunting, and recommended for all fans of Buchanan’s debut novel.

[Vivienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“After a while, Sophie came across a piece of pipe, stuck down in the half-ashen soil. It was a grey plastic cylinder. It did not appear to have been here for very long, …. She held her camera over the pipe. The silver metal of her device shone in the final hour of sunlight. She took a photograph of the pipe from above, a bird’s eye view just as a cloud drifted overhead….”

My thanks to Orion Publishing Group for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Consumed’ by Greg Buchanan.

While Buchanan’s second novel works fine as a standalone, it does feature forensic veterinarian, Cooper Allen, who had appeared in his 2021 debut novel, ‘Sixteen Horses’.

In ‘Consumed’ Cooper is in the rural town of Lethwick on a break ahead of a family reunion. She is asked by the local police to perform a necropsy on two pet pigs after their 70-year-old owner had fallen and overnight had met the end that the title indicates.

At first it is assumed to be a tragic accident, except for the fact that Sophia Bertilak had been a well-known photographer and it appears that someone has removed all of her photos from their frames.

Cooper Allen slowly becomes obsessed with the victim, her family, and the crimes that she had brought to light decades ago. Central to these were two photographs that seventeen-year-old Sophia had taken with her first camera during a foray into the woods. These photos gained her wide recognition and effectively launched her career. No further details to avoid spoilers.

There was a chilling undercurrent to the narrative that borders on folk horror. The quotes that headed the novel’s parts set the mood. There were also allusions to Robert W. Chambers classic tale, ‘The King in Yellow’, and the cursed city of Carcosa. These literary references gave me a delicious shiver of recognition that within these pages we were embarking into eldritch territory.

Buchanan moved smoothly between the present and past, slowly building up the story of Cooper’s and Sophia’s lives. The narrative does demand a close reading and I expect that I will reread it in the future in order to appreciate its symbolism and multiple layers.

Overall, I was very impressed with ‘Consumed’. Greg Buchanan’s writing is rich and descriptive and I quickly found myself completely immersed. I felt that it was an intelligent Gothic literary thriller.

Highly recommended. 


[Matt TB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved the style of writing, the addition of very modern concepts, early on we have text being broken up with web searches, podcast scripts, the odd scatterbrained moment which read a lot like an inner voice.

A little too long for me though, some parts felt like it dragged. Going backwards and forwards across 80 years and characters with similar or the same name got to me a little.



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And it may as well have ended on “and they woke up for it all to be a dream”, last 10 pages left a right sour taste.

[Cozmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: [S]

Strong, expressive voice that gave birth to a gripping, unsettling atmosphere. The story and mystery made me consume ;) this book in a few days despite its length. The story is utterly macabre but never felt depressing or too much.

I didn't even read the first in the series (I plan to), and it didn't even matter! I just wish the book had more eyes on it because I have questions racking my brain!

[Juliette Le · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn’t finish it, i wasn’t in the story at all !

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Greg's second novel and his writing goes from strength to strength. This kept me hooked throughout and is a stunning page-turner of a story with an ending you won't see coming.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book featuring the talented but somewhat isolated forensic vet Dr Cooper Allen. As the book starts, she has been persuaded to go on a vacation to a country hotel in a small rural village to reconnect with her mother and sister, from whom she has become estranged. But then she is approached by the local police to provide her professional services in relation to the death of a local woman, who has apparently been eaten by her pigs. The woman was a retired war photographer but also noted for taking photographs as a teenager of a young girl in the company of an older man by a local lake - a girl who had been kidnapped some time previously....
Looking back on my review of the first book featuring this character, Sixteen Horses, I noted then that the story was quite hard to get a grip on as it jumped back and forth in time, and the characters even more so. With this one, I had even more of a problem!
Certainly the characters were 'fleshed out' far more but I found it hard to justify some of the totally stupid things that Cooper did during the investigation, that she effectively took on herself without police approval. This could be partially explained by the fact that she seemed to be being targeted in some way over the incident, but even so! There were some pretty unsavoury characters in this one too, notably the sociopathic D.S. Lapis who seemed to take pleasure in dogging Cooper's every move and making her feel very uncomfortable.
As the story kept jumping back and forth in time, the story of the woman photographer and of the missing teenage girl was gradually revealed but the relationships between the various characters over the course of time were not easy to understand. There was a bit of clarification towards the end, and a shocking revelation, but this didn't really 'rescue' it for me from a downgrade to a 3-star rating and in the end I was glad to finish it! - 6.5/10.

[MargCal · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 ☆
Finished reading ... Consumed / Greg Buchanan … 19 November, 2023
Series: Dr. Cooper Allen, No.2
ISBN: 9781398712720 … 517 pp.

Well, for a long book this was a remarkably quick read. Thank goodness! Talk about weird! I only kept reading because I wanted to know exactly how the old famous photographer came to be eaten by her pet pigs. After reading every page about the mad, bad, sad, creepy, crazy characters - not a pleasant one or any redeeming features amongst the lot of them, I was left …. thoroughly disappointed.

Not recommended.


Borrowed from my local library.

[Balthazarinblue · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 100 pages

I'm annoyed I can't find any spoilers that explain what the deal is with the girl in the pipe, but I cannot keep trudging through this book to discover it for myself. I enjoyed Sixteen Horses, so I was surprised at how much I disliked Consumed, almost from the first page. Alec did a lot of heavy lifting in the first book, I think. This one necessarily being only about Cooper drags things down. Buchanan has gone whole hog (excuse the pun) on the literary aspect of his writing, to the point that Consumed almost reads as a parody of literary fiction. It's the writing style that made this feel interminable.

If you know how this ended, feel free to spoil me in the comments!

[Jamad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A famous photographer is dead, eaten by her two pigs. All the photos in her house have been removed. A forensic vet is called in and she becomes obsessed with the case.

The book moves between characters, time and form (emails and voicemails). Initially I found it hard work keeping up but once I decided to just go with the flow it was good. A slow burn that built up the suspense.

Thanks to Netgallery for the ARC

[Olivia Cotgrove · Rating 2 out of 5]

printing errors didn't help with my confusion
was definitely a bit all over the place
would be a good bbc 3-part detective series starring nicola walker

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished it but still none the wiser

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen is in picturesque Lethwick for a reluctant reunion with her estranged mother and sister. Arriving at the hotel with a few days grace to prepare herself for the forthcoming ordeal, she is in the right place, at the right time, to consult with the local police force on an unusual case. Former renowned photographer, seventy-year-old Sophia Bertilak appears to have suffered a tragic accident, after falling down outside her rural home and having been consumed by her two pigs. Cooper's job is to undertake a post-mortem on the hastily euthanised pigs, to see if she can gather any information about this bizarre death, but there is little left in the way of mortal remains to offer any clues.

With Cooper's part in the investigation over, the police discharge her to continue with her family holiday, but several things about this case tug at her conscience, and she becomes obsessed with finding out exactly what happened to Sophia - especially when she discovers Sophia's link to the infamous disappearance of a young woman, that was never solved. What Cooper does not realise is that her relentless digging will set her on a dangerous path...

Consumed follows the continuing story of forensic vet Cooper Allen, which began in Greg Buchanan's quite brilliant debut novel, Sixteen Horses. Cooper has had a tough few years since the events of the Sixteen Horses investigation, which still haunt her despite undergoing therapy for her psychological scars. She has found it hard to reassemble the fractured pieces of her life, particularly when it comes to being close to another human being, and some of the behaviours she has fallen into keep her very isolated.

Cooper's fragile state causes her to get in too deep in this story, as she latches on to the inconsistencies in the Sophia Bertilak investigation. The heart of the matter lies in Sophia's connection to the case of a missing young woman, Stephanie Earlsham, who was assumed to be dead until Sophia captured her on film in the company of an unknown man in 1964. These photographs made her famous and began her career as a well known photo journalist. In an additional sinister twist, Sophia unintentionally took a photograph of a missing child on the same day. Neither Stephanie, nor the unnamed child, have been traced since.

The storylines of the current police investigation, Cooper's unauthorised digging, and the tension of her family reunion burgeon, branching out into a bevy of delicious threads around past sins and corruption. The timeline jumps around between past and present, but Buchanan does a splendid job keeping a tight grip on each part, building tension as Cooper's tenacity uncovers a complex web of secrets and lies. He gradually draws you in to paint a picture that elicits as many questions as it does apparent answers, until the superb ending brings about an epiphany that shockingly throws a different light on everything you think you know.

This is masterful storytelling, ripe in themes of loss, loneliness, trauma, and alienation, which echo in the experiences of many of the characters, and the way Buchanan weaves many shades of 'consumed' throughout is seriously slick. I am somewhat relieved that he has dialled down the references to animal cruelty this time around, but even so he does not shy away from describing nature as red in tooth and claw (or possibly hoof and snout), and I thoroughly enjoyed the way he examines the complex relationship between animals and humans with real insight. A word here for the superb way in which Buchanan pitches his tent in a very different setting for this story from his debut, and yet floods the whole fabulous book with equally menacing undercurrents, and there is something incredibly unsettling about the way the picturesque backdrop contrasts with the darkness playing out in the foreground. Outstanding!

Greg Buchanan made his mark with Sixteen Horses, breaking through as one of the most exciting new writers in the crime genre, and Consumed confirms that he is far from a flash in the pan. This is, quite simply, one of the finest literary crime novels I have ever had the pleasure to be 'consumed' by. More please, Mr Buchanan!

[Rainz ❤️rainnbooks❤️(on a break) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens, I tell you, it had gone mad”. - Joseph Conrad

The title of the book CONSUMED fits the story to the ‘T’, that is the first thought that crossed my mind, and after that, a mind numbing sense of Sturm und Drang. Consumed is an all consuming and absorbing read that is gonna leave you in awe with the sheer mastery of the author’s writing, I am honestly at a loss to describe the effect this story had on me. I had previously read Sixteen Horses by Greg Buchanan (review ) and was impressed with his style of writing. Never in my life have I encountered an author who writes a scene as if it was being enacted by the characters in a movie. Not one ounce of my imagination would help me in creating the snapshot that the author's writing creates for the reader and it is, without doubt, a phenomenal talent.

Consider this sentence,

“ Cooper went down into the tunnel, walking along two sets of stairs until she reached the pit.
It was cold down there.
It was full of eyes.”

And the chapter ends…

Surely, no point in guessing my heart rate at this juncture with the imagination running wildly and all that is left to do would be to hold my breath and jump into the pit.

Like in his debut work, the author uses the muddling timeline technique brilliantly, going back and forth in times and thru different POVS. The main thread of the story is simple, Cooper Allen, a forensic veterinarian is on vacation but she is called into consulting in the death of renowned war photographer Sophia Bertilak, whose first stint to fame was the accidental photograph of a kidnapped victim and that of a missing girl Stephanie Ealrsham. So is there a crime committed and what happened to Stephanie all those years ago?

"I am terrified by this dark thing that sleeps in me." -Sylvia Plath

Cooper is not an easy character to warm to, her thoughts are sometimes so jumbled and make one feel that a breakdown is imminent. The broken relationship with her mother, the estranged relationship with her sister who is gonna marry her ex, and then her attempts at alleviating loneliness by creating an online alter persona and befriending Sophie's children all hints at a troubled mind traumatizing the reader further. The cause is her need to know more about Sophie and the missing girl Stephanie but the effect is her spiraling out of control taking extreme steps that she otherwise wouldn’t.

"Uprooted and lonely, still I endure,
inner strength, woven into my core. "– Angie Weiland Crosby

As the labyrinth becomes progressively darker and the maze seems bewildering, Cooper dives headlong to untangle the truth and unmask the puppeteer of this show.

Consumed is not a crime thriller that would interest all and sundry. Lethwick, Oppidum vetus Leneque, a town ancient and gentle, is itself a central character, giving a creepy aura and subtle gothicky vibe. The climax is not all roses tied with a beautiful bow, there are a couple of questions left for the reader to ponder. In the end, Consumed is about lonely souls, seeking some modicum of hope thru friendship, companionship, thru their family, love, thru anything that would become a reason to continue living.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Orion Publishing Group, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

This review is published in my blog Rain'n'Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Book Bub, ##Medium.com, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.

[Mandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Sixteen Horses, the first book in the Dr Cooper Allen series and finding it both different and highly enjoyable I was definitely looking forward to reading book 2. Well known photographer Sophia Bertilak appears to have died in tragic circumstances however there is no body as she died in her pig pen and the pigs did what comes naturally. Cooper Allen is called to assist as she is in the area meeting up with her estranged family and if she is honest she would rather be doing a postmortem on some dead pigs than spending time with her mother and sister. Once the postmortem is completed Cooper is no longer required but this does not stop her from doing some digging of her own to find out what happened to Sophia and to find out the truth behind the photograph that helped make her famous.
Consumed is very different from sixteen horses and it certainly seemed to have a much slower pace. The story goes between the past and the present focusing on several of the characters along the way. What is evident is that not everything is straightforward, and Cooper is dealing with an unknown person who determined to keep her digging into the past and it is the past that I think I was far more invested in. Like Cooper and Sophia before her I wanted to know what happened to the 2 missing children that Sophia inadvertently photographed on her 17th birthday over 50 years ago.
Cooper Allen is quite a complex character who over time you get to understand a little bit more about and the reasons why she is not interested in connecting with her family. She does also seem to have the same disconnect with others that try to get close to her and even therapy has not really been able to help her. That being said, I quite like her and her focus. I loved getting to know Sophia over the second half of the book and the lengths she had gone to over her career.
Consumed is definitely a long book at over 500 pages but I think every one of those pages were warranted as the backstory was just as important as the present day and added to the atmosphere of the story. Greg Buchanan’s descriptions of locations and situations put you right in the heart of the story, sending you down several dead ends in your quest to find out the truth right to the very end and I was definitely not expecting where it eventually led. Although this is part of a series you could quite easily read this on its own and not feel that you were missing details that were needed to enjoy it fully

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well... this got the juices flowing right from the off - an old lady falls down and gets eaten by her pigs. On face value, it appears to have just been an accident, albeit a nasty shocking one. But really nothing to get all het up about. Until, on further inspection, her house appears to have been stripped of all her photos from their frames. Photos she herself, as a world-famous, well respected photographer. So they call in forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen to assist. But she starts to overstep as she gets more and more embroiled in the life of the deceased. One Sophia Bertilak, whose first ever batch of photos contained one of a missing girl, with another that was even more shocking...
Well... I have to say that no one does overstepping like Cooper. Boy does she go when she gets her teeth into things. Getting the police to join in with her ways of thinking is indeed another thing entirely!
This is my first book starring a forensic vet and some of the things she describes that she has done were quite fascinating and I am definitely going to delve into that field a little more. It was also a refreshing change as it added a whole different spin on the case in question, coming from that side of things.
I did find that the story did lose its way a tad in the middle third but once it got going again it was cracking all the way to the shocking end. That said, pacing did follow the narrative and I guess quite a lot has to be delivered as a slow burn to follow the nature of the investigation.
Characters were well described and developed and all played their parts well. Some were more easy to connect to than others but I connected to Cooper well from the start so that helped.
All in all, a good solid read that I definitely enjoyed. I have Sixteen Horses on both my watch and read list (there's a TV adaptation) This also features Cooper Allen so I guess I best get reading it! My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

[Martin Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark and chilling story which fans of Sixteen Horses will love.

Sometime after the events of "Sixteen Horses", Cooper Allen is about to go on a short holiday with her estranged mother and sister, an event she is not looking forward to. Luckily, fate intervenes when she is asked to use her forensic veterinary skills to investigate some pigs which are suspected of eating their owner. What seems like a tragic accident, soon turns into a murder investigation.

And without further ado, the reader is drawn into another dark, disturbing and chilling story of family, power, deception and revenge. "Consumed* is a standalone novel, but fans of "Sixteen Horses" will be pleased with the way the author has picked up threads from that book developed them into a story as much about Cooper as the murdered woman, Sophie. We learn more about Cooper, her family and background, and gain an inkling into why she is, the way she is. The way in which past events link her, Sophie, and Sophie's own history do eventually tie up nicely, but it's a windy and torturous path the reader is led up.

As ever nowadays, the book moves between several time periods, as we slowly learn of the events which have led to the murder. As with the previous book, the author's writing style takes a bit of getting used to, but it certainly has no problems painting a dark and haunting picture of human failings. Cooper, her family, and the people she meets are all deeply flawed people, and there's plenty to love, hate and despair of, in all of them.

I was pleased to receive a Netgalley ARC for review, and I enjoyed the book enough I'll probably return to "Sixteen Horses" before getting my hands on a copy of "Consumed".

Heartily recommended.