Death's Driver: The Life of a Body Transporter

by Jack Larson

My career in the death care profession spanned only a decade but in that time I held several different positions, each with its own particular set of requirements and responsibilities. What linked them all together was my role as a driver for the dead. Sometimes I drove a hearse as a funeral driver, delivering the deceased to their final resting places. Other times I did body transport for the state morgue, in which capacity I picked up the dead from the scenes of car accidents, shootings, hit and runs, and worse. As an embalmer, I made body removals from hospitals, homes, and mortuaries. As a side business, I cleaned up after homicides and suicides.

It should come as no surprise that many myths and misconceptions still surround the death care profession. Real Death, not the romanticized Death of the big screen, is usually kept out of sight and out of mind and for good reasons. This book is about those reasons.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook

80 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2015

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of short (some very short) anecdotes from Larson's time transporting bodies, mostly from crime or accident scenes to the morgue with some more details on autopsies & preparing bodies for their final rest - burial or cremation. At first I wasn't thrilled with the format. It seemed a bit too superficial, but I quickly began to enjoy it immensely for it's raw truth. This isn't a stodgy text, but a regular guy talking directly to the reader about a very necessary job that most of us know nothing about. His & others opinions & reactions are just laid out without any polish.

It wasn't a very long book, just under 2 hours, very well read by J. Scott Bennett, but it's also available as an ebook. I highly recommend it to any author writing about death. There's an awful lot the TV gets wrong - like closing eyes. Seriously, that's almost as bad as super quiet silencers. I'd further recommend it to anyone who plans on burying themselves or a loved one. Might as well donate the body to science & for organs, if possible. There isn't much difference in the way the body gets treated.

This was given to me free for an honest review.

[Deedra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok read.J. Scott Bennett was a good narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'

[Myk Pilgrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of death-centric escapades, an enjoyable listen.
Though I am wondering why anyone would openly carry dead babies wrapped in a blanket - seems like a cardboard box would make far more sense.

[Amie's Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook is just under two hours in length and in it, Jack Larson relates short anecdotes about his time as “Death’s Driver.” Most of his anecdotes are about picking up bodies at accident or crime scenes and at times he goes into gory detail about the condition the body was in when he arrived to transport it to the morgue.

This audiobook is definitely not suitable for listeners under the age of 18 as I believe it would give children nightmares. It may even give some adults nightmares, but at least adults know what to expect when they read the synopsis, so, if it causes them nightmares, that is their own fault.

All of the anecdotes in this audiobook are very short. I found this frustrating at times. I guess I wanted a bit more of the backstory for each anecdote. Without the backstory I never really felt connected to the stories. But, I assume that author Jack Larson had to stay unattached and dispassionate to be able to do his job, so I guess this detachment is to be expected.

I really liked the narrator. He did a great job of describing some horrific situations with just the right mix of reverence for the dead and clinical dispassion. He never allowed his own personal feelings about any of the situations to show in his voice and if you choose to listen to this audiobook, you will realize just how difficult that must have been for him. I rate the narration as 5 out of 5 stars. *****

Overall, I found some of the anecdotes interesting and I found some of them just ridiculous. I just wish there was more personal detail so that I would have felt some connection to the author.

I rate this audiobook as 4 out of 5 stars. ****

[Warren Benton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.25

Larson talks of his years picking up dead bodies. Some of the stories are really short, some really grotesque, and some are quite humorous. He tries to keep his stories as informative as possible, and takes great care to fully respect the dead. Whether picking up an elderly person, accident victim, or suicide victim he talks of the professionalism that must be issued, and how he found people who made jokes about the dead offensive.

This is a short little book that gives you a brief view of what it would be like to pick up dead bodies for a living.

[claire hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, shocking and quite gory in places but i was unable to put this book down until i had finished it.

4 stars as it answered most of my questions on what happens after death. The authors experiences made for interesting reading although sad at times.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast."

I don't know what to say, short antidotes of the author's work removing bodies. I didn't find humor in this as others have.


The narration was ok.

[Shane Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very interesting situations and commentary on the deceased and the amazing people that have to deal with it. Glad this book is short as a full length book on this topic would have been way to much to deal this. Worth a listen but not around dinner time.