Body Bags

Body of Evidence #1

by Christopher Golden

When one of her professors ends up dead, college freshman Jenna Blake starts making discoveries even the police have not seen, discoveries that link the late teacher to a dead congressional aide and a terrifying disease

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Thriller, Teen, Mystery Thriller, Crime

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Reviews

[Anna Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't feel disappointed after reading this, like so many of the other reviewers here on Goodreads. You want to know my secret? Extremely low expectations, and the prior knowledge that Golden tends to be the master of the pulpy, Alloy-series type of book. It was a story centered around Jenna Blake, an incumbent college freshman, who is unsure what she wants to do with the rest of her life. All she knows is that her mother would love for her to be a doctor like her, but Jenna can't stand the sight of blood. Her Dad gets her an interview with the local Medical Examiner, who hires Jenna as a pathology assistant. The first big case is a man who was infected with a mysterious illness, of unknown origin and it becomes a priority to find out exactly what happened, when a teacher on campus dies of the same sickness. Coincidence or murder? That's what Jenna will have to find out, especially once her and her dad's lives are endangered. Can she survive her first week at college?

(SPOILER: She survived week one, but I have my doubts as to how long she can keep it up. She had three near-death experiences in just SEVEN DAYS. How is that even possible unless you're Harry Potter or something???)



This book is extremely short and I didn't really expect too much, since it is the first in a ten-book series. Also, it's original publication was sixteen years ago, in 1999. Some of the language, situations, etc. are kind of culturally dated (not as bad as most though, surprisingly). This type of book is the kind that people who are unfamiliar with YA, and it's ever-widening, reach like to cite when they malign it as all being unmitigated "trash." It's pulp fiction, pure and simple. I will say that it reminds me of Nancy Drew, in the sense that Jenna is pretty much just a cardboard cut-out, meant to move along the plot.



Hopefully she and her friends (roommate Yoshiko & southern-boy Hunter) will be better characterized/fleshed-out in later books. I do wish that the mystery had been more murder/crime and less of a politically driven, thriller type. I liked it enough to continue and see if the next couple are any good, but overall I wouldn't recommend it unless you like the type of book that's pure, time-wasting cotton candy. If you want a really great, plot and character-rich series by Golden, try his Hollow series, co-written with Ford Lytle Gilmore. Now THAT is an awesome series! :D

VERDICT: 2.5/5 Stars

*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.*

[Jl · Rating 1 out of 5]

When my husband's sci-fi/fantasy book club chose Body Bags (which is neither sci-fi nor fantasy), I wanted to read it for myself. This book is pretty awful. I've read my share of crime/thriller/mystery novels, and I have low standards for character development, writing style, and dialogue when it comes to this genre. All I ask of a crime novel is that it maintains my interest. Body Bags is boring. I never cared about the shallow protagonist's college dilemmas. After enjoying a few pages of mayhem, the reader must slog through the all minutiae of Jenna's first weeks of college before the book mercifully ends.

[Glen Krisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice beginning to the series. Going to have to read more soon.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to this first Jenna Blake adventure, a y.a. series from Christopher Golden from a couple of decades ago. Jenna is an unlikely but likable young woman entering her first year of college, where she's immediately thrown into a complex mishmash of international intrigue, romance, family problems, and many, many dead bodies. Think a spunky Nancy Drew with some decidedly macabre twists. There are a few jarring references to such things as telephones and video-stores and Adam Sandler's movie career, but overall I thought the story held up quite well.

[Massanutten Regional Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suzy, Grottoes patron, July 2018, 4 stars:

Intriguing book, hard to put down.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me, this was Veronica Mars meets Bones and I'm all for it.

[kory. · Rating 3 out of 5]

seventh book for the owls readathon, fitting the prompt for published at least ten years ago! still going strong with this readathon!

content/trigger warnings; ableist language/slurs, murder, blood, violence, autopsy, descriptions of dead bodies and organs,

i feel like this is such a basic mystery novel...in a good way? like it has all the classic things to it and there’s nothing super original or shocking or attention grabbing, but it’s still makes for a quick, enjoyable read. this is definitely a three star, but i’m not mad at it.

the main character is a little annoying, but she’s has an enjoyable snark and tenacity to her. the diversity of the novel is nice, too. everyone isn’t white (there isn’t a lack of mentioning the race of characters, which is featured in a lot of books outside of those that are sort of marketed or described as being diverse.) and there’s a disabled wheelchair user character who plays a prominent part in the story.

the only thing that really annoyed me was all the main character’s musings about literally every guy she sees. she goes on about how she just knows there’s depth to all these guys she has like five minutes of interaction with. and she spends the majority of the book fixated on one specific guy, but ends the book announcing a date with a random guy she had one short interaction with near the beginning of the book.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a while ago but truly enjoyed it. Jenna and her friends seem very real. I sort of had to get past her actually getting the job, but decided to just go with it. Jenna is in college so this might appeal to older teens more than tweens

[Dionne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to have an intelligent, inquistive female protagonist solve crimes but the way the male author portrays 18-year-old girls is way off. Rolled my eyes more than a couple of times but at least Jenna used her wit to save the day!

[Sasha Soleta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the first in a series of mystery thrillers written for young adults. The writing can be simplistic at times but its an easy and enjoyable read. I read all of these books when they first came out and am rereading them for fun currently and even though they dont hold up too well (the clothing references can make it seem a bit dated.) I still enjoy them in general. This book of course does have the reading squirming and wondering what could be put in their ear while they sleep but other than that it provides a great introduction into the world of Jenna Blake.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always thought this would make an amazing YA television show. Jenna is a compelling heroine with interesting family dynamics, and her chosen internship at the medical examiner's office would fit right in with the CSI/NCIS/Law and Order era we're still living in.
After finding out there's 10 books in this series, I'm going back through for a read-through again, and I almost have the entire series. Looking forward to revisiting the books I remember, and reading the cases that I never got to in middle school!

[Jenn N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published in 1999 and I thin o read it when first released but I remembered very little if it.

Despite some dated references what really struck me was that there were multiple murders and a potential biohazard on campus and the administration didn’t do any thing! Classes weren’t canceled, therapists weren’t brought in and the police didn’t seem to believe a biohazard was that serious. WTF? Perhaps looking at this on our current pandemic era has affected my view.

I did like ten description of Jenna’s campus life. It was realistic.

[B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a cute little YA novel about a college student considering pursuing a career as an ME. The beginning is action packed, but then it transitions to the type of college slog that a teen would be interested in reading, before shifting back to the action. It's the type of book that 14 year old me would have been interested in, but as an adult, it's no longer my cup of tea. Give me Kathy Reichs instead.

[Michelle Odland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as bad as some of the reviews say-I didn’t mind it. I actually enjoyed the college setting and 1999 as it was nostalgic for me - I was a college freshman then too. If i didn’t know it was a series I’d say the characters need much more development but I can give a pass if that comes up. The plot was interesting, it was fast paced and a bit unrealistic but hey-we don’t always read to revisit our own lives. Will try another one

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this while at work and multitasking, so I definitely didn't give it enough attention. It was still engaging and enjoyable, but I certainly didn't listen intently. Dates itself a bit with some things including the style of narration, but it's good enough. I'll see if I can get my hands on an audiobook for the second in the series.

[Chris Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are looking for a trip into a pathologists lab, they are few and far between in this one.

This is mostly about a young girls introduction to freshmen year of college with added absurd situations.

would not have finished but for being on a trip with nothing else.

[Tulip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually remember reading this back in middle school, not realizing it the first of a series. I even wanted to be a medical examiner for years because of this book; now I've taken a different route.

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember college being as difficult as Jenna Blake finds it. Of course, I wasn't interested in being a forensic intern nor was I a target for a serial killer. I thoroughly enjoyed this book; there was always something going on. Recommended.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this and the next few in the series in high school and was obsessed.

[Melissa]

I read this as a teen and remember liking it!

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableist language & slurs
Blood & gore depiction
Graphic dead bodies
Descriptions of autopsies
Murder

[Nik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading & re-reading this series since I was a teenager, I just love it.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author put together an interesting teenager starting college and a job with ME’s office. Story pulls you in despite the improbability of parts of the action.

[Matias · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started with very moderate expectations and ended up with one of my favorite reads of the year. Consider me thoroughly impressed and hooked.

Jenna Blake is new to college. The daughter of a divorced couple—her father a renowned college professor and her mother an admirable doctor—Jenna doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. All she knows is that she can’t handle the shock of an emergency room, so she becomes the assistant to a medical examiner. After a close death shakes her to the core, she starts investigating what’s going on with a rare disease that’s making people go manic, murderous, and suicidal—in that order.

The characters are authentic and well-written, as is the world-building. Christopher Golden took my unsuspecting self and showed me the cold, sterilized world of a morgue in the nastiest and rawest ways I could imagine. And I loved every second of it. The originality of the plot, the medical aspect, the investigative angle, the twist and the final showdown—everything was super entertaining.

I won’t lie and say the writing is perfect, but it still managed to draw me in and made me enjoy myself so much that I’m totally okay with the slow beginning and the excessive descriptions of the college cafeteria experience. Fun is just the right word for this novel.

I will be reading more of Jenna’s adventures, I actually can’t wait and yes, the 5 stars are real.

[Melanie Cholish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know if it was that I read this book as a young teenager that made rereading it nostalgic, but I did enjoy it.
It’s a quick and easy read. It’s definitely a teen reader friendly book, so don’t go in expecting anything too dark or graphic.
It’s the first in a series, and even though I’m not blown away I’m sure I’ll reread the others in the series.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Although this book is touted as a Young Adult read, it's great for anyone who has an interest in shows such as CSI, BONES, FORENSIC FILES, or anything to do with death investigation. I found it thoroughly entertaining, informative, and interesting, and have already ordered the other books in the series--of which there are many.

Jenna Blake is a typical eighteen-year-old, leaving her mother's home and setting off for her freshman year at college. Her mother, a surgeon, and her almost-estranged father, a professor at the same University she's attending, both have their own ideas about what Jenna should do with her life. Jenna, who would like to do something in the medical field, has two great fears--passing out at the sight of blood, and causing a patient's death. Her father, a lawyer who teaches instead of practices, thinks he has the perfect solution in getting her a job as a pathology assistant to the Medical Examiner. Somerset University has it's own Medical Center and Hospital right on the grounds, and Jenna's willing to give the job a try. The fact that her interview takes place during an autopsy is both disturbing and fascinating.

And then weird things start happening on campus. One of her professors, who also happens to be one of her father's dearest friends, goes crazy in class, kills a student, and drops dead. Jenna feels she has no choice but to attend his autopsy, and soon finds herself embroiled in finding out what killed him. When the M.E., FBI, a doctor from the Center for Disease Control, and two local Somerset detectives discover that a "supergerm" involving an insect like a botfly from Costa Rica is involved, everyone gets scared. But it's only Jenna who fears that there's more to this simple explanation than meets the eye. There's a conspiracy underway, and she sets out to discover what it is--to both the detriment of herself and her father.

Once I started reading BODY BAGS, I couldn't put the book down! I wanted to know what happened next, and who the bad guy was. I have to say the ending was a complete surprise to me, which is also indicative of a good read. You won't go wrong with the first in the BODY OF EVIDENCE Series, and if you're like me, you'll be chomping at the bit to get your hands on the next book.


**SPOILER** **SPOILER**

The only thing that disappointed me about the ending of this book was that Mr. Golden failed to give us an answer to how the bad guy was infecting people with the bug. Although we did find out WHY, we don't know HOW, and I really wanted to know! Nevertheless, this is a great read.

[Kathleen Hagen]

Body Bags, book 1 in the Body of Evidence Series, by Christopher Golden, A-minus, narrated by Julie Dretzin, produced by Recorded Books, downloaded from audible.com.

Jenna Blake is leaving the home she has shared with her mother most of her life and going off to college at the same college where her father, absent through much of her life, is a professor. Jenna already knows she doesn’t want to be a lawyer or law professor like her father. She might like to be a doctor like her mother, but not a surgeon because she can’t stand blood, and not responsible for the health of a patient because she might do something wrong and kill the patient. So her father suggests that she go to work for the coroner. She can’t hurt someone who’s already dead and there won’t be much blood, he tells her. She decides it’s worth a try. She views an autopsy the first day which is of a man who went crazy and killed several people before he died himself. He seemed to have developed a disease, his brain was spongy like someone with Mad Cow disease, but in other ways it didn’t look like Mad Cow disease. Then in one of Jenna’s first classes, her professor came in, looking angry and badly dressed. He became inordinately angry with a student, picked the student up and threw him through a window, and then fell on the floor in a seizure and died. Jenna helped with his autopsy too and the coroner found the same kind of sponginess in the brain. Jenna becomes interested in trying to track down whether it’s biological warfare, a new disease, or political intrigue deliberately causing people to get sick. She starts finding connections that no one will consider because she’s just a kid, and puts herself in great danger, but ultimately they figure the case out. Julie Dretzin is new to me as a narrator but does a very good job. And Jenna is a very sensible and intelligent 18-year-old with pretty sensible ideas about boys and dating. Kind of a young adult mystery, but pretty darned good for old adults too.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The first day at college, my professor dropped dead. The second day, I assisted at his autopsy. Let's hope I don't have to go through four years of this...."

Jenna Blake has been looking forward to going away to college. She loves her surgeon mother, but wants to find her own place in the world. Jenna is also looking forward to having a closer relationship with her father, a professor at her new school.

Jenna is uncertain as to what she wants to do with her life. She loves the idea of medicine, but gets weak at the sight of blood. She has a strong fear that she would do something, or not do something, that would cost someone their life. Her father has a unique solution--become a medical examiner. A mutual friend of her divorced parents is the local medical examiner.

Amazing herself Jenna decides to go for an interview. After the interview, conducted during an autopsy, Jenna finds herself intrigued. She likes the idea of answering questions for the police and family about a person's death. Through her new job Jenna is drawn into a mystery that threatens her life.

Christopher Golden presents Jenna Blake as a smart, funny, believable young woman. The suspense builds, with enough red herrings tossed out to lead you astray.

Golden stated in an interview at Book Wyrm that his purpose was to create something cool that would appeal to readers from fourteen to twenty, although of course he hoped older readers will be intrigued as well. He has succeeded in doing just that. The writing is tight and fast paced. The conclusions are logical.

It is worth noting, especially to doubting teens, that Christopher Golden has also written several Buffy The Vampire Slayer, X Men, and Star Wars books. Golden has written several other non-series books and has earned the Bram Stoker award.

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally placed this on my wishlist at RecordedBooks because of seeing the author, Christopher Golden, all over the blogs in reviews and book lists. He writes with Amber Benson and Thomas E Sniegoski to name a couple. He has 120 books and 5 or 6 series, mostly of the paranormal varietal. I sort of thought that this would be one of those....it isn't...but it is a genre I dig to the enth degree, forensic thriller.
This one stars Jenna Blake, 18 year old college freshman at Somerset University near Boston. She doesn't know exactly what she wants to be or what she wants to study. She'd love to be a doctor like her mother, but Jenna can't stand the sight of blood and she's terrified of what she'd do to her patients. Her father, a criminology professor at the university, suggests having a shot at a part time job working with the medical examiner's office. Not long after the autopsy room interview, the mystery begins. Two people have dropped violently dead and one right in front of Jenna in one of her classes.
She starts putting pieces of the puzzle together, but no one believes her until it is almost too late.
Not to be sexist, but Christopher Golden, a 40-ish guy, has a good handle on how an 18 year old girl would sound and must feel during this new adventure of moving away from home for the first time, to a new environment, making new friends, meeting guys, figuring out what she wants from life.
Add in some intrigue and murder plots and late night study sessions and you've got yourself an entertaining what's gonna happen next listen.

Four teen sleuth beans.....

[Elaine D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jenna is flitting off to her freshman year of college without a care in the world except what major to pick. Her divorced parents are finally making somewhat peace over her departure from the nest, and she feels like she can do just about anything she wants. When her dad (who lives near campus) gets her a job as a pathology assistant to the medical examiner at the local hospital, she thinks her life can't get any more... weird. But before she even finishes that thought, her teacher drops dead and she has to assist in the autopsy. A mystery unravels and Jenna is caught between the living and the dead.

I grabbed this book on a whim at my library because I thought the cover looked cool. Generally speaking, the weirder the better for me with books. I love me some gruesome crazy scary messed up literature, what can I say. While this one started off very basic and the dialogue seemed forced, it developed into a satisfyingly strange story. I loved all the descriptions of the autopsies and medical jargon included in the book. It also felt a lot like I was in an episode of NCIS. There was a legit amount of action too! ALthough, I don't feel like Jenna's reactions to situations were 100% realistic. I'm pretty sure if a psycho killer were after ME, I would be fleeing the country, not lounging around my dorm watching TV. But that's just me. She was a decent strong female character, though, with total guts. Which I like.

The book was pretty good. I mean, I really enjoyed the plot, but it wasn't the BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME OMG. lol I would definitely recommend for a quick read if you were looking for something freaky. :)