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Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen
***WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2023***
'Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did.' Rowan Moore, Observer Book of the Week
On 14 June 2017, a 24-storey block of flats went up in flames.
The fire climbed up cladding as flammable as solid petrol. Fire doors failed to self-close. No alarm rang out to warn sleeping residents. As smoke seeped into their homes, all were told to ‘stay put’. Many did – and they died.
It was a tragedy decades in the making.
Peter Apps exposes how a steady stream of deregulation, corporate greed and institutional indifference caused a tragedy. This is the story of a grieving community forsaken by our government, a community still waiting for justice.
'Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did.' Rowan Moore, Observer Book of the Week
On 14 June 2017, a 24-storey block of flats went up in flames.
The fire climbed up cladding as flammable as solid petrol. Fire doors failed to self-close. No alarm rang out to warn sleeping residents. As smoke seeped into their homes, all were told to ‘stay put’. Many did – and they died.
It was a tragedy decades in the making.
Peter Apps exposes how a steady stream of deregulation, corporate greed and institutional indifference caused a tragedy. This is the story of a grieving community forsaken by our government, a community still waiting for justice.
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2022
121 people are currently reading
2017 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
December 1, 2022
The most shocking, infuriating and upsetting thing I’ve ever read, which may not sound like the best review, but it’s also incredibly well written. There is a deep respect for the victims and survivors that runs right through it, while also being forensic in breaking down exactly how avoidable it all was. It should be required reading for anyone working anywhere near the building sector, or government.
December 18, 2022
Powerful and poignant. Incredibly respectful of those affected, yet crushingly accurate and emotive. This book is beautifully paced - alternating chapters between the night of the fire and the background of how the cladding and fire safety at blocks like Grenfell came (and continue) to be. This isn’t a story of incompetence: this is a juxtaposition of the value given to capitalism and market principles over human life.
September 11, 2025
Earlier this year, it was announced that the Grenfell Tower – the 24-storey social housing block whose gutted remains stand witness to the devastating fire that killed 72 people and left over 200 homeless, injured, and traumatised – will be demolished. While the building is brought down, survivors and kin to victims continue fighting for justice and for the millions of other lives at risk of their fate. For the most devastating fact about Grenfell is not that it was the greatest fire in Britain since the second World War, nor that it was the deadliest. The tragedy of it lies in that all this senseless pain and destruction was in fact entirely preventable, and that it had been foretold by a decades of deregulation, corporate greed, and systemic negligence that persist, largely unchallenged, to this day.
In Show me the Bodies, journalist Peter Apps takes us back to the hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute events of the night of the fire and forensically traces how the government, civil services, social housing authorities, and the entire housing industry quite literally let it happen. That the fire spread by climbing up highly combustible cladding, that the fire doors failed to close and communal alarms never existed, that the panicked Grenfell residents were told to 'stay put' until they were no longer able to escape – until many died – all of it is shown to be the result of a decade-by-decade, year-by-year agenda of shirking responsibility and dissolving social safeguards in the interest of profit over people.
Indeed, the book takes its title from a comment made by civil servant Brian Martin to justify not tightening safety regulations in response to a series of devastating fires. Eight years before Grenfell, there was Lakanal House, and eighteen years before that was Knowlsey Heights. Each of these, as well as the blazes in between, would have been easily controlled domestic fires were they not exacerbated by the use of combustible cladding. Despite repeatedly failing the already shoddy testing standards, ACM cladding ended up being elected for use in the refurbishment of Grenfell less than a year before the fire. Panels aside, the refurbishment was doomed from the start, cosmetically altering the building while failing to respond to the actual state of disrepair the residents had been complaining about: the broken fire doors, the draughty windows, the lifts that barely worked and the absence of safety measures for the elderly and the disabled (the council's apathy and wilful neglect was doubtless influenced by the fact that the a majority of residents were people of colour, that some were asylum seekers and that all of them were poor social housing tenants in a predominantly white, affluent London burrough). And with the capacity of the building to contain the spread of fire thus challenged, the fire brigade's lack of resources and training and its antiquated faith in the UK's strange 'stay put' policy brought the destruction and death toll to a head.
Eight years after the fire ripped through a whole community and exposed the faultline running down the entire system, barely any of these failures have been addressed. As the building comes down and the government and council continue to fail the families of Grenfell (not to mention the countless others in high-rise housing and otherwise who remain at risk), this book remains one of the few efforts that honours them.
I was brought to tears by the story of Marcio Gomes trying to escape with his wife and pregnant daughter and of the blind pensioner Elpidio Bonifacio waiving a towel out of his window and hoping someone might rescue him; of Sakineh Afrasiabi who was housed on the 18th floor despite her disability and perished there; of 12-year old Jessica Ramirez who had been home alone; of Rania Ibrahim, whose liveliness and courage would outlive her; of Khadija Saye, who was only beginning to gain recognition for art that has since been displayed at the Venice biennale; and of Mohamed Neda and Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, who came to this country seeking refuge from persecution and whose deaths reveal a bitter irony – amongst the others. But Apps also ensures that the residents are known not just for their victimhood but for all their lives were and and could have been, writing with deep respect and reminding us of the happy community they once were and the energetic, dedicated agitators they continue to be. His humanising accounts of their lives and struggles before, during, and in all but 72 cases, after the fire also underline that this isn't just a social housing issue; that it is a rot in the system that would much rather deal with horrific consequences in retrospect, that demands to see the bodies piling up before it takes action.
There are some editorial issues in the book: some lapses in grammar, plus repetitions and inconsistences that a copyeditor or proofreader might have picked up. But this is nevertheless a brilliant work, tender and incisive and thoroughly upsetting because it talks of something that should make us all upset. I wish more people would read this for their own benefit, because the best way to keep Grenfell 'always in our hearts' is to make sure we can act to prevent it from happening ever again:
In Show me the Bodies, journalist Peter Apps takes us back to the hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute events of the night of the fire and forensically traces how the government, civil services, social housing authorities, and the entire housing industry quite literally let it happen. That the fire spread by climbing up highly combustible cladding, that the fire doors failed to close and communal alarms never existed, that the panicked Grenfell residents were told to 'stay put' until they were no longer able to escape – until many died – all of it is shown to be the result of a decade-by-decade, year-by-year agenda of shirking responsibility and dissolving social safeguards in the interest of profit over people.
Indeed, the book takes its title from a comment made by civil servant Brian Martin to justify not tightening safety regulations in response to a series of devastating fires. Eight years before Grenfell, there was Lakanal House, and eighteen years before that was Knowlsey Heights. Each of these, as well as the blazes in between, would have been easily controlled domestic fires were they not exacerbated by the use of combustible cladding. Despite repeatedly failing the already shoddy testing standards, ACM cladding ended up being elected for use in the refurbishment of Grenfell less than a year before the fire. Panels aside, the refurbishment was doomed from the start, cosmetically altering the building while failing to respond to the actual state of disrepair the residents had been complaining about: the broken fire doors, the draughty windows, the lifts that barely worked and the absence of safety measures for the elderly and the disabled (the council's apathy and wilful neglect was doubtless influenced by the fact that the a majority of residents were people of colour, that some were asylum seekers and that all of them were poor social housing tenants in a predominantly white, affluent London burrough). And with the capacity of the building to contain the spread of fire thus challenged, the fire brigade's lack of resources and training and its antiquated faith in the UK's strange 'stay put' policy brought the destruction and death toll to a head.
Eight years after the fire ripped through a whole community and exposed the faultline running down the entire system, barely any of these failures have been addressed. As the building comes down and the government and council continue to fail the families of Grenfell (not to mention the countless others in high-rise housing and otherwise who remain at risk), this book remains one of the few efforts that honours them.
I was brought to tears by the story of Marcio Gomes trying to escape with his wife and pregnant daughter and of the blind pensioner Elpidio Bonifacio waiving a towel out of his window and hoping someone might rescue him; of Sakineh Afrasiabi who was housed on the 18th floor despite her disability and perished there; of 12-year old Jessica Ramirez who had been home alone; of Rania Ibrahim, whose liveliness and courage would outlive her; of Khadija Saye, who was only beginning to gain recognition for art that has since been displayed at the Venice biennale; and of Mohamed Neda and Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, who came to this country seeking refuge from persecution and whose deaths reveal a bitter irony – amongst the others. But Apps also ensures that the residents are known not just for their victimhood but for all their lives were and and could have been, writing with deep respect and reminding us of the happy community they once were and the energetic, dedicated agitators they continue to be. His humanising accounts of their lives and struggles before, during, and in all but 72 cases, after the fire also underline that this isn't just a social housing issue; that it is a rot in the system that would much rather deal with horrific consequences in retrospect, that demands to see the bodies piling up before it takes action.
There are some editorial issues in the book: some lapses in grammar, plus repetitions and inconsistences that a copyeditor or proofreader might have picked up. But this is nevertheless a brilliant work, tender and incisive and thoroughly upsetting because it talks of something that should make us all upset. I wish more people would read this for their own benefit, because the best way to keep Grenfell 'always in our hearts' is to make sure we can act to prevent it from happening ever again:
As we stand on the brink of a century when the consequences of the same deregulated economy that gave us Grenfell threaten to set the whole world on fire, it is a fight we must all join in some way. And in any small victories that follow, we can at least glimpse the shadow of a better world.4.5 stars
December 24, 2023
Winner of the 2023 Orwell Prize for Political Writing
January 21, 2023
Shockingly vile.
I haven't read anything so heartbreaking since Hillsborough. The next person to say deregulate businesses needs a kicking. Every step of the way government "ideology" puts profit before human lives and don't even get me started on the disregard of the value of disabled peoples lives.
This book is sickening, but such an important read. 6 stars.
It was impossible to choose between the harrowing quotes from this book, but here is one, that bought angry tears to my eyes:
Sarah Rennie, a wheelchair user who lives in a block of flats with dangerous cladding, after reading government minutes stating that "stay put advise should be kept in place for disabled residents because they might slow down the evacuation of able-bodied people.":
'I've always been disabled, and so ever since I was in school, I have experienced the fire alarm blaring and going to sit in a stairwell while everyone around me leaves for safety. As a child and a young person, I accepted it. I thought that was my lot. Like disabled people across the country, I sleep feeling anxious, frightened, and today frankly traumatised to read what the government's written today that it believes everybody's lives are more valuable, because I could get in the way of them getting out.'
I haven't read anything so heartbreaking since Hillsborough. The next person to say deregulate businesses needs a kicking. Every step of the way government "ideology" puts profit before human lives and don't even get me started on the disregard of the value of disabled peoples lives.
This book is sickening, but such an important read. 6 stars.
It was impossible to choose between the harrowing quotes from this book, but here is one, that bought angry tears to my eyes:
Sarah Rennie, a wheelchair user who lives in a block of flats with dangerous cladding, after reading government minutes stating that "stay put advise should be kept in place for disabled residents because they might slow down the evacuation of able-bodied people.":
'I've always been disabled, and so ever since I was in school, I have experienced the fire alarm blaring and going to sit in a stairwell while everyone around me leaves for safety. As a child and a young person, I accepted it. I thought that was my lot. Like disabled people across the country, I sleep feeling anxious, frightened, and today frankly traumatised to read what the government's written today that it believes everybody's lives are more valuable, because I could get in the way of them getting out.'
April 9, 2023
An incredible read that details the catastrophic failings of deregulation and the state on a tragedy that could have been prevented.
The bereaved and survivors of Grenfell continue to fight for the removal of ACM cladding from other high rise blocks of flats. This should not be their job after the devastation they have experienced. There have been some victories from their continued pressure (including removal of dangerous cladding on a block of flats that experienced a fire in London resulting in no casualties). Justice and change still feels like a long way off but those that relentlessly lobby for change inspire hope for the future. It makes you question what you can do to support. (There is a section at the end that helps with this).
Peter Apps does a phenomenal job with this book detailing the failed learnings from previous fires, and works through the web of blame and buck passing of previously raised concerns.
The bereaved and survivors of Grenfell continue to fight for the removal of ACM cladding from other high rise blocks of flats. This should not be their job after the devastation they have experienced. There have been some victories from their continued pressure (including removal of dangerous cladding on a block of flats that experienced a fire in London resulting in no casualties). Justice and change still feels like a long way off but those that relentlessly lobby for change inspire hope for the future. It makes you question what you can do to support. (There is a section at the end that helps with this).
Peter Apps does a phenomenal job with this book detailing the failed learnings from previous fires, and works through the web of blame and buck passing of previously raised concerns.
February 19, 2023
A devastating look at the numerous failures that contributed to the Grenfell tower fire in 2017 that caused the death of many residents, including the elderly, the disabled, babies, young children and family pets. The author covers a fantastic amount of knowledge and background research into the many, many opportunities the government (both local and national) had to avoid the tragedy on that hot summer night in inner city London.
It proves time and time again how activists' worries were ignored and the buck passed between organisations that are in place to support social housing residents. Unfortunately, so many of these failures come down to a lack of accountability and, of course, money. It was infuriating to read about how test after test showed the cladding that covered Grenfell - and many other residential tower blocks across the country - was as flammable as neat petroleum, and yet nothing was done. Fire doors were not working, if they even existed at all. Residents were told to stay put and await rescue, council officials were nowhere to be seen in the night in question nor in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. This is a prime example of governmental negligence, corporate manslaughter and a terrifying reminder of what happens when marginalised groups of society are ignored when they express very legitimate concerns. Everyone has a right to safe housing. To this day, the government shirks accountability for their failures and the survivors and bereaved families of Grenfell continue to pay the price.
There are some editorial issues, such as grammar and spelling mistakes plus inconsistencies in details, such as '...calls made at 3pm, 4pm from the tower' when it should be A.M., hence my rating. But the content itself is well written and I applaud the author for his coverage.
It proves time and time again how activists' worries were ignored and the buck passed between organisations that are in place to support social housing residents. Unfortunately, so many of these failures come down to a lack of accountability and, of course, money. It was infuriating to read about how test after test showed the cladding that covered Grenfell - and many other residential tower blocks across the country - was as flammable as neat petroleum, and yet nothing was done. Fire doors were not working, if they even existed at all. Residents were told to stay put and await rescue, council officials were nowhere to be seen in the night in question nor in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. This is a prime example of governmental negligence, corporate manslaughter and a terrifying reminder of what happens when marginalised groups of society are ignored when they express very legitimate concerns. Everyone has a right to safe housing. To this day, the government shirks accountability for their failures and the survivors and bereaved families of Grenfell continue to pay the price.
There are some editorial issues, such as grammar and spelling mistakes plus inconsistencies in details, such as '...calls made at 3pm, 4pm from the tower' when it should be A.M., hence my rating. But the content itself is well written and I applaud the author for his coverage.
January 29, 2024
A decade ago, I did not have much money. As a result, I was living in a pretty dodgy flat controlled by a pretty dodgy letting agency and with an even dodgier landlord, who I never saw and who never lifted a finger to fix any of the myriad health issues in the flat. One evening, when my then girlfriend (now wife) and I were chilling in the living room, there was an almighty bang from the wall beside the sofa my then girlfriend was sitting on. It was accompanied by a large flash and plenty of acrid smoke.
Upon looking, we discovered there had been a serious electrical fault. The plug had been blown half out of the socket, which was charred and hanging loose from the wall. Scorch marks revealed there had been flames. The fuse had tripped, saving the laptop plugged in at the time, but only chance prevented those brief flames from catching on the sofa. We reported the issue to the letting agency, in person, twenty minutes later, as well as reiterated our other concerns that had been ignored to that point: strange hissing and cracking coming from the plugs, loose connections in the sockets, etc. The letting agency was completely unhelpful and accused us of overloading the plug. When we proved this was not the case, and showed the woman working there the charred remains of the plug, she tried to tell us it was our fault for having a faulty fuse. We told her that the fuse had worked correctly and had in fact probably prevented worse damage; she insisted we didn't know how fuses worked and refused to do anything about it.
A few years later, after we had moved out, a catastrophic electrical fire took hold of the flat directly next door to ours -- the one we shared a living room wall with. Thankfully nobody was injured or killed, but the entire three-storey building burned to the ground. All that was left was a hollow outer facade.
*
I did not expect anyone to be held accountable for the above, and when I saw Grenfell unfolding on the news, I did not expect much from that, either. Even so, I was shocked by the extent of the callousness shown by the government, and even moreso after reading this book. It shows, in meticulous detail, the sheer inhumanity of the British government, and highlights beyond all doubt the fact that while those making it up might be people, they are not human. Their prioritising money over human life is completely inexplicable to anybody with an ounce of conscience. Even rats will avoid rewards in favour of rescusing distressed friends, but hundreds of people involved in this tragedy consistently chose corner-cutting, money-saving, and profit margins over real human lives. I shouldn't be surprised, and on some level I'm not. At the same time, I do not know how these people are walking freely, and I do not know why more has not been done.
The book tells the story of the tragedy through an every-other-chapter format, where one chapter deals with the fire itself and is then followed by a chapter on the context and the events leading up to the incident. One set of chapters will break your heart; the other set will make you so mad you can barely think. It is a damning testimony detailing the criminal negligence of dozens of people, interlocked with stories of panic, fear, and horrific final moments. I have always maintained that Grenfell was a crime, but this book proves it beyond all doubt.
Some of the writing is a little clunky, with words repeated in a sentence, or the same thing basically said twice. There are also a number of grammatical errors -- more, I think, than should make it through a decently edited book -- but that's hardly the author's fault. The research is well done, however, and the writing is straightforward, empathetic, and quietly furious. The facts are laid out to such an extent that anybody wishing to defend this atrocity would be completely incapable of even the slightest delusion, which is probably why everyone who needs to read this book will likely avoid it. The book's subtitle -- How We Let Grenfell Happen -- is apt; Grenfell was allowed to happen, by countless people, and in the years since precious little has been done to ensure that it will never happen again. And this is just what has come to light -- I dread to think of all the other corners the British government is cutting to save themselves a few quid, most likely at the expense of society's most vulnerable. COVID highlighted their complete disregard for the vulnerable, particularly the elderly and the disabled, but incidents like Grenfell show that this attitude is part of what I can only describe as a systematic hatred of the poor, the old, and the disabled -- a very typical British hatred for those who dare to need. It is absolutely criminal.
I was able to move out of that unsafe flat. Despite the fact I was homeless for several months after doing so, I was eventually in a position where I could find another place to live. This makes me more fortunate than many in Grenfell, who were there either because the council put them there with no say in the matter (even placing disabled people on the highest floors with no means for them to get down unaided) or because they had made a life there and did not wish to be forced out because of the council's neglect of the building. They all had their reasons and they could not go anywhere else. Many of them died for it -- for the crime of wanting a home. Instead of safety and quiet enjoyment they got disrepair, disrespect, and finally had their homes coated in literal blocks of petrol. And nobody is in prison for it? This country is a joke.
Read this book. Get mad about it. If we don't, the government is going to keep killing people in their homes, in our underfunded hospitals, via our underfunded emergency services, through our collapsing economy and soaring fuel prices, and probably in many other ways besides.
Upon looking, we discovered there had been a serious electrical fault. The plug had been blown half out of the socket, which was charred and hanging loose from the wall. Scorch marks revealed there had been flames. The fuse had tripped, saving the laptop plugged in at the time, but only chance prevented those brief flames from catching on the sofa. We reported the issue to the letting agency, in person, twenty minutes later, as well as reiterated our other concerns that had been ignored to that point: strange hissing and cracking coming from the plugs, loose connections in the sockets, etc. The letting agency was completely unhelpful and accused us of overloading the plug. When we proved this was not the case, and showed the woman working there the charred remains of the plug, she tried to tell us it was our fault for having a faulty fuse. We told her that the fuse had worked correctly and had in fact probably prevented worse damage; she insisted we didn't know how fuses worked and refused to do anything about it.
A few years later, after we had moved out, a catastrophic electrical fire took hold of the flat directly next door to ours -- the one we shared a living room wall with. Thankfully nobody was injured or killed, but the entire three-storey building burned to the ground. All that was left was a hollow outer facade.
*
I did not expect anyone to be held accountable for the above, and when I saw Grenfell unfolding on the news, I did not expect much from that, either. Even so, I was shocked by the extent of the callousness shown by the government, and even moreso after reading this book. It shows, in meticulous detail, the sheer inhumanity of the British government, and highlights beyond all doubt the fact that while those making it up might be people, they are not human. Their prioritising money over human life is completely inexplicable to anybody with an ounce of conscience. Even rats will avoid rewards in favour of rescusing distressed friends, but hundreds of people involved in this tragedy consistently chose corner-cutting, money-saving, and profit margins over real human lives. I shouldn't be surprised, and on some level I'm not. At the same time, I do not know how these people are walking freely, and I do not know why more has not been done.
The book tells the story of the tragedy through an every-other-chapter format, where one chapter deals with the fire itself and is then followed by a chapter on the context and the events leading up to the incident. One set of chapters will break your heart; the other set will make you so mad you can barely think. It is a damning testimony detailing the criminal negligence of dozens of people, interlocked with stories of panic, fear, and horrific final moments. I have always maintained that Grenfell was a crime, but this book proves it beyond all doubt.
Some of the writing is a little clunky, with words repeated in a sentence, or the same thing basically said twice. There are also a number of grammatical errors -- more, I think, than should make it through a decently edited book -- but that's hardly the author's fault. The research is well done, however, and the writing is straightforward, empathetic, and quietly furious. The facts are laid out to such an extent that anybody wishing to defend this atrocity would be completely incapable of even the slightest delusion, which is probably why everyone who needs to read this book will likely avoid it. The book's subtitle -- How We Let Grenfell Happen -- is apt; Grenfell was allowed to happen, by countless people, and in the years since precious little has been done to ensure that it will never happen again. And this is just what has come to light -- I dread to think of all the other corners the British government is cutting to save themselves a few quid, most likely at the expense of society's most vulnerable. COVID highlighted their complete disregard for the vulnerable, particularly the elderly and the disabled, but incidents like Grenfell show that this attitude is part of what I can only describe as a systematic hatred of the poor, the old, and the disabled -- a very typical British hatred for those who dare to need. It is absolutely criminal.
I was able to move out of that unsafe flat. Despite the fact I was homeless for several months after doing so, I was eventually in a position where I could find another place to live. This makes me more fortunate than many in Grenfell, who were there either because the council put them there with no say in the matter (even placing disabled people on the highest floors with no means for them to get down unaided) or because they had made a life there and did not wish to be forced out because of the council's neglect of the building. They all had their reasons and they could not go anywhere else. Many of them died for it -- for the crime of wanting a home. Instead of safety and quiet enjoyment they got disrepair, disrespect, and finally had their homes coated in literal blocks of petrol. And nobody is in prison for it? This country is a joke.
Read this book. Get mad about it. If we don't, the government is going to keep killing people in their homes, in our underfunded hospitals, via our underfunded emergency services, through our collapsing economy and soaring fuel prices, and probably in many other ways besides.
February 12, 2024
An absolutely devastating account of how Grenfell was years in the making and the result of prioritising money, short sightedness and incompetence.
Some sickening and callous remarks from government and business left me without hope.
💚 We still want justice for Grenfell 💚
Some sickening and callous remarks from government and business left me without hope.
💚 We still want justice for Grenfell 💚
February 27, 2024
4.75 stars, and deserved winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
At times tender and incisive, this account of the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower details the wilful and in some cases malicious failings that led to the tragic loss of 72 lives in 2017.
Interspersed between the shocking exposé of government, private companies and local councils are the human stories of those who lived at Grenfell - some of whom would ultimately live, and others who would perish senselessly on that night.
I ended this book in tears as the author listed each of the names of those who died.
At times tender and incisive, this account of the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower details the wilful and in some cases malicious failings that led to the tragic loss of 72 lives in 2017.
Interspersed between the shocking exposé of government, private companies and local councils are the human stories of those who lived at Grenfell - some of whom would ultimately live, and others who would perish senselessly on that night.
I ended this book in tears as the author listed each of the names of those who died.
August 19, 2023
I read this book on recommendation from a relative, and I am glad I did. It took me longer to read than my average reading pace because some parts were incredibly emotional and heavy to get through.
There were two things I found particularly impressive about this book: Firstly, the heavy amount of research the author has clearly done. Amongst other topics, Apps contains detailed, clear, and brutal breakdowns of how the cladding industry operates, construction lobbying, and fire services. The outrage he rightly feels on behalf of the Grenfell victims wouldn't come nearly as strongly across if he was less effective at highlighting all of the ways they were failed.
Secondly, how Apps tells the stories of the various residents who were affected by the fire. They aren't only depicted as victims of a fire - (with their/their loved ones' permission), he describes their backstories, careers, families, how they found their way to Grenfell, and more. This emphasises the true human cost of Grenfell which is too easily ignored by only focusing on the numbers, and makes his description of the fire's fatal spread that much harder and more emotive to read.
To anyone reading this, I would just warn that in his informative sections that are interspersed between the chronological retelling of the fire's spread, there are a lot of acronyms and sometimes jumping between different people/individuals/companies, so sometimes you may get mixed up. But this is a small note in what was an incredible book anyone looking to work in lobbying, for a construction company, or in politics, should read.
There were two things I found particularly impressive about this book: Firstly, the heavy amount of research the author has clearly done. Amongst other topics, Apps contains detailed, clear, and brutal breakdowns of how the cladding industry operates, construction lobbying, and fire services. The outrage he rightly feels on behalf of the Grenfell victims wouldn't come nearly as strongly across if he was less effective at highlighting all of the ways they were failed.
Secondly, how Apps tells the stories of the various residents who were affected by the fire. They aren't only depicted as victims of a fire - (with their/their loved ones' permission), he describes their backstories, careers, families, how they found their way to Grenfell, and more. This emphasises the true human cost of Grenfell which is too easily ignored by only focusing on the numbers, and makes his description of the fire's fatal spread that much harder and more emotive to read.
To anyone reading this, I would just warn that in his informative sections that are interspersed between the chronological retelling of the fire's spread, there are a lot of acronyms and sometimes jumping between different people/individuals/companies, so sometimes you may get mixed up. But this is a small note in what was an incredible book anyone looking to work in lobbying, for a construction company, or in politics, should read.
February 4, 2023
"I dearly miss our community. We came together in the face of adversity before, during and after the fire. We were not just neighbours. Since the fire there are people out there who have said terrible things about our community... We will never have the chance to show people what that community was like. That thought is truly heartbreaking."
"Corporate interest took precedence over human morality. Corporations will act in the interests of profit. When law no longer holds them to account, we have no choice but to wait for the consequences."
"Corporate interest took precedence over human morality. Corporations will act in the interests of profit. When law no longer holds them to account, we have no choice but to wait for the consequences."
September 11, 2024
this was equal parts infuriating and heartwrenching.
i don’t often cry when reading, but this novel made me cry a lot.
i don’t often cry when reading, but this novel made me cry a lot.
January 24, 2023
This is thoroughly researched and is obviously written by someone with deep knowledge and interest in Grenfell, and housing regulations in the UK- not someone who is trying to make profit off of this tragedy. Really deepened my understanding, and although a harrowing read, would recommend to everyone.
November 15, 2023
Anyone who is involved in the housing or construction industry, social housing sector, health and safety, political process or who just cares about humanity and injustice should read this book. It is a difficult, sad, upsetting but essential read. For everyone.
November 27, 2022
I need to think a little more on this because it is such an infuriating and miserable story, but Apps has done a brilliant job here.
August 31, 2024
All of us with an ounce of power in the UK, whether it be directly making decisions all the way to speaking with others about the value of human life over profit, should read this book.
October 11, 2023
More or less read cover to cover in one sitting. Show Me The Bodies is an indictment of the various failings of our state over the decades in the run up to the huge loss of life at Grenfell Tower in June 2017. Apps alternates between retelling the events of that night - the stories of the human life lost or irrevocably changed by the tragedy - and a thoroughly researched account of policy failings at every turn by successive governments, from Thatcher, to New Labour, to our present Tory government. It demonstrates clearly, the numerous opportunities not taken to avert the disaster, with profit and business interests put ahead of community and safeguarding human life. An absolutely devastating and vital read.
April 14, 2024
An absolute feat - a thorough investigation into the awful events of the Grenfell fire, mixed with stories of some of the people affected. A difficult read but a necessary one.
January 28, 2023
Really compelling book that finished in a matter of days after seeing it suggested in an article by the editor of the builders merchants journal.
Author has done a fantastic job of outlining accounts of some that made it out and others that didnt, while interspersed throughout are facts that were already in public domain prior to grenfell, along with others that were kept under wraps by various parties, but primarily the cladding suppliers of the products which weren't safe for use on such a tower under the conditions used. And with only ourselves and South Korea allowing these items on, surely it would have occurred to somebody that it's not a great idea.
But then cost pressures on jobs for contractors meant that this was allowed, mirroring many other buildings nationwide.
The London 🔥Brigade shouldn't escape without censure, as their archaic structure that never really allowed adequate training for senior staff / call centres, proved to be decisive in the disaster, as dropping the normal "stay put" guidance and instructing people to leave their homes earlier would at worst have saved many more lives, and may even have allowed all residents to have made it out had this been enacted earlier.
Should be mandatory reading for policymakers in this country around social housing and construction in general for high rise structures.
Sad fact is that 5 years later, progress is glacial and people are able to buck pass rather than taking much responsibility for the tragic events that unfolded in 2017. Government austerity and making their rich friends lives easier by reducing oversight of building works from independent sources ultimately led to this awful loss of lives, and years later the lessons still don't seem to have been given the importance they should. Whatever your political inclination, you'll surely agree that this should cause immense shame to the UK, and have little to no sympathy for some of the key people, in particular Brian Martin and Eric Pickles, who after complaining a barrister was taking too long with questions then confused the tragedy with the Hillsborough disaster (which itself has only recently confirmed what the victims were saying all the way back in 1989)
RIP to the lost 72, and wish those left behind all the luck in the world in their ongoing fight for justice and closure.
Author has done a fantastic job of outlining accounts of some that made it out and others that didnt, while interspersed throughout are facts that were already in public domain prior to grenfell, along with others that were kept under wraps by various parties, but primarily the cladding suppliers of the products which weren't safe for use on such a tower under the conditions used. And with only ourselves and South Korea allowing these items on, surely it would have occurred to somebody that it's not a great idea.
But then cost pressures on jobs for contractors meant that this was allowed, mirroring many other buildings nationwide.
The London 🔥Brigade shouldn't escape without censure, as their archaic structure that never really allowed adequate training for senior staff / call centres, proved to be decisive in the disaster, as dropping the normal "stay put" guidance and instructing people to leave their homes earlier would at worst have saved many more lives, and may even have allowed all residents to have made it out had this been enacted earlier.
Should be mandatory reading for policymakers in this country around social housing and construction in general for high rise structures.
Sad fact is that 5 years later, progress is glacial and people are able to buck pass rather than taking much responsibility for the tragic events that unfolded in 2017. Government austerity and making their rich friends lives easier by reducing oversight of building works from independent sources ultimately led to this awful loss of lives, and years later the lessons still don't seem to have been given the importance they should. Whatever your political inclination, you'll surely agree that this should cause immense shame to the UK, and have little to no sympathy for some of the key people, in particular Brian Martin and Eric Pickles, who after complaining a barrister was taking too long with questions then confused the tragedy with the Hillsborough disaster (which itself has only recently confirmed what the victims were saying all the way back in 1989)
RIP to the lost 72, and wish those left behind all the luck in the world in their ongoing fight for justice and closure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2025
Devastating and infuriating in equal measure. A book that should be propelled into the mainstream (if it’s not already there).
December 12, 2023
A devastating and incisive look at the Grenfell Fire, the tragic real stories of those who experienced it, and the catalogue of failings across national and local government, regulatory bodies, and public services that made it an inevitability despite the decades of warning signs leading up to it. Essential reading
January 27, 2024
3 stars.
Not an easy book to give a low score to, given the sensitive nature of the topic it discusses and the fact that the research that went into it was honestly top notch. However the writing as a book just did not cut it for me, it was far too repetitive. While the writing strategy of interspersing survivor accounts with the more technical details of the structural failures that led to the devastation that the fire caused was a good one, this plus the fact that I expect many readers are not so familiar with the terms and acronyms used, meant that it was confusing in parts and overly repetitive in others.
There's no doubt that many things had to go wrong for a tragedy of this scale to have happened at all, and although I did feel like the author was a bit biased in his accounts of certain things, mostly it was quite a balanced discussion.
Not an easy book to give a low score to, given the sensitive nature of the topic it discusses and the fact that the research that went into it was honestly top notch. However the writing as a book just did not cut it for me, it was far too repetitive. While the writing strategy of interspersing survivor accounts with the more technical details of the structural failures that led to the devastation that the fire caused was a good one, this plus the fact that I expect many readers are not so familiar with the terms and acronyms used, meant that it was confusing in parts and overly repetitive in others.
There's no doubt that many things had to go wrong for a tragedy of this scale to have happened at all, and although I did feel like the author was a bit biased in his accounts of certain things, mostly it was quite a balanced discussion.
July 15, 2023
I'm not ashamed to admit this book broke me. Peter alternates chapters that cover the hour by hour progress of the fire in 2017, with chapters looking into every aspect of Grenfell Tower and state housing & fire policy in general.
If reading this book doesn't alternately break your heart and make you want to tear the entire rotten housing & governmental system down, I can only imagine you must be an unfeeling AI.
Peter has done his research and it shows through, as does his compassion for people trapped in shoddily built homes, fighting for better against a system that only really cares about money.
This is a vital book to read in modern Britain, but it's not an easy read. Nor should it be.
If reading this book doesn't alternately break your heart and make you want to tear the entire rotten housing & governmental system down, I can only imagine you must be an unfeeling AI.
Peter has done his research and it shows through, as does his compassion for people trapped in shoddily built homes, fighting for better against a system that only really cares about money.
This is a vital book to read in modern Britain, but it's not an easy read. Nor should it be.
May 7, 2023
Well well well how did I absolutely know the answer to how we let Grenfell happen would be: Margaret fucking Thatcher and her band of merry men aka the fucking Conservative Party.
That being said no member of any government since Thatcher did ANY bits for social housing and a deregulated housing market and the result was the loss of so many lives that could have been saved.
GUT-wrenchingly sad like so sad. Got through it by telling Marlon a shocking fact from every page. AM genuinely devvo about the whole thing. 💚💚💚💚💚💚
That being said no member of any government since Thatcher did ANY bits for social housing and a deregulated housing market and the result was the loss of so many lives that could have been saved.
GUT-wrenchingly sad like so sad. Got through it by telling Marlon a shocking fact from every page. AM genuinely devvo about the whole thing. 💚💚💚💚💚💚
September 20, 2023
One of the most frustrating books I’ve read. Each time I hoped I’d read the extent of failures and letdowns for those in the tower, there was more. Similar to Five Past Midnight in Bhopal, the tie ins of personal lives affected made the book even more emotional.
January 26, 2023
A sobering read, but so well written by Peter Apps, a comprehensive account of a unbelievable tragedy
March 20, 2023
Read this.
March 25, 2023
This book was a really painful read. A truly necessary account of all the failings and mistakes that lead to this tragedy. Never forget.
December 23, 2023
Just read it.
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