Fleshmarket

Nicola Morgan’s Fleshmarket, is a tale about a male adolescent and his younger sister trying to survive in the slums of 1822 Edinburgh, Scotland. It starts off with a flash back from when protagonist Robbie was a small child and his mother had to have surgery. The man who performed surgery on Robbie’s mother, Dr. Robert Knox, will affect Robbie for the rest of his life. Robbie becomes obsessed with the thought of revenge on the man he holds responsible for the death of his mother and the demise of his family. In his obsession he looses sight of what really matters to him, his little sister Essie whom he must take care of due to his father’s prolonged absence and alcoholism, and becomes involved with two fiends Burke and Hare. Along the way to his revenge Robbie falls into a web of lies and crime in effort to bring him closer to Dr. Knox. This only sets him further away from Essie and his true self. However Robbie is introduced to a young medical student, by Essie, that makes an effort to bring Robbie back down to earth. Will Robbie do what his right and put his family first, or will he be further skewed by the wicked ways of Burke and Hare in his quest for revenge. Fleshmarket was a great book and I recommend it to anyone looking for a short book full of suspense.

Ron McDermott