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Mario the lone bookwolf's Reviews > The Coroner's Lunch

The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
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really liked it
bookshelves: humor-and-comedy

A combination of thriller, ghost novel and satire in an exotic setting, dominated by an authoritarian government.

Dr Siri is a cynical guy, always balancing close to saying something that could let him disappear forever if the wrong person would hear it. But, due to the bad education in the dictatorship, he is forced to play the coroner against his will.

I like thrillers with fresh, unused ideas that arrange new settings and unusual ideas and the pinch of metaphysical content makes it perfect. There is so much subtext, innuendos, and hidden depts, especially with a focus on the region, that friends of East Asia may find it even more entertaining.

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_C...
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Reading Progress

Finished Reading
March 7, 2018 – Shelved

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Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

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message 1: by Marta (last edited Mar 28, 2020 05:21AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars
Mar 28, 2020 05:20AM

Marta I just read this! So much fun. A different culture but a familiar mystery format. Love Dr Siri! Great humor!


message 2: by Mario the lone bookwolf (new) - rated it 4 stars
Mar 28, 2020 07:21AM

Mario the lone bookwolf Marta wrote: "I just read this! So much fun. A different culture but a familiar mystery format. Love Dr Siri! Great humor!"

I am really thinking about reading more parts of it, although it isn´t my genre. It´s especially the meta dark that is interesting, not the average spooky or disgusting elements of the more hardcore thrillers, but how the ubiquitous shadow of the dictatorship opens space for sarcastic innuendos and introspective character development.


message 3: by Marta (new) - rated it 4 stars
Mar 28, 2020 03:02PM

Marta The mystery is finely written, bit I agree, the great part of the book is the description of the regime and people’s reaction to it, and of course, the humor. I listened to the second one, and the mystery was not nearly as interesting, but the characters and the setting were great. There is a gathering of shamans that is a hoot.


message 4: by Mario the lone bookwolf (new) - rated it 4 stars
Mar 28, 2020 07:34PM

Mario the lone bookwolf Marta wrote: "The mystery is finely written, bit I agree, the great part of the book is the description of the regime and people’s reaction to it, and of course, the humor. I listened to the second one, and the ..."

So no metaplot and worldbuilding, but cynicism and shamanism... Hm, I´ll wait a bit and see how the rating are developing and take a look at the second part or another one, as the ratings seem to rise.


message 5: by Lizz (new) - rated it 5 stars
May 27, 2021 01:59AM

Lizz Im on book six and still really enjoying it. I have bad eyes so I do half of my reading on audio and this lends itself perfectly to a good narrator, which they have. Very funny and engaging. We’re getting slightly more info on the spiritual side, but I’d say that’s the weakest part of the series.


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