So, so good. The breezy tone belies the breadth of knowledge Dr. Melinek shares with the reader but makes it really easy to get through. Descriptions of cadavers are very graphic, but how else can she tell this story? I also liked the structure, with each chapter dedicated to a manner of death or an expository chapter about her family life for context (though that is mostly woven into the chapters; I guess I'm thinking of the introduction, really). Every review and the book jacket talk a lot about her experience working during the Twin Towers attack, and that is definitely a huge deal for her, professionally and personally, but she actually doesn't cover it until nearly the last chapter, which surprised me. Instead, the book jumps around a bit in time in the other chapters to describe other, more "normal" deaths that she saw and worked on before addressing that difficult subject. 
 Her deep respect for her former colleagues also comes through in the way she talks about them and how much she learned from them, but doesn't seem like fawning praise or pandering. Interestingly, when she thinks a doctor, police officer, or other colleague went above and beyond to help a body ID or console the family of the deceased, she gives their full name and praises them- when talking about interacting with disinterested or distracted professionals and people who made her job harder, she mostly doesn't "name and shame"- probably for legal reasons, as well as professional courtesy. Still, the stories she shares are juicy enough without that added bit of schadenfreude! She also makes a point of naming the deceased she worked on, while describing their case histories. This extra mile of showing respect communicates to the reader how much she cares about her job and how it makes a difference more than if she just told the reader that (although she does, a lot!).