Phosphate Rocks

An interesting book that is equal parts fiction and non-fiction about a mystery discovered during the demolition of an old chemical factory. When a basement is uncovered, a body covered in phosphate is discovered, along with ten objects. A police detective enlists the help of a former supervisor at that factory to help discover whose body it is and the significance of the objects.

As the former supervisor, John Gibson, examines each object, it causes him to recollect events and the people at the factory that involve each object. For readers to understand why the chemical factory does certain things in certain ways, it is necessary for the writer to introduce the chemistry (and some history behind the chemistry) separately beforehand.

The result is a book that part mystery, part chemistry, part plant engineering and part relationships between people, as the ups and downs of the factory involving the workers and the people in the nearby town are shown.

In the end, if the reader pays careful attention, the identity of the body may be discovered and is shown to be part of the history of the factory and its eventual closure as times change. But along the way, you will be entertained by a story about chemistry and the people who help make some of the chemicals that help run the world today.

This is such an interesting and unique style of writing, a book where fiction and non-fiction merge, Erskine makes clever use of the two voices. A factory is being demolished and during the destruction a body is discovered surrounded by ten objects, each one is a clue to the identity of the corpse. There is one man who can help, a man who may be able to piece together the clues to figure out the identity, a man called John.

Each clue sends John down memory lane, it is intricately tied with a chemical and it is here where Erskine’s second voice kicks in, the history of the chemical, it’s discoverer and how the chemical is created…..and more importantly for readers like me, you get told all the morbid details about how destructive it is. The changes between John’s memory trips and the non-fiction is seamless and if you are worried that you might not understand the science, don’t worry as Erskine explains it all really well, her enthusiasm for this subject really grabs you. The relationship between John and the detective was interesting, the witty back and forth and the conversations over meals left me expecting more from them, it makes me wonder if maybe we’ll be seeing the detective again in another book as it feels like we’ve only just started to get to know her…which also makes me wonder will we meet John again???

The plot kept me interested throughout, I did guess the identity early on but the reveal was still moving and tied up things perfectly. I also liked how as the story headed towards it’s conclusion we witness the slow death of a factory, from the risky health and safety incidences to the stunning incompetence’s of the upper management all the way to the all too common final outcome for a factory. Another interesting aspect of the book, which adds another dimension to the plot, is a lot of events narrated by John are based on real life instances, the dodgy things the characters do are so easy to imagine happening.

This is the first book by Erskine I’ve read and it is a good’un, I’ll definitely be checking out more of her writing. I’ve tried to come up with another name of somebody who writes like this and I’ve drawn a blank, for me Erskin has a truly unique voice. Roight I’m off to the kitchen to see what I can create from this book using the kitchen aid.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2021/06/22/blog-tour-phosphate-rocks-a-death-in-ten-objects-by-fiona-erskine/