Phosphate Rocks

Published June 16, 2021 by Sandstone Press.

ISBN:
978-1-913207-52-6
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4 stars (2 reviews)

As the old chemical works in Leith are demolished a long deceased body encrusted in phosphate rock is discovered. Seated at a card table he has ten objects laid out in front of him. Whose body is it? How did he die and what is the significance of the objects?

1 edition

An interesting book that is equal parts fiction and non-fiction

3 stars

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 …

Review of 'Phosphate Rocks' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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 …