Those with an interest in forensics must pick up Dead Center: Behind The Scenes At the Worlds Largest Medical Examiner’s Office. The stunning look inside the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York (OCME) by co-writers Shiya Ribowsky and Tom Shachtman is a totally engaging read from the introduction all the way through its two hundred and forty-nine pages. The book opens up with Shiya’s memory of the tragic events of September 11th: how he walked to work because it was such a beautiful day; the shocked reaction of everyone in the office when the planes hit; the deployment of the chief medical examiner with some staff as first responders; and ultimately, the beginning efforts to start identifying the deceased.

“I wanted to go down with the chief, and at first I was disappointed when he told me to stay behind at the office. But somebody had to remain at headquarters to prepare for the task ahead. Whatever bodies were recovered at the site would have to be processed and identified, and as director of identifications for the office and senior medicolegal investigator (MLI) for Manhattan, it fell to me to start organizing or efforts.”

From halfway into the book on, Shiya goes into what went into the daunting task of identifying the remains from the World Trade Center attacks. This section is thoroughly engrossing and gives much insight into the processes and emotional toll of doing that daunting task. Overall, Dead Center gives an amazingly intricate (and humanistic) look at what goes on at OCME.