Trade Paperback
400 pages
Aug 2004
Howard Publishing

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Review:

The Bug Man – forensic entomologist Nick Polchak – returns in Tim Downs’ newest novel Chop Shop. Nick’s antics in the classroom earn him a welcome respite from teaching, and a presentation at a Pittsburgh elementary school, where Dr. Riley McKay encounters him. Something suspicious has cropped at the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office where she is a pathology fellow, and she needs his help.

Nick has spent his entire life using his head and ignoring his heart, but that begins to change as he and Riley work together. They discover a second wound on a drive-by shooting victim, made near the time of the murder, but unmentioned in the report by Riley’s supervisor. Nick brings in his longtime friend, computer specialist and big-hearted Italian, Leonardo Lazzoli, to check out the supervisor’s records. Leo tries to help Nick learn to feel again, but their investigation is brushing against Riley’s long-kept secret, and time is running out.

Not for the weak of heart – or stomach – Chop Shop is both witty and poignant. Behind the grisly details of autopsies and flesh-eating bugs lies a tender story, but the emotions also accent the thrilling plot. While second in the series, this book can stand alone, but Downs’ eccentric main character will keep fans anxious for the next Bug Man novel. -- Katie Hart, Christian Book Previews.com

Book Jacket:

Intern forensic pathologist Dr. Riley McKay has noticed irregularities in autopsies at the Allegheny County Coroner's lab. Suspecting foul play, she seeks help from Dr. Nick Polchak, the "bug man" renowned for his ability to solve murders by analyzing the insects on victim's bodies. Nick and Riley uncover a sinister link between the lab's director and PharmaGen, a start-up drug company specializing in genetic research. They also discover that PharmaGen fronts an underground system to procure transplant organs for wealthy clients by finding and murdering matching donors. But PharmaGen learns of their security breach and orders the couple destroyed. While staying a step ahead of PharmaGen assassins, romantic attraction develops between Nick and Riley. But the attraction is complicated by a tragic secret that Riley hides—a secret closely tied to one member of PharmaGen's operation which propels the novel to its astonishing conclusion.