Chop Shop

Most people take the funeral services provided to their dearly departed for granted. They assume that the remains of their loved one will be properly cared for. After reading this book, I can not make that assumption any longer.The Lamb Funeral Home was a part of the California landscape for generations. When the most recent generation began working there, the business was corrupted. The problem only begins with him cremating more than one body at once. David Sconce sold the gold teeth and organs of bodies for profits. In addition to this scandal, Sconce is accused of multiple assaults and murdering others in the funeral industry. While the hot-tempered Sconce has not been convicted of murder, there are reasons to believe he is guilty of murdering the competition.This is a fast-paced easy read that I had trouble putting down. I was anticipating the ending. My only disappointment was finding out Sconce was never convicted of murder.I have stereotyped in my mind what a funeral director should look like. Sconce does not meet that description. As a result, I can never look at the funeral industry without wondering if an honest business is being run.

This book was so good that I literally could not put it down for more than an hour at a time. Kathy Braidhill has an amazing gift for storytelling. She presents all the facts to you without stating her opinion. Also, all of her facts are taken from records that you can look up. The mass cremations were so direspectful to the families of the deceased and "popping chops" to remove dental gold was just horrendous. Paints a sick story of a family wrenched with greed and arrogance.

In addition to detailing aboundant blood, guts and gore, ChopShop poignantly depicts what so many organizations do when theirexistence is jeopardized: they do anything and everything to survive. In this case, it's a funeral home that is beleaguered by a widespread industry downturn, and is thus faced with the challenge of foraging for revenues.God knows, I've toiled at several businesses that, when threatened with extinction, resorted to every imaginable sort of behavior--much of which was just as flagrantly illegal as the funeral home's savage and grisly activities depicted in this well-written book.In light of this, I highly recommed this book as both a scintillating horror read, and a remarkable study of organizational malfeasance commonly perpetrated in the name of survival.

As a seasoned veteran of true crime novels, I must say that this is the first one that I read cover to cover without stopping. Braidhill does an excellent job at uncovering the gruesome monstrosities at the Lamb funeral home from the pliers that were used to rip out peoples gold fillings, the mass cremations that resulted in an overflow of human sludge,and the murder of a rival mortician. This book packs a powerful punch. I liked this book because it is well written, excellently detailed, and possesses a sense of sympathy for the many victims of David Sconce. Highly recommended for true crime fans.

As someone who was and knows of others who were victimized by David Sconce's pathetically sick and greedy mind, this book gives me the finality of knowing what really happend behind closed doors.The folks who have since taken over the funeral home are just as sick about his past activities as I am. What makes me feel better is knowing that someone who cares about people has stepped in to take over and clean up the memory of that horrible place. I appreciate their help in me finding out about this book so I can really know what happend to people I loved.