'Aftermath, Inc.'

Take a look inside the world of real-life crime scene clean-up.

Tim Reifsteck and Chris Wilson were childhood friends from Illinois. Together as adults, they have started a multimillion-dollar business to deal with an important, if unpalatable, task: cleaning up crime scenes. Their company, which specializes in "bioremediation", is called Aftermath, Inc.

Once the forensic team has left a crime scene, someone has to clean it up. Blood, guts, and biological waste are all part of a day's work for the technicians at Aftermath, Inc. One of the employees bluntly stated that "[y]ou haven't really worked this job until you've done two things: a three-week decomp and a shotgun suicide. If you can handle both of those, you can handle anything." Working for Aftermath, Inc. can be a health hazard as well. Hepatitis C, HIV and other viruses are some of the risks that these workers face on a daily basis.

The story of the crime scene clean-up crew is told in Aftermath, Inc.: Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home. The novel was written by Gil Reavill, a crime writer for publications like Maxim, Penthouse and Village Voice. An excerpt from the novel describes the scene after a murder: "The fusillade of bullets tore through Johnson’s body, ripping apart the carpet beneath him and blowing cavities into the concrete underfloor below. Blood, bits of flesh and bone fragments exploded everywhere." Reavill described himself as "a crime writer who had never visited a fresh crime scene" prior to meeting Reifsteck and Wilson. After writing this novel, Reavill had not only visited crime scenes, but also helped to clean up the mess.

Reviews for the book can be found on The Philadelphia Inquirer and Bookslut. The book can be ordered on Amazon.com.

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