Book excerpt: Determining the cause of death in children and young adults can pose considerable challenges. Professor Byard provides for the first time a complete overview of pathological aspects of sudden death in the young, from before birth to middle adult life. Highly illustrated with more than 800 colour figures, this third edition contains new sections on sexual abuse, pregnancy-related deaths and rare natural diseases, as well as expanded coverage of unexpected death in young adults up to the age of 30 years. Chapters are organised by systems and cover all aspects of natural death, as well as accidents, suicides and homicides. Supported by extensive referencing and numerous tables, the book can also be used as a practical autopsy manual. An encyclopaedic overview and analysis of sudden death in the young, this is a key text for pediatric and forensic pathologists, pediatricians, and lawyers and physicians involved in medicolegal cases.