Author: Patricia Cornwell
Year Published: 2015
Genre: Adult fiction (mystery)
Pages: 466
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location (my 2017 Google Reading map): USA (MA)
FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my daughter
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, MA, when she receives a txt message with a video link that seems to be from her niece Lucy. But how can it be? It's clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken years ago. As Scarpetta watches she comes to grips with frightening secrets. That first clip and others sent soon after raise dangerous implications that isolate Scarpetta, leaving her confused and not knowing when she can tell--not her FBI agent husband, Benton Wesley, or her investigative partner, Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.
Cornwell launches these characters on a psychological odyssey that includes the bizarre death of a Hollywood mogul's daughter, wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta's entire world. The diabolical presence and singularly "depraved heart" behind what unfolds seems obvious--but not to the FBI, who begin building a case against Lucy that could send her to prison for the rest of her life....
Review: I do enjoy me a good Patricia Cornwell novel, but I've got to say I am a little sick of the Carrie storyline. I'd like her to be caught and dealt with so we readers (and Lucy, Benton and Kay) can move on.
This novel picks up only a week or so after the previous one finished, which is fun. Kay is seriously injured having escaped death while scuba diving. Lucy's house is being searched by the FBI (that remains fairly unclear, in my opinion), and a woman is found murdered (of course, she is tied to all of them). Cornwell's novels are always complicated, with lots of characters who are closely or loosely connected to one another. I'll admit I sometimes get confused.
But, the story telling is good, the plots are twisted and interesting, and the forensics are fascinating. I like the characters and that they cover the FBI and the medical examiner worlds; it works well to connect the two so closely. It's the Lucy storylines that I am not quite as keen on. They seem to never be completely clear or resolved.
But, if you like a good mystery or forensic stories, the Kay Scarpetta books are a definite "must read."
Challenges accomplished with this book:
FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my daughter
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, MA, when she receives a txt message with a video link that seems to be from her niece Lucy. But how can it be? It's clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken years ago. As Scarpetta watches she comes to grips with frightening secrets. That first clip and others sent soon after raise dangerous implications that isolate Scarpetta, leaving her confused and not knowing when she can tell--not her FBI agent husband, Benton Wesley, or her investigative partner, Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.
Cornwell launches these characters on a psychological odyssey that includes the bizarre death of a Hollywood mogul's daughter, wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta's entire world. The diabolical presence and singularly "depraved heart" behind what unfolds seems obvious--but not to the FBI, who begin building a case against Lucy that could send her to prison for the rest of her life....
This novel picks up only a week or so after the previous one finished, which is fun. Kay is seriously injured having escaped death while scuba diving. Lucy's house is being searched by the FBI (that remains fairly unclear, in my opinion), and a woman is found murdered (of course, she is tied to all of them). Cornwell's novels are always complicated, with lots of characters who are closely or loosely connected to one another. I'll admit I sometimes get confused.
But, the story telling is good, the plots are twisted and interesting, and the forensics are fascinating. I like the characters and that they cover the FBI and the medical examiner worlds; it works well to connect the two so closely. It's the Lucy storylines that I am not quite as keen on. They seem to never be completely clear or resolved.
But, if you like a good mystery or forensic stories, the Kay Scarpetta books are a definite "must read."
Challenges accomplished with this book:
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