Overview
Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta Series #16) by Patricia Cornwell
View our feature on Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta.
From America’s #1 bestselling crime writers comes the extraordinary new Kay Scarpetta novel.
Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk—and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.
The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder . . . that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered—and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims?
In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all-too-real streets of the city—an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home.
Throughout, Cornwell delivers shocking twists and turns, and the kind of cutting-edge technology that only she can provide. Once again, she proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.
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She kept me constantly jumping to incorrect conclusions and in one particular scene, actually physically jumping. I can't wait to share this with friends and family so we can discuss all the intricately woven threads and the sheer entertainment value of Scarpetta.
In this latest thriller, Dr. Kay Scarpetta is called in from Boston to solve a heinous New Year¿s Eve crime that makes no sense to investigators. As a personal favor to her colleagues, Dr. Scarpetta walks right into this complex case and tackles it ¿head on.¿
The case has a confusing trail of DNA and a confounding set of circumstances that baffles even New York¿s finest. The plot swirls and spins around a complex cast of characters, all of which seem mutually exclusive until the final chapters of the book when Ms. Cornwell reveals a carefully woven matrix of unlikely and sinister connections. And, ¿¿. the ending will fool you!
This thriller has more twists and turns than a mountain road, and it enthralls its reader from its first word to its last. It¿s a true page turner. I stayed up half the night finishing this book because I simply could not put it down!!
I would also recommend James Patterson and Rick Mofina books.
Thanks to Cornwell my Christmas shopping will be easy this year!
why the book is thick?Because all of her characters deserve equal share in the book. It's worth the wait for me personilty. Everyone will be surpise at the ending. And through the whole book. For some of you die hard lovers of Kay Scarpetta (like myself)she is so fantastic of a character, only Miss Cornwell does her justice. But all of this is my personal opinion. And there be some who won't like the book (of course) that's their opinion also.But the die hard fans will out way the bad one's.The plot is really good,writing is terrfic,it's so thrilling. I could go on but, you read for your self just stay with it after the first chapter. Then you can't put it down it's really worth the read.Plus the main characters are fantastic and so are the new one's. Did I say I Love it. I just did. 11-26-08