Readers' rating:
Published Dec 2008
416 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
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?
"With a plot full of holes and frustrating red herrings, this entry falls short of the high standard set by earlier volumes in this iconic series." - Publishers Weekly.
"The blend of forensic investigation and high-tech intrigue will please Scarpetta’s legions of fans." - Booklist.
This information about Scarpetta was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
New York Times bestselling novelist Patricia Daniels Cornwell is the
only woman in the United States to receive England's coveted Gold Dagger,
widely considered to be the most prestigious crime-writing award in the world.
A former award-winning police reporter for the Charlotte Observer,
Cornwell worked for more than six years as a computer analyst in the chief
medical examiner's office in Virginia, where she witnessed hundreds of
autopsies and even assisted as a "scribe," recording the measurements of the
wounds of murder victims. During that time, she also was a volunteer with the
Richmond Police Department, and has spent time with law enforcement around the
world.
Those experiences inspired her to create Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a tenacious chief
medical examiner who tracks ...
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