The Scarpetta Factor
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4.2 • 74 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
The seventeenth book in the Kay Scarpetta series, from No. 1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell.
'America's most chilling writer of crime fiction' The Times
It is the week before Christmas. The effects of the credit crunch have prompted Dr Kay Scarpetta to offer her services pro bono to New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. But in no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of dramatic and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same broadcast, she receives a startling call-in from a former psychiatric patient of Benton Wesley's.
When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds a suspicious package - possibly a bomb - waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta's life finds her embroiled in a deadly plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionairess with whom Scarpetta's niece Lucy seems to have shared a secret past . . .
Praise for the groundbreaking series:
'One of the best crime writers writing today' Guardian
'Devilishly clever' Sunday Times
'The top gun in this field' Daily Telegraph
'Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns' Mirror
'The Agatha Christie of the DNA age' Express
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Cornwell's solid 17th thriller to feature Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after Scarpetta) finds Scarpetta who's the senior forensic analyst for CNN probing the murder of a Central Park jogger as well as looking into the disappearance of Hannah Starr, a wealthy financial planner. Quizzed on-air about previously undisclosed details of the perplexing Starr case, Scarpetta realizes that the tentacles of the case reach further than she imagined. Her niece, forensic computer whiz Lucy Farinelli, has her own reasons for digging into Starr's disappearance, along with Lucy's girlfriend, New York County ADA Jaime Berger. NYPD Det. Pete Marino, another series staple, is also in the loop as a member of Berger's task force. But it's the dark past of Scarpetta's psychologist husband, Benton Wesley particularly his presumed death in Point of Origin and shocking reappearance five years later in Blow Fly that binds the disparate pieces together and make this one of Cornwell's stronger recent efforts.
Customer Reviews
The Scarpetta Factor
Once again I was held from beginning to the end of the story well done to the lady herself .only Patricia Cornwell writes The Scarpetta series so well . looking forward to reading the next one !!
I couldn’t wait to finish it and start something else
Not Cornwall’s finest. Too much waffle / padding and relying on the same literary technique time and again whereby you’re not sure what is going on until much later in the scene when “all is revealed”. Frankly I found it frustrating and confusing. And was bored generally by the book. Even the ending was rushed. Considering the central baddy was Benton’s and Scarpetta’s arch enemy a much better story could have been told. I feel Cornwell is struggling to produce new and exciting storylines for the Scarpetta series now.