Chaos
A Scarpetta Novel
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4.0 • 922 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
“When it comes to the forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell.”
—New York Times Book Review
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CHAOS
From the Ancient Greek (χάος or kháos)
A vast chasm or void. Anarchy. The science of unpredictability.
On a late summer evening in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her investigative partner, Pete Marino, respond to a call about a dead bicyclist near the Kennedy School of Government. It appears that a young woman has been attacked with almost superhuman force.
Even before Scarpetta’s headquarters has been officially notified about the case, Marino and Scarpetta’s FBI agent husband, Benton Wesley, receive suspicious calls, allegedly from someone at Interpol. But it makes no sense. Why would the elite international police agency know about the case or be interested? It soon becomes apparent that an onslaught of harassment might be the work of an anonymous cyberbully named Tailend Charlie, who has been sending cryptic communications to Scarpetta for over a week.
Even Lucy, her brilliant tech-savvy niece, can’t trace who it is or how this person could have access to intimate information. When a second death shocks Scarpetta to her core, it becomes apparent she and those close to her are confronted with something far bigger and more dangerous than they’d ever imagined.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In bestseller Cornwell's uneven 24th Kay Scarpetta novel (after 2015's Depraved Heart), the forensic pathologist investigates the bizarre death of 23-year-old Brit Elisa Vandersteelis, who was riding her bicycle in a Cambridge, Mass., park when she suffered a fatal electrical burn that looks like a lightning strike but isn't. Meanwhile, Scarpetta's FBI agent husband, Benton Wesley, is called away on matters of national security, which turn out to involve the sudden death of Gen. John Briggs, a long-time friend of Scarpetta's and one of the backers of her Cambridge Forensic Center. Electricity seemed to play a role in his death, too, making Scarpetta believe there's a connection. Of course, whenever there's a series of suspicious deaths, the specter of Carrie Grethen, Scarpetta's nemesis, isn't far from her thoughts. Coupled with threats she's been receiving from the mysterious Tailend Charlie, these new deaths appear to fit Carrie's MO. Lots of cutting-edge forensic detail and some revelatory character moments help compensate for a plot with only occasional flashes of narrative energy.
Customer Reviews
Slow start
This book had a slow start but it got really good at the end.
Same old same theme
I gave this a two because the writing is so much better than the last 10 or so books. The author should have stopped at book 7. Another close encounter with death for the getting to be anorexic Dr Scarpetta who only takes a bite of food every few days as every resurrected escapee villain strikes again causing near deaths to the doc. How many books will it be before Carrie escapes the lunatic asylum and causes CHAOS on the ever unsuspecting and never listening doc. How many meals will she miss, how many broken dates with her husband, the one she had an affair with because she has no morals, no common sense, and never listens to her instincts or to those who warn her about the evils out to get her…how many times is her family in danger because of her lack of sense. The nicest event is the news about Marino who finally gets the high maintenance girl Dorothy and the repetitive drudgery of hearing Harvard this and that, the Wesley wealth and possessions, CNN, blah blah showing the hidden views of what is supported by this author. I have a few more of Cornwell’s books to read all she’s written. I will read them all. I always finish what I started but really not looking forward to the reads as I was when I started them sad to say. How interesting and informative they were, now it seems to be the doc’s decline mentality and physically with storyline repetitions. Yawn and b.o.r.i.n.g… Wonder how the cookbooks are going to cook out…
Great!!
I love Cornwell!