Book of the Dead

Overview

From America's #1 bestselling crime writer comes the extraordinary new Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel.

The "book of the dead" is the morgue log, the ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to have a new meaning.

Fresh from her bruising battle with a psychopath in Florida, Scarpetta decides it's time for a change of pace-not only personally and professionally, but geographically. Moving to the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, she opens a unique private forensic pathology practice, one in which she and her colleagues-including Pete Marino and her niece, Lucy-offer expert crime-scene investigation and autopsies to communities that lack local access to competent death investigation and modern technology.

It seems like an ideal situation, until the new battles start-with local politicians, with entrenched interests, with someone whose covert attempts at sabotage are clearly meant to run her out of town. And that's even before the murders and other violent deaths begin.

A young man from a well-known family jumps off a water tower. A woman is found ritualistically murdered in her multi-million-dollar beach home. The body of an abused young boy is discovered dumped in a desolate marsh. Meanwhile, in distant New England, problems with a prominent patient at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital begin to hint at interconnections that are as hard to imagine as they are horrible.

Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones that face her now. Before she is through, that book of the dead will contain many names-and the pen may be poised to write her own.

The first name in forensics. The last name in suspense. Once again, Patricia Cornwell proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.

Editorial Reviews

Bestseller Cornwell's 15th novel to feature Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after 2005's Predator) delivers her trademark grisly crime scenes, but lacks the coherence and emotional resonance of earlier books. Soon after relocating to Charleston, S.C., to launch a private forensics lab, Scarpetta is asked to consult on the murder of U.S. tennis star Drew Martin, whose mutilated body was found in Rome. Contradictory evidence leaves Scarpetta, the Italian carabinieri and Scarpetta's lover, forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, stumped. But when she discovers unsettling connections between Martin's murder, the body of an unidentified South Carolina boy and her old nemesis, the maniacal psychiatrist Dr. Marilyn Self, Scarpetta encounters a killer as deadly as any she's ever faced. With her recent switch from first- to third-person narration, Cornwell loses what once made her series so compelling: a window into the mind of a strong, intelligent woman holding her own in a profession dominated by men. Here, the abrupt shifts in point of view slow the momentum, and the reader flounders in excessive forensic minutiae.
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Author Information

Bio of Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell is an award-winning novelist whose books have consistently appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Cornwell was born in Florida in 1956. When she was nine years old, her mother tried to give her and her two brothers to evangelist Billy Graham and his wife to care for. For a while the children lived with missionaries since their mother was unable to care for them. Cornwell was a police reporter for The Charlotte Observer and worked in the chief medical examiner's office in Richmond, Virginia, for six years as a computer analyst. She also volunteered to ride with the police during homicide investigations. While working for the medical examiner, she began to write novels. Although the award-winning novel Postmortem was initially rejected by seven different publishers, once it was published it became the only novel ever to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards, and the French Prix du Roman d'Adventure, in one year. She is also the only woman in the United States to receive England's most prestigious crime-writing award, the Gold Dagger. Cornwell's novels are both national and international bestsellers. They have been translated into several foreign languages. Some of her novels are Body of Evidence, All That Remains, Cruel & Unusual, The Body Farm, From Potter's Field, Unnatural Exposure, Hornet's Nest, and A Time for Remembering, a biography of Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham.

Customer Reviews

• Book of the Dead

  Posted December 01, 2007 by goldchip, Traveling the USA

  Cornwell has ruined this series and the characters in it. I started out loving Kay Scarpetta and the others but the last couple books have just been awful. The stories do not flow and it makes the book difficult to follow and to read. I am now going to give up this series as I no longer like her style of writing and I could care less about what happens to the characters as I don't even like them anymore.

• Book of the Dead

  Posted December 02, 2007 by skyrangers, California

  Patricia Cornwell has recaptured the pace and depth of characters from her earlier Kay Scarpetta novels. The ending is open to further adventures and leaves the reader with anticipation of the continuing story. Excellent reading as part of the series or able to stand alone for those not following the good doctors chronicles. Two thumbs up-a quick read.

• Confusing

  Posted December 06, 2007 by thien2ni, NY

  The book can be confusing and hard to follow at time due to constant switching between characters in the story. I wish this book could attract my attention from beginning to end; but rather, as the interesting part comes, it stops and switch to different narration. In short, it makes my interest up and down like a roller-coaster, yet more down than up. I find that annoying to read sometime.

• Book of The Dead

  Posted February 13, 2009 by Dolores King, Murphysboro

  I love the suspense and Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Outstanding!!!

• A bit hard to follow...

  Posted February 26, 2009 by Diamondcat, Lake Orion

  I have read all of the Patricia Cornwell books to date and this one is my least favorite. I found myself being confused and sometimes bored by the changes in location and characters. There were a few characters that I couldn't figure out why they were even in the book. Details would be written about them but it was like "who cares", they mean nothing to the plot. I will continue to read her books, but hopefully the next one is better.

Additional Info

Imprint

Penguin Group, Inc.

Filesize

1.69 MB

Number of Pages

416

eBook ISBN

9781429543743