Scarpetta Hardcover - 2008

by Patricia Cornwell

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

Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practicein Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta acceptsan assignment in New York City, where the NYPD hasasked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital's psychiatricprison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, OscarBane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally hasher gloved hands on him, he begins to talk and the story hehas to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has everheard.

The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of amurder . . . that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insanestalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true,and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by theactual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that awoman has been tortured and murdered and more violentdeaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifyingtruth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows wherehis prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And whatis the connection between the victims?

In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologisthusband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recentlyformed her own forensic computer investigation firm in NewYork, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace andthe all-too-real streets of the city an odyssey that will takethem at once to places they never knew, and much, much tooclose 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 entertainand enthrall.