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Although this is the third book from the Kay Scarpetta series, this
is my first review of one in the English section of this web site,
since I read the first two in a French translation. It turns out
this is the best of the three I have read so far... Dr. Kay Scarpetta has been baffled by four related cases,
that occurred over two years, in which young couples disappeared and
turned up dead months afterwards. First their cars were found, and
later the corpses, already badly decomposed, turned up in
neighboring woods. Unfortunately, because of the state of the
bodies, Kay was unable to determine the cause of death in each case,
which did not simplify the investigation.
As the daughter of Pat Harvey, the National Drug Policy Director,
disappears on a Labor Day with her boyfriend, the pressure to find
answers increases, but Kay's and Marino's efforts are hampered by
Benton Wesley and the whole FBI behind him. Some clues are not shared
with Kay, bodies are tampered with, etc. As Kay wonders what the FBI
could be covering up, she meets her journalist friend, Abby
Turnbull, who has a very paranoid behavior. She is writing a piece
on the couple murders and pretends that she is being spied on...
As she is trying to find a clue to the identity of the mysterious
couples killer, Kay must also discover why she must keep her autopsy
reports from the family of the victims for as long as possible. On a
personal level, she is trying to deal with the fact that she still
misses her ex-boyfriend Mark, who asked to be assigned in Colorado
to put some distance between them.
As I said, this is my favorite Kay Scarpetta novel so far. The suspense
is maintained throughout the book, the story is believable, and
(this is what I like with the TV series CSI, for instance), Patricia
Cornwell subtly shows how forensic sciences can sometimes yield false
or inconclusive results in the absence of other data. I was just surprised
by
the intervention of the psychic (I would prefer to stick with a
scientific investigation), and this is the second book out of three
in which Cornwell mention psychic things such as people's "auras",
which I have a hard time believing in. On second thoughts, since
Cornwell gets her inspiration from her professional experience,
maybe she mentioned the recourse to a psychic because it is a
frequent reality in these kinds of investigations... Like with other
series (the Lynley/Havers series from Elizabeth George comes to
mind) I am becoming fond of the characters, and I am looking forward
to read about them again in the next installment...
Rating: 
© Discussing Books, 09/15/2005
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Critiques