Product Description

This New Year's Eve marks the end of a life-and the beginning of a nightmare for Kay Scarpetta.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35668 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780425213384
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Patricia Cornwell's heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta is back; this time to solve the mystery of the death of an Associated Press reporter who was killed while nosing about in a decommissioned navy yard. Scarpetta's involvement in the case leads her to be targeted for murder herself by a nasty little neo-fascist cult with delusions of grandeur that include a plan to "kill and maim, frighten, brainwash and torture" all who oppose their plan to rule the world. Helping Scarpetta is her niece Lucy, an F.B.I. agent whose computer expertise leads to a heart-stopping journey into cyberspace.

From Publishers Weekly
First, the good news: the omni-competent Kay Scarpetta is back, along with her sidekicks, in a murder mystery that's tighter than her last escapade, From Potter's Field. Chief medical examiner for the state of Virginia and an FBI consultant, Kay finds ample opportunity to demonstrate her skills in the autopsy room and outside it, too: here, she also dives with a Navy SEAL rescue squad and, through her computer-genius niece Lucy, an FBI agent, takes an up-close-and-personal look at a robot operated via virtual reality. But there is bad news: the work lacks the extraordinary, can't-go-to-bed-til-you're-finished suspense of Cornwell's earlier novels, e.g. Cruel and Unusual. The killers here, members of a nihilistic, fascist cult who think their founder akin to God, are identified early on but never developed as characters. Their crimes, while heinous, don't baffle and tease the reader (or Kay) in the manner of the villain Temple Gault, who was dismissed in the last book. While Cornwell's authoritative presentation of forensic sleuthing, FBI procedures and high-tech crime-fighting compensates mightily for the overneat dovetailing of characters' paths and even the implausible role Kay plays in the climax, the hurried, almost slapdash pace of the climactic scenes is disappointing from so accomplished a writer. But even at less than her best, Cornwell remains a master of the genre, instilling in readers an appetite that only she can satisfy. One million first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
On New Year's Eve, a scuba diver, identified as investigative reporter Ted Eddings, is found dead 30 feet below the surface of the Elizabeth River. Was Eddings hunting for Civil War relics or fishing for a bigger story in the Inactive Naval Ship Yard? An anonymous phone call reporting the death draws Virginia medical examiner Kay Scarpetta into the case. The murder of a morgue assistant driving Scarpetta's car and the discovery of radioactive material on the passenger side puts Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, and colleagues Wesley Benton and Pete Morino on the trail of a right-wing militia group who eventually seize a nuclear power plant. After the disappointing From Potter's Field (LJ 8/95), Cornwell's seventh novel is an improvement, though it is not quite as good as her earlier books. Her plot is still contrived, but her characters are more fully developed. Perhaps one day Cornwell will devote a novel to the troubled, complicated Lucy. For popular fiction collections.
-?Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Where are the good books?
The book started off well with attention-grabbing events related to the death of a reporter. In no time, it bogged down into neurotic reflections on relationships of all sorts. This is billed as a suspenseful crime novel, but it has more romance, both hetero and homo, than crime and suspense. By page 140 I was so bored, I did not think I could continue, but I hate to start a book and not finish it.
Then another murder occurred about half-way through, and the pace picked up a little then but quickly slacked off again. The descriptions are voluminous, peripherally related to the plot, and almost as interesting as a textbook.
Admittedly this is not the type of book I enjoy but I wanted to try a Cornwell book because she is a very successful author. (A $750k advertising budget helps, I'm sure.) It was tough for me to plow through.
It violates the Third Commandment repeatedly, which I find offensive and unnecessary.
On page 287, there are daffodils, crocus, and ivy growing in window boxes in London in early January; one would think it too cold! Does the Putman group not have editors any more? Where are the good books?

I never finished reading this book
While I'm not the type who notes inaccuracies very well, it was the story that bothered me most. Nevermind that many writers these days have serious problems with prose.

I had a very hard time trying to convince myself that a forensic pathologist could be rambling endlessly about "evil". All this with hardly any conscience over having an affair with Benton and sullying his marriage.

Furthermore, Patricia Cornwell pulls out the old trick of "men versus Scarpetta" again. While it was vaguely interesting in the first book or so, this constant reminder is tiring.

Finally, the "conspiracy" part has been beaten to death. It doesn't mean you can't use it though but Patricia employs it to poor effect.

I felt that Cruel and Unusual and The Body Farm were the better books out of this series. I think she has finally worn out her characters and they would've been better laid to rest.

Slips Ahoy!
A general in the Navy? Almost as believable as a 23-yr. old genius with an attitude who is the FBI's secret weapon. This book read as though Ms. Cornwall phoned it in.