The Scarpetta Factor

By Cornwell, Patricia Daniels

Publishers Summary:
It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta – despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN – to offer her services pro bono to New York CityÂ’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast she receives a startling call-in from a former psychiatrist patient of Benton WesleyÂ’s. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package – possibly a bomb – waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on ScarpettaÂ’s life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaires with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past. ScarpettaÂ’s CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a “special factor,” a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype. The Scarpetta Factor, the seventeenth in the series, finds the familiar cast of characters together again in New York. Marino is working for the NYPD; Benton Wesley uses his forensic psychological expertise at Kirby and Bellevue; and Lucy continues to dazzle with her expertise in forensic computer investigations as she works yet another case with NY prosecutor Jaime Berger.

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ISBN
978-0-39915-639-7
Publisher
Putnam Adult


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on October 12, 2009

The 17th entry in the popular Scarpetta series (after Scarpetta) finds the Massachusetts medical examiner investigating the death of jogger Toni Darien in Central Park-and finding suspicious similarities to a case of a missing financier. She also must contend with a suspicious package delivered to her apartment, the possible theft of her BlackBerry, menacing communications from a former psychiatric patient of husband Benton, and the reemergence of notorious characters from past cases. Never-before-seen glimpses into the innermost thoughts of key characters Pete Marino, Benton, and niece Lucy Farinelli intensify the plot. Verdict A finely crafted, pulse-racing thriller that readers won't want to put down. Scarpetta fans will notice more pages devoted to character development and less to the autopsy room. [Main selection of BOMC, Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Mystery Guild.]-Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights Copyright 2009 Media Source Inc. Copyright 2009 Media Source Inc. ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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