From Potter's Field: Scarpetta (Book 6)

By Patricia Cornwell

Book Overview

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Enter the chilling and captivating world of Dr. Kay Scarpetta before Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis bring the mystery to life onscreen.

"The new audience will be compelled by the characters, crimes, and mysteries that are the trifecta of Patricia's masterful storytelling... and a warning......there WILL be BLOOD." - Jamie Lee Curtis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Dr. Kay Scarpetta faces a bold, brilliant killer from her past--and soon realizes she may be his next target--in this "nerve-jangling game of cat and mouse" (People).

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner of Virginia and consultant for the FBI, is in the midst of a late-night autopsy at the morgue when the call comes: Gault, the sadistic psychopath who has eluded capture for years, has struck again.

She and longtime FBI and police colleagues Benton Wesley and Captain Pete Marino fly to the eerie early-morning scene, where they immediately recognize Gault's grizzly handiwork. But no one seems to know his bald female victim, whose naked body has been propped up against a frozen fountain. It makes no sense that she apparently disrobed in the bitter cold without a struggle and walked barefoot over snow to her death.

While Scarpetta sorts through the strange forensic evidence, Gault kills again. But the prey he ultimately seeks is Scarpetta, for it becomes increasingly apparent that he is as focused on her as she is on him. It may be possible that he kills to impress her, and that he's trying to get at her through her young niece, Lucy, who is the brains behind CAIN, the worldwide FBI computer network.

Through what proves to be Scarpetta's most frightening chase, she can almost sense the evil, electric presence of her nemesis. But when she draws close, he slips back into the darkness, waiting for the time when they at last meet. . . .

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425204693
• ISBN13: 9780425204696
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 7.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

One of the Best in the Scarpetta Series

Kay Scarpetta seems to be a very unhappy person at times, but she does get involved in some dandy murder mysteries--and this book is one the best in the series!Temple Gault is still on the loose, focusing this time on Kay and her niece, Lucy. Temple likes to kill just for the thrill of it and never leaves any clues.He centers in now on Kay Scarpetta, and it is up to her to stop him in matter what.This book defines "thriller" and I could not put it down - especially the scene late one night in the morgue. What happens? Read and find out. You won't be sorry.

Cornwell does it again, and again, and again, and again...

...and with this book, she has done it yet again. The book does not start off too well, with the sherrif Santa bit being a bit confusing for the first couple of pages. I didn't like it. And i thought i might be in for a disappointing Cornwellian offering. My, was i WRONG. This book is yet another stunner. She has definitely veered away from the cunningness and cleverness which inhabited her first three books. But she more than makes up for it with a chilling plot and one of the most cold and clinical serial killers i have eve read of. Essentially, this is a serial killer novel, and as that it not especially original. But it is nonetheless a good one. Marino, Benton, Lucy and of course Kay are back again for another great read. Cornwell's writing is sharp and to the point, and keeps the you turning those pages. I can't really put my finger on a reason why, but from the first time i read a Cornwell book i feel in love with the way she writes. It's simply...wonderful. I can't get enough of it. It's no more literate than the next person's, but for some reason i just relish every sentence she writes. The plot here is sometimes scatty and random (as was Cruel and Unusual) but here, she pulls it off a lot better. I tend not to like books full of random killings, without rhyme or reason (yoo hoo, James Patterson, author of Violets are Blue, i'm talking in particular about you.), but here i really did. The randomness is chilling, and Tenple Gault is a super villain, who curdles the blood. He is just so...hateable. You loathe him absolutely. Especially when you find out how he treats his sister. You just hate him even more. With every part of i wanted him to die, die, die. It is hard to conceieve of anyone so cruel and horrifically terrifying than him. When Scarpetta talks to his parents, it's painful to read, even though it's fiction. It's an extremely moving scene, full of emotion. (As is the entire book.)This book moves along relentlessly to it's absolutely brilliant conclusion. It is the best conclusion she has penned yet, down in the bowels of the New York subway. Dark and frightening, she really brings over the atmosphere. I loved this book, as i have loved almost every single Scarpetta novel so far. The identity of the first victim should come as a real shock.

This will hook you in!

This was the first Scarpetta Novel I read. I was half way through the first chapter when I went back to the store and bought all the books in the series that came before. This is the best there has been. This book delves into the mind of a sadistic killer, Temple Gault. It can not get more terrifying than starring into his dead ice blue eyes. If you are into thrillers this is one that will keep you up all night and not just reading. Guaranteed to make you jump at any sound.

Meeting the Parents of a Serial Killer

Another great book from Madame Medical Investigator Author Patricia Cornwell. Always well-researched, this time the book causes Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Marino and of course, FBI Agent Benton Wesley to investigate the death of a frozen naked woman propped openly in Central Park. Their path leads them to the parents of a psychotic serial killer, one of whom can see nothing wrong about her son and the other parent who would only see his if pointing a shotgun at the son's face. The woman's identity is a shock, as is Scarpetta's handiness with a side-arm. A must-read!

Couldn't put it down

This was my first Cornwall book and I found it compelling in its descriptions and plot. She creates suspense that makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I can't wait to read her previously published books.