Predator: Scarpetta (Book 14)

By Patricia Cornwell

Book Overview

Scarpetta, an all-new Original Series, is out now on Prime Video

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 - Investigating a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowbound Boston, Dr. Kay Scarpetta follows clues that twist and turn, leading her into the psychopathic depths of a jailed serial killer's mind. . . .

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, and her team--Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and her niece, Lucy--track the odd connections between several horrific crimes and the people who are the likely suspects. In Florida, Scarpetta is investigating the puzzling disappearance four people who have been abducted from their quiet home, leaving their car parked haphazardly in the driveway and a stove burner on low. Then Marino finds something in a nearby house that stops him cold: a woman who has complained of harassment from a citrus canker inspector has been viciously murdered in her bed.

As one psychopath, safely behind bars and the subject of a classified scientific study at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital, teases Scarpetta with tips that could be fact--or fantasy--the number of killers on the loose seems to multiply. Are these events related or merely random? And what can the study of one man's brain tell them about the methods of a psychopath still lurking in the shadows?

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 042524573X
• ISBN13: 9780425245736
• Release Date: January 2012
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.1" x 7.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

You are in for a Surprise (or a Shock!!)

Like all Scarpetta's - i loved this book ... every character had a twist to them - which was extraordinary. I read many of the negative reviews and i actually feel that they alone would push me to buy the book (if i hadn't read this already) - every negative reviewer was expecting the same old same old from the characters embedded in their minds - and Patricia has masterfully shattered those images... I ask: why can't her characters be morose or psychotic? After all they are characters - right! - She does lay out the circumstance around each of them ... whether it's Pete's anti depression pills or Lucy's encounters... I liked it and i think Patricia is one of the best out there... Go - get it and read it!! But read it without expecting people to never change!

Disappointment again

I have read every Cornwell book since POSTMORTEM and agree that the last few have been remarkable for their disappointment. I reviewed TRACE here not long ago. I miss Scarpetta's own voice narrating the story in the first person, but I will give Cornwell her due that she has improved her third person style. However, being inside Scarpetta's mind was an experience I miss enough to reread the old books. To sum it up: one finds oneself almost at the books end with few pages left and too many loose ends to resolve as intelligently as the earlier part of the book is presented. I get the feeling Cornwell enjoys weaving the tale more than she does resolving it, which is not uncommon but also not acceptable from a writer of her calibre. Lucy is now a nasty middle aged woman and Marino (whom I once had hopes for) is a sour old man with morals sorely lacking. I will continue to read Cornwell's books in the hopes she can restore her continuing characters to their former interest....but I haven't much hope. They are too damaged for much redemption. Where is the French madman...Jean-Baptiste? He was a horrifying character and one was led to believe he was stalking Scarpetta through several books. Now he is loose out there somewhere, seemingly to be utilized in a future episode. Another very loose end left undone.