This one did not disappoint. I haven't read this author for several years but her work is easy to get back into. Always a twisty thriller with the medical background that keeps me interested.

428 pages

3 stars

What happened to Dr. Kay Scarpetta? I used to love the older books where she would work on a perplexing autopsy and discover the killer.

This book is too much of a techno-thriller for me. Too political also. I don’t like politics in my books; my escape from reality as I call them.

There is too much fear and terrorism in real life, I was very disappointed to find it in a book that I took to be a death investigation. I miss the old Dr. Kay.

I want to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for forwarding this book to me so that I may read and review it. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

I'm a fan of this series and have read all of them- it's interesting to see the various changes the writing has undergone stylistically. This installment is reflective of what multiple of the more recent ones have been in that Cornwell goes extremely detailed into minutia such that a quarter of the book is describing Scarpetta getting to the first crime scene. I enjoy Cornwell's writing and getting to read about what's going on inside Scarpetta's head but she goes overboard IMO and it pads out a plot in which not much happens overall with lots of unnecessary details. Oddly, it created tension because so much time was devoted to things I assumed they'd come up again in the story and was bracing myself. I'd much rather that time be spent diving deeper into relationships between the long standing characters, such as Benton. That being said, the plot to this one was interesting and although the twist did make me kind of roll my eyes, I am willing to go with it. After a point I couldn't put it down and had to keep reading until I finished to find out what happens- to me this installment is proof the Scarpetta series is well and truly back (Cornwell took a multiple year break from them before resuming in 2020) in a way the couple last books weren't quite.
I recommend this installment to all fans of the series- a new reader could certainly read this one stand alone but you'd be missing a lot of the history of characters so I'd recommend reading them all!

3.5 stars rounded up

In this 27th book in the Kay Scarpetta series, we find Kay still in Virginia and heading to the scene of a brutal crime. Once she, Lucy and Pete Marino start investigating, strange evidence is discovered, and a long-held secret comes to light.

This book is full of technology and futuristic ideas, maybe not really so far in the future after all. I did feel like I had it figured out pretty early on, but the rest was a surprise. The story is well-crafted, a bit unbelievable but a good mystery overall.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Here we are at #27 in a series that started my addiction to the crime thriller genre. Opening a new installment is like visiting friends — you pick up right where you left off.

As the story opens, Dr. Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino are on their way to a remote abandoned gold mine in Buckingham Run in the Doomsday Bird piloted by her niece, Lucy, to examine the scene involving the deaths of outdoor enthusiasts Huck and Brittany Manson. The couple was under federal investigation, suspected of consorting with terrorists. The crime scene is a mess and the bodies are mutilated to such an extent that the investigators are having a hard time figuring out exactly what happened. Not to mention that a strange footprint has been found inside a mine shaft. Who are what are they dealing with?

This was definitely slow moving and I really hated to see the return of an old nemesis and too much focus on the past. The details are always meticulous whether they be about postmortem examinations or high tech toys and computers. I’ve always liked this author’s writing style, but not always the plots or some of the characters. Kay is an interesting protagonist and the relationships she has always provide more insights into what makes her tick. Her work colleagues and family are always a huge part of every book so there is a lot more than just crime solving. Still some loose ends even with this conclusion so if the next book is also about this returning villain, I might be disinclined to read it. I am more interested in the medical and forensic aspects of Kay’s job than in the secret service or terrorist plots.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend because every fan has to keep up. And I do believe that this is a series that is best read, in order, from the beginning.

Forensic doctor Kate Scarpatta does it again. With niece Lucy, assistant Marino and husband Benton she takes us through a day in the present tense where at the end she ties together several mysterious crimes. Have read all of P. Corn wells books. I must admit, at the end of this one my first reply was “huh?”.

I love Patricia Cornwell's books and I was remembering ow young her niece Lucy was when I started this series. Amazing how long it's been. Great book. Interesting story line. Only part I didn't love was about Bigfoot. Not sure it gave anything to the book.

I love a strong, smart heroine, and Patricia Cornwell delivers with Dr. Kay Scarpetta, forensics examiner. Competence, confidence, courage, you name it, she's got it!

This is something like Book #20 in a series, but I've read none of the previous installments. I'm guessing the first novel was fantastic, and the rest lack that freshness and fun of getting to know a character. So much of this book is a summation of what happened in previous books and who's who.

It took the first one-third of the book just to get Scarpetta and Marino to the dead bodies. More than three pages were dedicated to the techno-terms and steps for Lucy to get a helicopter off the ground. Good Lord. How many details do we need? Fans of this genre thrive on it, and that's why my favorite genre is not police procedurals or thrillers filled with acronyms. I felt like I was back at work as a tech writer, reading technical reports. This is not my idea of swift exposition or lyrical prose. Such stories do not "sing." They are freighted with job skills and complications and bureaucratic menaces.

E.g., I do love the James-Bond awesomeness of modern gadgets, but Cornwell's prose reads more like a tech report than fiction:


"Now we print bracelets and stickers embedded with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips ..... These days injected RFID or near-field communication (NFC) microchips can be located by scanner apps available for your phone." I love all things radio and RF, but the prose is just laden with acronyms and explanations.

I do like all the mentions of true-to-life events that most of us don't know. They're kinda like "Easter eggs" in fiction, and I'd go off to surf the internet to see if this or that was real.

I searched but did not find more on this: "When Luray Caverns were being excavated, workers came across these huge creatures living deep inside. Some of the men fled in holy terror and never came back. It happened more than once, and there are similar accounts all over the world."

I wanna know more! But my internet search yielded nothing about giant creatures deep under the earth.

"Armadillos can cause leprosy." I had never read that before.

"A face mask 3-D printed from a scan of another person's photograph can trick facial recognition software."
Yikes!

"Prosthetic devices might include a glove that has someone else's fingerprints, enabling the wearer to open biometric locks."

The Sasquatch footprint is one reason I kept turning pages, Would Cornwell commit to having it be proven the Real Deal? No surprise here: in the end, it's still not conclusively, verifiably, authentically Bigfoot.

The author's political views are manifest in the narrative. She makes assumptions about her fellow Virginians, the ones "in trucks with gunracks and Confederate flags," and asserts they are "doing the bidding of the Russians and other enemy nations." Who's falling for a misinformation campaign or conspiracy theory? Tread lightly here, all who trust whatever the media chooses to tell us.

A stylistic issue: Cornwell habitually opens a sentence with a clause, e.g.,

"Shutting the doors, we make sure they are latched."
"Closing my bathroom door, I put on the pantsuit."

Very few readers will notice or care about the Sequence of Events clause that make editors wince.

The most disappointing aspect of this book is that the villain OF COURSE gets away in the end.
The biggest surprise (for fans of the series) is WHO this villain is.

It's an exciting plot twist.

Cornwell continues to top the best-seller lists because millions of readers do love the technical terms and laboratory-level, step-by-step details. I might go visit Book One of this series, but aside from Marino, most of the cast of characters did not endear themselves to me.

Indie authors who put a literary spin on the thriller genre can reel me in. Also set in Virginia, the novel HIGH KILL by Diane Ryan is totally awesome. We get gritty characters, current events, horrors and horrors and more horrors, most taken straight from real life, but we also get swift exposition and lyrical prose. Fans of Patricia Cornwell might take a look at this indie author who lived in Tazewell County and exposed atrocities in high-kill animal shelters (and how violence toward animals can indicate a propensity to serial killers of humans).

This is another solid addition to the series. With terrorists, extremist groups targeting the federal government, family relationships, and secrets, there's a bit of something for everyone, and the issues are somewhat timely, as well.

I loved it! It was wonderful to rejoin with Kay and family again. The shocks and horrors of death that she deals with and her professional response helps take the edge off while reading about it. The comforts of her home life and sharing food at the end of the day does too. This author has a unique style of writing that works every time. Excellent series!

I was very excited to be able to read the new Patricia Cornwell book. The usual cast stars in the novel - Kay, Lucy, Marino, Benton as well as more from Dorothy. The plot is more modern and deals more with technology and threats not included in previous books. There are some great twists and turns as the story plays out quickly across just a few snowy, Virginia days.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I discovered Kay Scarpetta when I was 14, about 25 years ago. I found "Point of Origin" somewhere and after being blown away by it, I followed and read the series pretty closely for years. I know I've missed some and need to go back and read everything again in order. I was very excited to be approved for this ARC from one of my favorite authors!

That all being said, I was a little disappointed in a few ways. I definitely enjoyed it; it kept me reading, held my attention,I like technical stuff so those parts don't drag for me. The story was good, but I'm irked again by the feeling that most of the "action" seemed to take place via conversations. The whole book took place over a 24-hour period (I think her last one was like this too..), with a brief recap of about a week later (I'm rolling my eyes a bit at the Marino stuff at the end). Scarpetta doesn't really "discover who would commit murders this savage.." , she's kind of told - I wasn't surprised at the culprit (I had an idea of a twist that would've been insaaaane, but for spoilers' sake I won't get into it). I was surprised by the overall bad guy reveal, but after that I wasn't surprised about any of the rest. Overall I think I wish the execution was a little different, even though I still really enjoyed it and plowed through it pretty quickly.

I've also realized I'm a little irked by how the characters speak at times; there must be a grammatical or language-related term for this, but I don't know what it is. There's a lot of "I've not done that", "He's not been here" etc., instead of 'I haven't' and 'He hasn't'. I don't get that. I don't hear people talk like that much and it seems a little hoity-toity for lack of a better phrase - it's maybe believable for Benton and Scarpetta at times, but I see other characters talking that way and it just doesn't seem realistic to me.

After getting all these thoughts out, I can't give this less than 4 stars, because it's Scarpetta and I'm a fangirl! Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to preview it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Another book in my favorite series by one of my favorite authors.
Another amazing installment in the Scarpetta series. The earlier books I enjoyed more but I still
Like the new ones in the series as well.
Another great book by Cornwell.

I really enjoyed this latest Patricia Cornwell book! It’s been awhile since I’ve read one of these, and I found that I do still enjoy Kay’s search to find the truth! I felt completely immersed in the story, and look forward to the next one!

This book frustrated me so much! Or maybe made me feel old? I want Dr Scarpetta medical examiner with some weird quirky case back. I don't like this one that has enemies at every turn, super techno gadgets, and dealing with international espionage. I can't even keep track of all the people who have some grudge against Kay, Benton, Lucy, and/or Marino. I particularly don't like something specific that happens in this book. If this is where the story is going, I will have to really think about whether I want to read future books in this series and this makes me sad.

I’ve been a fan of the Kay Scarpetta series from the beginning. This book was a lot of politics going with Kay’s current double homicide in a remote area. The politics almost out weighs the story of our beloved medical examiner and hunt for answers.
We see a lot of niece, Lucy in this one as well because this remote area is only accessible by helicopter and guess who’s flying? Some twist and turns at the end that were unexpected.

This is a good addition to the series but I think it’s lacking a bit.

Thank you #Neygalley #Grandcentralpublishing #Unnaturaldeath fir this ARC.

Kay Scarpetta is back with another mysterious killing to solve. Two brutalized bodies of people being tracked by the Feds are found by their off-the-grid campsite, along with a mysterious oversized footprint in a nearby mine shaft. Strange technological happenings occur as Scarpetta, Marino, Lucy and Benton investigate. And a long-kept secret is revealed that may be putting all of their lives in danger.
Another timely novel, Unnatural Death talks about extremist groups bent on toppling the US democracy, the depths of spying by enemies like Russia and China, and the worrisome direction technology is taking in the world today. While Scarpetta still has to deal with adversity by co-workers, former co-workers, the media and an annoying FBI agent, at least the story as a whole isn't about someone with a beef coming after her as many of the later books in the series have been. Kay is still too much of an enabler of her sister and the other members of her family and cadre, even though she constantly complains about how they don't handle certain situations well, yet she never just says "enough already" to them, and there's a side plot whereby Marino is suddenly a Bigfoot enthusiast which could have been cut altogether without affecting the main story line. But those things aside, this was an engaging and complex thriller with several surprises woven in. - 4.5/5

Have read this entire series and is nice to be back with scarpetta and the entire crew. As usual this was a story that kept me rivited. Recommend

I have twice to upload this review and have failed both times. Third time is suppose to be a charm so here goes. Short and sweet.

A brutal murder of two home grown terrorists, federal government involvement, squabbling family members, a devastating secret kept from Kay by her husband and niece for 7 years and Big Foot? What more do you need?

On a personal note if I were Kay Scarpetta I would end up taping Marino’s mouth shut. He is so irritating and more so in this book. Maybe it’s time for Kay to take a long vacation just for herself.

What a great series this is and continues to be. The characters are interesting and thei development over time is excellent. The plot is interesting and leaves an opening for a continuing story line in future books. I highly recommend this book b