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In this 29th book in the 'Kay Scarpetta' series, the medical examiner is on the trail of a tech-savvy murderer. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is a bonus.
*****
It's Christmas Eve, and Dr. Kay Scarpetta - the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, and her husband, Agent Benton Wesley - a forensic psychologist for the U.S. Secret Service, plan to fly to London tomorrow. Kay and Benton's long-awaited vacation includes theater tickets, restaurant reservations, and intentions to explore the English countryside in a rented Aston Martin.
Unfortunately, as has happened before, Kay and Benton will be compelled to cancel their holiday. A serial killer, dubbed the Phantom Slasher, has been terrorizing northern Virginia. So far, the Slasher has murdered on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Halloween, and it would seem a Christmas tragedy might occur next.
The Slasher uses a computer-generated hologram - which appears as a red-eyed, knife-wielding ghost - to stalk, terrorize, and spy on his victims.
The Slasher then knocks out his victim's Wi-Fi with signal jammers, invades their home undetected, stabs them multiple times, and leaves no fingerprints or DNA. The CIA believes the Slasher's technology is over-the-top sophisticated, created by someone with an intelligence background.
On Christmas Eve, the frightening ghost hologram drifts into the window of television journalist Dana Diletti, who videos the apparition and posts it all over the internet.
The authorities encourage Dana to relocate for her own safety, but the journalist refuses to leave her house, which is comfortable and beautifully decorated for Christmas.
As it turns out, the Slasher does strike on Christmas Eve, but the victim is not Dana Diletti. The Slasher invades the home of Dr. Georgine Duvall, a psychiatrist staying in her home on Mercy Island.
Mercy Island is also the site of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital, which has a scandalous history.
The police find Georgine dead, cut to pieces. Meanwhile, Georgine's houseguest, 23-year-old Zain Willard - a graduate student and White House intern - is badly injured, but still alive.
On Christmas morning, Kay and Benton make their way to Mercy Island, where they meet up with Kay's longtime investigator Pete Marino.
Kay examines Georgine's body, and they all search for clues to the identity of the killer. Kay's niece Lucy - a Homeland Security agent, tech expert, and helicopter pilot - is on hand as well. Among other things, Lucy uses her Doomsday Bird helicopter to stop journalists' drones from filming the crime scene.
Meanwhile, Zain Willard, who (so far) survived his injuries from the slasher, has been taken to the hospital for surgery. In the circumstances, Zain becomes a person of interest to the authorities, who think he may have killed Georgine and purposely injured himself.
The Virginia Medical Examiner's Office is a busy place, and in addition to Georgine's horrific murder, Kay is dealing with other suspicious deaths.
✦✦ Yesterday, the body of software designer Rowdy O'Leary was recovered from the Potomac River, where he was last seen fishing a week before. O'Leary had been drinking and may have fallen into the water, but he'd discharged two bullets from his gun, which seems sketchy.
✦✦ The skeletal remains of an unidentified twentysomething female were unearthed from the cemetery of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital. The remains show evidence of trauma, and the woman is one of many patients who appear to have been killed by falls, chronic beatings, or hanging. All this is a dark stain on the hospital, which was formerly called the 'Mercy Lunatic Asylum.'
All these things are on Kay's mind as she helps the authorities search for the Slasher, who seems to be very clever and elusive.
Kay has personal concerns as well. For instance, Kay has bad relations with the Department of Emergency Prevention, whose director is always interfering in her work. Also, Kay's investigator Pete Marino - who once had an obsessive crush on Kay - is now married to Kay's sister Dorothy. Dorothy is an attention seeker who wears sexy clothes, drinks too much, and sticks her nose into Kay's business.
Dorothy is also addicted to a new search app called 'Janet', who dispenses gossip along with information. Janet suggests Marino still carries a torch for Kay, which infuriates Dorothy and causes all sorts of trouble for the entire family.
By the end of the novel the Slasher is exposed in a dramatic, lucky, and surprising fashion, and the other story threads are resolved as well.
I liked the book, though it exhibits some of my pet peeves with author Patricia Cornwell's writing. For one thing, Kay is ALWAYS in the sights of evil malefactors, and her medical examiner job seems more dangerous than that of a CIA spy. In this novel, a crooked state trooper harasses Kay and Benton, and may even be planning their murder.
I also get irritated with Cornwell's excessive descriptions of minutiae. For instance, interspersed with Kay's narration of the story, we get step-by-step depiction of routine actions. In one scene, as Kay is talking about a crime: 'Benton places two multigrain bagels on a cutting board....Benton is slicing bagels in half.....Benton places bagels inside the toaster oven.....Benton watches the bagels as if they won't toast otherwise....Benton puts butter and fig jam on a bagel.....Benton takes a bite of his bagel....and so on. This just seems like a bit much to me.
All that said, Kay Scarpetta aficionados won't want to miss this book. For newbies, I'd suggest starting with the first book in the series, the award-winning 'Postmortem.'
Thanks to Netgalley, Patricia Cornwell, and Grand Central Publishing for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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