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Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16)
Scarpetta - Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16
Author: Patricia Cornwell
Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital's psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literal...  more »
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9780399155161
ISBN-10: 0399155163
Publication Date: 12/2/2008
Pages: 512
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 367

3.7 stars, based on 367 ratings
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Sleepy26177 avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 218 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
I'd be lying to say I did not anticipate the publishing of Cornwell's newest Kay Scarpetta novel "Scarpetta" for whatever reason. When it arrived I was surprised by it's thickness and the overall appearance of the book. I held it in my hands and got this feeling of not being disappointed this time before I even read the first sentence.

Scarpetta has a small medical examiner's office in Charleston, Carolina and is bby her now husband Benton Wesley to New York. The District Attorney Jamie Berger asks her for help with a patient who admitted himself to the forensic psychiatric unit. His name is Oscar Bane and he hasn't been charged with anything just yet. The only thing police has against him is that he was the first person to arrive at his girlfriends apartment and discovers her killed in a gruesome way.
Bane seems to be a little bit off claiming someone is following him, trying to steal his thoughts and mind and the only person who is allowed to examine his wounds is Dr. Scarpetta who finds herself in a huge dilemma:
For one thing she isn't allowed to break her patient/physician confidentiality as long as Bane hasn't been charged and for the other thing, she learns that Benton after Marino's sudden disappearance, took care of him, helped him with getting treatment for his alcoholism and other issues. She also learns that Marino now directly works for the District Attorney's office and is directly involved in the murder of Oscar Bane's girlfriend.
The next days reveal more confusion, more misleading evidence and more death.

-

Initially I've detached myself from expecting the Scarpetta we know from the early books because I think this might have been the downfall in Cornwell's past few publishing's. So I went into reading the book without the expectancy of the character Scarpetta. What I got was a mixture of Scarpetta, Lucy Farinelli and Marino and I actually liked the book very much.
In the beginning I feared we might again get too much of Benton and Scarpetta's relationship issues but during the plots development we completely got away from that and learn about how each of the "Scarpetta Team" deals with what happened in the previous novel between Marino and Scarpetta and that Scarpetta partly takes responsibility for it. All this happens between investigations, not too much at once but bit by bit so that it doesn't get annoying and gives closure to the The Book Of The Dead novel.

I think it was fantastic to get back a piece of what I missed in previous novels and a new direction. In the end they all redeem themselves in one or another way. Not only speaking of the characters here.
So would I recommend this book to Scarpetta fans ? Definitely and especially when the disappointment about the last novels was/is still there.

Twist and turns kept me reading and wanting more Cornwell for the first time in years and I appreciate the work for detail the author put into this work. Speaking for myself, I couldn't put it down and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
VickyJo avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 49 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
She's back! If you happened to read my review of Cornwell's "Book of the Dead", you'll know that I hated it. But "Scarpetta", the 16th book in Cornwell's series about Kay Scarpetta, forensic pathologist, is far and away so superior to her last entry in the series...well, I'm almost speechless.

There is a great mystery. There is character development that doesn't remind one of a nightmare or a bad LSD trip or something. I was so involved in the storyline, and so relieved to have Benton, Marino, Lucy and Scarpetta acting normally again that I probably gave this book a higher rating than I would have had I never read "Book of the Dead."

If you have been disillusioned with Cornwell and Scarpetta...try this one. See if you don't feel as though Cornwell is back in the game.
rxtheresa avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 27 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I found this book to be more Cornwell's old style and I really liked it. To me it summarized the characters, brought them up to date and provided a somewhat predictable but interesting mystery. I have recommended to my Scarpetta friends that they skip the last 2 to 3 installments and just read this.
NUGENT avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
borrowed this book from a friend--don't waste your time or money--it was long & awful--glad I didn't pay for it--last 3 efforts by this author were BAD--I was determined not to buy anything else by her but when my pal offered it I accepted--the book was too detailed about the wrong things
reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
The type is very hard to read in the middle of the night and this is a large book about nothing. Weird!! This is not one of Cornwell's best as far as I'm concerned. In fact this doesn't even seem like her style of writing. I suffered through it expecting something to come up to warrant finishing this book but it never came. A real disappointment!!!!!
Read All 47 Book Reviews of "Scarpetta Kay Scarpetta Bk 16"

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reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 16 more book reviews
Loved this book! I love any book with Kay Scarpetta in it. Will keep you turning pages late into the night!
tulikangaroo avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 6 more book reviews
This was the first Patricia Cornwell book I've read, and I enjoyed it despite not knowing any of the substantial backstory established by the previous 15 books. It took me a while to figure out who was who and so on, but it was compelling and definitely kept my interest. I've heard that the earlier ones are the best, and I look forward to reading them.
knightmare avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 14 more book reviews
typical kay scarpetta. good
reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 1568 more book reviews
Scary good!

From inside cover:
Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital's psychiatric prison ward.
The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk -- and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.
The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder... that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered -- and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims?
In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all-too-real streets of the city -- an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home.
reader4fun avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on
Another great Scarpetta book!
reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 3 more book reviews
Fans of Patricia Cornwell will enjoy this. It really brings some closure to storylines begun in another book, so it wouldn't be a good choice for someone new to this author.
patmat avatar reviewed Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, Bk 16) on + 175 more book reviews
I am a huge Cornwell fan, but her last two (this one and the previous one) books have been a big let-down. I wanted to like this book and I didn't exactly hate it, I just felt that somewhere along the way she has lost the feel for the characters she has written about for so long. The characters seemed tired and the storyline carried none of the suspense that the books from earlier in the series always had. I guess the best way I can describe it is to say that the characters conveyed a sense of weariness and it left me feeling less than fulfilled to have read such a big book. To be honest, the book could have been about half its' size and it would have been fine- way too much extraneous stuff in it.

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