Unnatural Exposure - Hardcover

Cornwell, Patricia Daniels

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0783880871 ISBN 13: 9780783880877

Publisher: G K Hall & Co, 1997

Synopsis

MysteryLarge Print Edition* A New York Times Bestseller* A Literary Guild Main Selection* A Doubleday Book Club Main Selection* A Mystery Guild Main SelectionAlways packed with unrelieved tension and constant surprises, a new novel from Patricia Cornwell is cause for celebration.Virginias chief medical examiner, Kay Scarpetta, is called in to examine the remains of a woman found in a landfill, her body dismembered in the same expert way shed seen before. And while Scarpetta is investigating, the bold killer contacts her through the Internet, inviting her to download the police photos, and signs off with the chilling name, deadoc. When Scarpetta and her niece discover that the victim was exposed to a rare smallpox-like virus before she died, she realizes that theyre up against a killer with access to an incredible arsenal of deadly force and now its directed at her!

About this title

Review

Virginia Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta has a bloody puzzle on her hands: five headless, limbless cadavers in Ireland, plus four similar victims in a landfill back home. Is a serial butcher loose in Virginia? That's what the panicked public thinks, thanks to a local TV reporter who got the leaked news from her boyfriend, Scarpetta's vile rival, Investigator Percy Ring. But the butchered bodies are so many red herrings intended to throw idiots like Ring off the track. Instead of a run-of-the-mill serial killer, we're dealing with a shadowy figure who has plans involving mutant smallpox, mass murder, and messing with Scarpetta's mind by e-mailing her gory photos of the murder scenes, along with cryptic AOL chat-room messages. The coolest innovation: Scarpetta's gorgeous genius niece, Lucy, equips her with a DataGlove and a VPL Eyephone, and she takes a creepy virtual tour of the e-mailed crime scene.

Unnatural Exposure boasts brisk storytelling, crackling dialogue, evocative prose about forensic-science sleuthing, and crisp character sketches, both of familiar characters like Scarpetta's gruff partner Pete Marino and bit players like the landfill employee falsely accused by Ring. Plus, let's face it: serial killers are old hat. Cornwell's most vivid villains are highly plausible backstabbing colleagues like Ring, who plots to destroy Lucy's FBI career by outing her as a lesbian. Some readers object to the rather abrupt ending, but, hey, it's less jarring than Hannibal's, and it's the logical culmination of Cornwell's philosophy about human nature. To illuminate the novel's finale, read Cornwell's remarks on paranoia in her Amazon.com interview. --Tim Appelo

From the Inside Flap

"In this return to the luridly fascinating world of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell delivers the goods."
--Publishers Weekly

When the body of an elderly woman is found dismembered in a Virginia landfill, forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta initially believes that the clues mirror that of a serial killer she's encountered before. But upon further investigation she discovers puzzling pox-like eruptions on the woman's body that, perhaps, point in another direction.

The killer then contacts Scarpetta via e-mail, and she enlists the aid of her computer-savvy niece, Lucy, to help track this monster through cyberspace. When Scarpetta learns that the Virginia victim was exposed to a high-tech virus that might unleash an epidemic, she begins to realize that she's dealing with a sophisticated and devious mind.

Her investigation leads her to the government's biological defense facility in Utah and to Atlanta's Center for Disease Control--and eventually to quarantine, when it's discovered that Scarpetta has been exposed to this often fatal virus. Along the way, she's forced to deal with the unscrupulous ambitions of a slick FBI agent, Lucy's problems, and her own turbulent feelings for Agent Wesley Benton.

Taut with unrelieved tension and continual surprises, Unnatural Exposure is the case of Kay Scarpetta's life--and a triumph for Patricia Cornwell.

About this edition

• Publisher: G K Hall & Co
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0783880871
• ISBN 13: 9780783880877
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 388