The Scarpetta Factor

September 28, 2009
Bestseller Cornwell's solid 17th thriller to feature Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after Scarpetta
) finds Scarpetta—who's the senior forensic analyst for CNN—probing the murder of a Central Park jogger as well as looking into the disappearance of Hannah Starr, a wealthy financial planner. Quizzed on-air about previously undisclosed details of the perplexing Starr case, Scarpetta realizes that the tentacles of the case reach further than she imagined. Her niece, forensic computer whiz Lucy Farinelli, has her own reasons for digging into Starr's disappearance, along with Lucy's girlfriend, New York County ADA Jaime Berger. NYPD Det. Pete Marino, another series staple, is also in the loop as a member of Berger's task force. But it's the dark past of Scarpetta's psychologist husband, Benton Wesley—particularly his presumed death in Point of Origin
and shocking reappearance five years later in Blow Fly
—that binds the disparate pieces together and make this one of Cornwell's stronger recent efforts.

With a number of positions as a medical examiner behind her in previous novels, Kay Scarpetta now serves as a CNN analyst and does pro bono work for the ME's office in New York City. When the murder of a Central Park jogger is linked to the disappearance of a wealthy financier, Scarpetta begins to connect the dots. Narrator Kate Reading adds intensity with her multilayered characterizations of all four major players--Scarpetta; her husband, Benton, a forensic psychologist; her niece, Lucy, a computer geek, and her friend and associate, Marino, a tough cop. Darker than previous Scarpetta novels, this installment is encumbered by extensive narrative passages in which the only action is psychological. The point of view shifts among the primary players, and Reading adds appeal by delivering each section in a subtle version of the narrating character's voice. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine