Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Virginia medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returns (after Identity Unknown) for a brisk, kaleidoscopic thriller from bestseller Cornwell. On Christmas eve, Kay is performing an autopsy on Rowdy O'Leary, whose body has just been pulled from the Potomac River. In his parka, she finds an expensive emerald ring in a presentation box, and grows curious as to why he'd bring such an item along on a nighttime fishing expedition. Meanwhile, the body of an unidentified woman is found in a graveyard on Mercy Island, site of a former mental hospital. Both cases make law enforcement nervous due to their ongoing search for the Phantom Slasher, a D.C.-area serial killer whose attacks have coincided with major holidays. Kay teams up with her brother-in-law, former police detective Pete Marino, to launch their own investigation, and soon gets an unusual clue when three strange primates escape from a laboratory near Kay's home. With a robotic dog, holograms galore, and mysterious red orbs circling the Virginia skies, the series continues its recent flirtation with science fiction, to occasionally eye-rolling effect. The pace is fleet enough, however, to keep Scarpetta fans flipping pages. Agent: Esther Newberg, CAA. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Fans of the Kay Scarpetta series will enjoy this crime-laced Christmas installment (a sequel to Identity Unknown), in which the medical examiner teams up with her husband and other series regulars to track down another serial killer. The Phantom Slasher disables his victims' internet before attacking them in their beds and exsanguinating their bodies with a mysterious sharp weapon. Cornwell is at her best when narrating moments in the mortuary and at the crime scenes rather than in some of the technology-forward subplots here. Still, her command of the form and her characters' complexity, their relationships, and the multilayered story showcase the author and her investigator at the top of their games. There's family tension and romance, but not so much that it bogs down the plot, and enough forensic science to keep crime junkies satisfied. VERDICT With Cornwell's expert pacing and psychologically nuanced and complex characters, this novel offers a reliable read for longtime fans of the forensic series, but it also includes enough backstory and detail to get newcomers up to speed.--Emily Bowles
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A Christmas bout between Kay Scarpetta and the Phantom Slasher. But first, Scarpetta, Virginia's chief medical examiner, has to figure out how software designer Rowdy O'Leary died. Fished from the Potomac River on Christmas Eve six years after a hit-and-run driver left him permanently disabled and a week after he plunked down the cash for a pricey emerald ring, he fell off his fishing perch and drowned--or did he? Scarpetta's examination of his body is cut short by two disturbing developments: the discovery of an unidentified woman's remains buried on the grounds of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital, and celebrity TV reporter Dana Diletti's report that the red-eyed ghost associated with the Slasher's three murders has floated through the window of her home. She's got video, too, and the apparition looks real and scary. The final blow to Scarpetta's plans for a Christmas getaway with her husband, Secret Service forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, is an attack on an Alexandria home that kills Mercy psychiatrist Georgine Duvall, who used to treat Scarpetta's niece, Lucy Farinelli, and nearly kills graduate student Zain Willard, White House intern and nephew of presidential candidate Sen. Calvin Willard. This time the Slasher's ghost has been spotted on the scene by none other than Pete Marino, head of investigations for the medical examiner's office and Scarpetta's longtime sidekick. Cornwell's use of Robbie, Zain's robotic dog, and Janet, Lucy's AI companion, integrates the futuristic elements she favors more successfully than in her recent outings. But the solutions to all these mysteries will leave fans of the venerable franchise pursing their lips rather than gasping in awe. Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
