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Kay Scarpetta #14

Predator

patricia cornwell

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Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, digs into a case more bizarre than any she has ever faced, one that has produced not only unusual physical evidence, but also tantalizing clues about the inner workings of an extremely cunning and criminal mind.

She and her team --- Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and her niece, Lucy --- track the odd connections between several horrific crimes and the people who are the likely suspects. As one psychopath, safely behind bars and the subject of a classified scientific study at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital, teases Scarpetta with tips that could be fact --- or fantasy --- the number of killers on the loose seems to multiply. Are these events related or merely random? And what can the study of one man's brain tell them about the methods of a psychopath still lurking in the shadows?

453 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 25,2005
Series
Kay Scarpetta

This edition

Format
453 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
September 26, 2006 by Berkley
ISBN
9780425210277
ASIN
0425210278
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

About the author

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patricia cornwell

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Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, in 1990 while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. Postmortem, was the first bona fide forensic thriller. It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature.

Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure prize – the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. To date, Cornwell's books have sold some 100 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She's authored twenty-nine New York Times bestsellers.

Patricia's novels center primarily on medical examiner Kay Scarpetta along with her tech-savvy niece Lucy and fellow investigator Pete Marino. Celebrating 25 years, these characters have grown into an international phenomenon, winning Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Fox 2000 bought the rights to Kay Scarpetta. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel's Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen.

After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer.

Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. From the Charlotte Observer, Cornwell moved to a job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia – a post she would later bestow upon the fictional Kay Scarpetta.

When not writing from her Boston home, Patricia tirelessly researches cutting-edge forensic technologies to include in her work. Her interests span outside the literary: Patricia co-founded of the Conservation Scientist Chair at the Harvard University Art Museums. She appears as a forensic consultant on CNN and serves as a member of Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital's National Council, where she advocates for psychiatric research. She's helped fund the ICU at Cornell's Animal Hospital, the scientific study of a Confederate submarine, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and a variety of law enforcement charities. Patricia is also committed to
funding scholarships and literacy programs. Her advice to aspiring authors: “Start writing. And don't take no for an answer.”


Social and Digital Outlets

http://www.patriciacornwell.com

https://www.facebook.com/patricia.cor...

https://twitter.com/1pcornwell

https://instagram.com/1pcornwell/


Other areas of expertise & interests
Forensics | Forensic Technologies | Ballistics | Weapons | Explosives | Pathology & Autopsies | Crime | Historical and Unsolved Criminal Cases | Jack The Ripper | Helicopter Piloting | Suba Diving | Archaeological Excavation Experience |

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
36(36%)
4 stars
25(25%)
3 stars
38(38%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
99 reviews All reviews
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ShojoManiac
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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that was something

even the bickering between the stars was toned down a bit

p54: "hari-kari," a voice sounds from the doorway.

p77: he picks up a stainless-steel baretta 92, a top-of-the-line double-action pistol with a tritium front post sight.

p195: beyond the polis the seawall.
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Berdy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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La saga de Kay Scarpetta es muy pochoclera. Bien escrita, te atrapa desde el primer momento. Me gusta porque son libros donde no hay que pensar nada, no es alta literatura, no tiene una prosa compleja o elegante o con firuletes. Se descubre quien es el asesino en las últimas páginas del libro. Buenísimo. (Esos libros cuando adivinaste todo rápido son un embole)

Voy leyendo salteado, a medida que encuentro libros de Patricia Cornwell. Cada uno se puede leer perfectamente por separado.

Me gusta que tanto Kay como Lucy a pesar de ser tan exitosas, profesionales, inteligentes, astutas, deductivas, bellas, etc etc también sufren como cualquiera el desamor, los celos, los parientes insoportables, los compañeros de trabajo infumables (el duelo, en otros libros) Estas cosas humanizan a las heroínas. Ellas son espectaculares sin dejar de ser humanas.

Cosas raras:
1) La traducción
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AruJirichi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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After many years away I thought I'd revisit this series as a palette cleanser with characters I already knew.

Not sure I'll read the next book, this had lots of intertwining threads that I didn't really care about enough, and then the big reveal was underwhelming. As usual the science was interesting (if starting to date reading it 17 years later).

Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.
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goajtskrA
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I had a hard time getting into this one as I thought I had missed something in the book. It seemed to do too much jumping around. However, once I did get past the first 100 pages, I got into the book and really did enjoy it in the end. I thought I had missed a book in the series, because Lucy seemed stranger than usual.

This one was pretty graphic, so if you like the cozy read, this is not for you. The forensic and psychological things presented are very interesting to me though.

I just read this again and don't remember reading this the first time. You would think that I would have because of all the gory parts in this book. Apparently, I blocked all that out. Still only giving it 4 out of 5 stars.
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noice1
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I would have liked to have given this book three stars but the writing at the end was very disjointed. I thought the premise was more interesting than in the previous book Trace but there were some odd jumps between passages at the end especially between chapters 63 and 64. The last chapter seemed to just plop in out of nowhere like Cornwell decided to just hurry up and get the book over with. Also, I think Lucy's illness and Scarpetta's reaction to it and to Wesley's involvement was way over dramatized.
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catninja_gaming
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book is flat awful. When I hit this passage I should have put the book down:
"Nice of you to let me know," Marino says angrily as he angrily digs through a saddlebag for his tire-plugging kit as he angrily thinks of Joe Amos, getting angrier with each thought."

What the hell? Either the author was inebriated when she wrote this book or she was outsourcing the writing. To 5th-graders.

Add to the awful writing a cast of unlikeable characters and a ridiculous reliance on the Dissociative Identity Disorder plot twist (which is both a cop out and diagnostically sketchy). The ONLY reason I kept reading was to find out what happened and how the different stories tied together. Imagine my irritation when I got to the confusing ending which explained very little and didn't make sense. Why would she do that? Did part of her conclusion get deleted and the editor didn't notice?

I hear her earlier books are better but I'm not sure I want to waste my time finding out.
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RoundEarther
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I was taken in by the premise and, when I noticed the poor writing and gaping plot holes, assumed they wouldn't persist throughout the book. I was disappointed. To be fair, however, if not for my inability to suspend disbelief, it might have been a page-turner.
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Velkan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Let's say 3.5. This series started out great but has become fractured. There are 4 main characters with 4 separate plots so it goes very slowly and none of the plots gets proper coverage. And, as is typical with this series, everything is tied up very quickly and very abruptly in the last couple of pages. Not very satisfying. The most fascinating character in this series (to me at least) is Lucy and she is practically an extra in this book. She has been given the short shrift for a couple of books now. And also, Marino (again maybe just to me) has taken a weird personality shift without explanation. There were some fun supporting characters that had some great potential for conflict and drama that were again somewhat wasted. A missed opportunity. I hope this series improves. I have 3 more of these books in my bookcase. I may jump ship after those if these books don't get better. I didn't hate it. I just didn't love it either. The bar set at the beginning of the series has not been reached in a few books now.
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