La verdad, el libro no me gustó, me costó mucho esfuerzo terminarlo y me llevó mucho tiempo. Siento que es un libro al que se le podrían quitar la mitad de las páginas y la trama/historia no cambiarían mucho.
Quizás sea porque es el primer libro que he leído donde la doctora Scarpetta aparece. Tal vez, al haber comenzado su saga por el 13avo libro me perdí de detalles, sobre su familia, amigos y pasado, que se deben explicar mejor en sus anteriores entregas. Sin embargo, noté que el libro alberga demasiado drama en relación a las amistades y vínculos de la doctora. Es como si no se centrase en el homicidio y búsqueda del culpable, sino que se esparce demasiado por las ramas.
Otra cosa que no me agradó es su estilo de novela negra, mientras leía no me sorprendió en nada, no hay más que un único sospechoso que se conoce desde el inicio, y el único "atractivo" del libro es descubrir si logran o no encontrarlo. Lo sentí exageradamente lento, pasaron más de 150 páginas hasta que se introduce el caso, es decir, el homicidio como tal.
Una cosa a favor son los detalles forenses y técnicos, me parecieron muy interesantes.

The 13th book in the Kay Scarpetta series has Kay returing to Richmond, Virginia to solve a crime. A twisty and complex crime mystery.

This one was a bit disappointing. Dr. Scarpetta is called back to Virginia to consult on a case. She is not wanted by the present director. While there, she confronts some old demons, some memories she does not want to confront. Her niece, Lucy, gets into a problem due to a romantic issue. But Dr. Scarpetta is not really as well drawn as usual in this book.

Not the greatest took a bit of getting into. Started enjoying it more when Scarpetta and Marino are on the case. Her niece is getting a bit boring, only so much hard bitch you can take. Would be good to see some softness.

Was a gift from my grandmother many many years ago. Wouldn’t suggest reading unless you’ve read other books about the main character.

Audio book--Ugh. Repetitive, plot full of holes. Motivation of characters not explained. Just bad. Ready to give up on this series.

What is up with Patricia Cornwell? Her last book, "Blow Fly", sucked and this was not much better. Same problems as the last - huge unexplained plot holes, third person perspective, undeveloped minor characters. And what's worse, the last book ended with a cliff hanger that she ignored in this one and she just started a different track! Very Irritating! Her books used to be really tight with no holes, everything wrapped up nice and neat, and she always continued the story line until the bad guy was dead. After the last one I said I was done with this author, but then I got sick and needed something easy and diverting to read in bed, but it still pissed me off. I hope she gets back on her game because she's not even good enough for a sick day anymore.

What's more painful than taking a month to slog through one of these? Listening to it on audio with a narrator who has terrible accents.

At this point I'm continuing with this series just to see how unhinged we can get. Apparently, the limit does not exist.

Soooo we spent the last 2? 3? books focusing on "Wolf Man" and he's so dangerous and has managed to escape from death row, he's OBSESSED with Kay, fantasizes about killing her, etc in the previous book.. And now it's been over a year since Kay has been reunited with the "come back to life Benton" and Wolf Man is just.. forgotten? Nothing happened? He's just chilling waiting patiently having no contact with her, even though he concocted such an elaborate plan while on death row to escape and get to her? Did I misread something in the last one? Idk.. But I guess we will see if he gets mentioned in the next book.

Next, Kay is still irrational af. She's pissed someone calls her Kay and not Dr. Scarpetta, then in the next breath she's pissed someone is calling her Dr. Scarpetta and not Kay. Like, idk, just say something??? She's worked up about the state of Virginia tearing down her old medical examiner building, even though she knew it was happening before she got fired?? Then she freaks out when the new ME is like "hey, he [Marino] can't be in here" and she takes offense and says she can bring whoever she wants with; even though there's plenty of times that she freaked out on others while she was ME and they would bring unnecessary people into her examining room....
The conceit this woman have knows no bounds.

Idk why Patricia keeps writing to make Lucy go down these spirals. Every one of her gf's has been some sort of psycho who has used her to get to Kay to take revenge and kill her and/or Lucy. She also supposedly has this security firm that's one of the best in the world, but she's getting outsmarted by some dimwit who used to work in the lab with Kay who was so insignificant she doesn't even remember him at first? Pls, Patricia.

Does Marino HAVE to hook up with every suspect and/or someone connected to the case? This trope is also getting super old.

And I'm sorry, but no one is going to be so dense as to think that the FBI is investigating their child's death and sincerely believe they 'died of the flu'. Pls.

Can't wait to see the shitstorm of the next one!

Whenever I pick up a Kay Scarpetta book, it's like visiting an old friend I haven't seen for awhile. I have not read these books in order and I feel like I need to, but they all stand independently. In this one she is no longer working for the Medical Examiner's Office and so to me it was more of a "murder" tale than a medical murder tale. Slight I know, but Kay's discoveries on the job are what draws me in. Lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming! Glad they got the bad guy in the end!!

February 2025: Easy listen as I got work done. So many horrible people involved in the murder of the 14 year old girl! Checked out parents and a psycho living in the neighborhood! Glad they figured it all out in the end!

Here's the goods - this is my first Scarpetta and am fully convinced, one hour in, that I should have started at the beginning to get into character because I am finding this ugly.

So this can go, and I may try it again once I have the earlier numbers under my belt...

maybe.

Suspense!

Cornwell's writing has changed a bit from her previous books and can't say I'm a fan.

I also had to look at the summary of the previous book twice because I was convinced I missed something not knowing who Henri is. The way she was introduced and spoken about reads very much like we should already be aware of her. There are also other little bits throughout the book, again, I noticed this last time, mostly in conversations that seemed cryptic that I wasn't getting.

Lucy is getting to be really irritating character too, her personality isn't great.

Some times Cornwell repeated sentences or stated them again only slightly differently in the same paragraph or next, that was annoying and seems like poor writing. I got it the first time I was told, I don't need another one or two repeats right after.

All that said I still did enjoy it and do want to read the next one. However, I also do hope the next one is an improvement, and brings things together better instead of leaving ends that won't be picked up again.