so, my beef with ms. cornwell at this point is that she sets up these beautiful mysteries and then it's like she runs out of steam and just ends them.

i mean, really? that's it? there's a new strain of smallpox out there and THAT is how you end it? how did it get to tangier island? what really was up with the motivation for the deadoc? why wait so long? did the rabbit die?

bah. i was going along great until i realized there were five pages left.

also, can marino have someone love him? while i appreciate the awesome "just friends who really care about each other" friendship they have going, i feel sorry for him, with all his fears about dying and no one caring. he's not that bad of a guy! i was all happy when molly showed up, and then she's written off in a sentence a couple books back and apparently he's done with everything now?

all that said, they are addicting, i still like kay, i possibly like lucy and janet even more, and i've starting the next book . . .

I coming to the point where a one time enjoyable series is coming to an end. The plots are getting far-fetched, are heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta is becoming one of the most brilliant know it al nothing phases me, except Wesley & Mark, in short she has become such an everything person to envy, she has become a total hoke to me.

This latest caper is almost a 'Kay saves the world' thing. A human torso begins as a simple morbid murder but ends up being just the opening act of a pox virus that will end human life as we know it if Scarpetta doesn't overcome her own exposure (oh no not Kay!?!? Will she die. SPOILER: she doesn't). Her sweet clone niece Lucy is once again the FBI's super brain agent and its to the point the where the world holds its breath for Kay and Lucy to save us. Then there is the ever so sweet Kay male assistant who dies but not before whimpering like a little boy only so Kay can be a nurturing mommy to him.

To keep things humble Kay has the drooling dog Officer Marino and the Golden Retriever FBI profiler Benton following her to the ends of the earth. Marino would give his life for loving Kay who one senses may fulfill his desires of loving him if he were in fact the only man left on the face of the earth. FBI MAN Benton, this guy is such a totally a trained pup Kay should think of making them a circus act. She treats him like what dogs leave in the dirt but he is ever so dedicated and loving to her that most ladies I know would tell this guy get a spine then will talk

I wish Cornwell would just keep Kay's character to a good or even a great medical examiner investigating mysterious deaths and forego making her the joke she's become.. And before you go the I'm a male chauvinist route my lovely bride in many aspects oversees many things in our household because she does it much better than I could but she doesn't 't have to prove it with great exclamations. I'd like Dr. Kay Scarpetta if she was an intelligent and strong willed woman and not some super woman on steroids.

I may browse ahead to some future review to see if Patricia Cornwell tunes it down a tad but if not I much rather go through the alphabet again with Kinsey Malone

and the healing begins...

couldn't keep up with all those biological hazards;
plus the ocr is giving me problems

the wrap-up was a stunner, though

Well this is definitely my last attempt at reading a Patricia CORNWELL novel. She has definitely lost the plot.
She has turned her character into a paranoid pain in the neck. The plot is so far-fetched: CORNWELL should have just stuck to the basics which was what got her reputation in the first place.
I think I began to have doubts when I read her solution to who Jack the Ripper was. The accolades have gone to her head.
Don't bother.

In this one, a beloved character from the first book makes a surprise reappearance (after dropping off the face of the earth) only to be diagnosed as HIV+ and die offscreen for maximum emotional damage.

Very disappointing. Just not up to snuff for Patricia Cornwall.

Downloaded from Audible.com

Narrator: C.J. Critt
Publisher: Recorded Books, 2004
Length: 11 hours and 12 min.

Publisher's Summary

Filled with tension and continual surprises, Unnatural Exposure is a thrilling chapter in Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta's life, and a triumph for #1 New York Times best-selling author Patricia Cornwell.

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

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

Her investigation leads her from the government's biological defense facility in Utah, to Atlanta's Center for Disease Control, and eventually to quarrantine, when it is discovered that Scarpetta has been exposed to this 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.

Unnatural Exposure is the 8th book in the Kay Scarpetta series.

Patricia Cornweel houdt het weer bij haar klassieke én suksesvolle mix: een spannende moordzaak, problemen in het privé-leven van Kay Scarpetta en in haar professionele leven met politieke beslommeringen. Zoals steeds trouw bijgestaan door rechercheur Marino en haar nichtje Lucy gaat ze de strijd aan met wat schijnbaar een seriemoordenaar is. 9 verminkte lijken waarbij alleen een romp wordt gevonden en armen, benen en hoofd afgesneden zijn. Verspreid over Engeland en Amerika.
De tiende dode vertoont gelijkenissen maar ook verschillen, al zijn verdachte blaasjes op het lijk veel onrustwekkender: een pandemie dreigt.
Terwijl links en rechts mensen besmet raken en sterven zal Kay langzaam maar zeker vorderingen maken, zelf heel ziek worden en in quarantaine geplaatst worden om dat naar een trieste ontknoping toe te werken.
Daar er op het einde nog heel wat vragen open blijven kan dit best nog vervolgd worden in het volgende deel van de reeks, ook dat is iets waar Cornweel geen punt van maakt.
Daarom is het ook aangeraden om de boeken in volgorde te lezen. De karakters worden steeds verder uitgebouwd, er wordt vaak naar het verleden (lees: de vorige boeken) verwezen en bepaalde herinneringen vormen spoilers voor wat al gebeurd is.
Spannend, veel aktie, veel negatieve energie tussen haarzelf, Marino en Weston. Uiteraard een slechte poltieagent/politieke opportunist die over lijken gaat en een slechterik die haar persoonlijk aanvalt en verdacht veel over haar weet, ook over haar privé-leven.
Afstandelijk, rijk en work-aholic, met mededogen voor haar ondergeschikten/collega's en liefde maar ook frustratie voor wie dicht bij haar staat.
Stilaan lijkt het wel of de schrijfster zich in elk boek wil overtreffen wat de geheime installaties en het inzetten van de grote middelen betreft, dat geeft het gevoel dat ze de grens van het geloofbare begint te bereiken.
Frappant in deze tijden van corona en lockdown is natuurlijk de kijk of de Amerikaanse dienst voor epidemologie, waar die in dit boek al tekort schiet door de poltiek en wat een voorbode blijkt te zijn van hoe inadequaat er met een echte pandemie zal worden omgegaan in 2020.

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars.

Aussie Readers Annual Series Challenge 2019: Book #8 in Scarpetta Series
Aussie Readers April Challenge 2019: Read a book where the lead character is in the medical profession

I first read this book when it was originally published (which is nearly 20 years ago) and for the first half of this book, I could not recall any of the story line. However, when the title is explained about halfway through the book and the pox victim is revealed the bulk of the story line came flooding back to me including the ending - so no real "Aha!" moment. I also find Cornwell has a tendency to rush the ending and this is no different. It is all wrapped up in the last dozen pages.

A lot of the criticism for this book is around the lead character of Kay and while I agree that she was quite arrogant in this book (more so than the other books to date), I still think she is such a beautifully strong (and flawed) female lead in a very male dominated world.

These books do highlight for me how exponentially fast technology is changing as it is quite humorous reading the cutting edge computer scenes in this book (and it was cutting edge at the time). Who would have thought the section on the complexity of scanning/sending a colour picture via email would sound so humorous 20 years later.

Every year on my mother's birthday, I honor her by reading one of her many books, even if it's one that I wouldn't normally pick up for myself. Last year it was one of Patricia Cornwell's novels featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta and I thought it was good but not great. So I've tried another this year and came away with the same feeling.

I went into this thinking it was a serial murder mystery that somehow involved a saw (based on the cover art alone, I will admit). Turns out I was correct but the story morphs into something much more: a potential pandemic virus being unleashed via product tampering. It was interesting to read of a fictional pandemic situation while living through an actual one in the real world.

I enjoyed the medical examiner portions of the story and the general building suspense throughout but the ending felt a little flat. Despite that, I still have more Scarpetta novels on my shelf thanks to my mom's collection and plan to read more of them.

In Ireland a serial killer has dismembered and dumped 5 headless bodies. In Virginia 4 headless bodies have been found. Media are calling this killer The Butcher. Then another headless body turns up in Virginia and Kay Scarpetta is on the case to find the killer.

The usual returning characters we know and love continue in this novel with their professional and private lives. I found this character continuation comforting.

What was so nice about Unnatural Exposure is that this is not a typical serial killer novel. Because Kay spots some forensic differences in body number 10 compared to the other 9. Then this novel turns sharply and the reader is plunged into an investigation involving a smallpox-like virus.

I found the explanations around virus development etc fascinating and Patricia really works up the fear about the unseen and fatal threat posed to mankind by viruses. I fully engaged with all the content about viruses making me think this novel is far better than her previous book Cause of Death.

Some readers could be disappointed that The Butcher was not caught and this book was essentially about the killer of body number 10. However, I suggest you ignore this change of direction and enjoy Unnatural Exposure for what it is - a creepy and frightening threat posed by a new virus. I think Unnatural Exposure is a GOOD 4 star read.

I've read all (27) books in this series and faithfully wait for the next one to appear. The story is always good, and as a trauma RN the technical details are fascinating. I like all the characters and their interpersonal dynamics make things interesting. NOT THIS TIME. What they're investigating is very much a current problem and all the various things the Government Agencies are properly placed in the story. But, if all of our recurring characters were live people I would've accused them of sleepwalking through their parts. It was as if they were bored or stoned. When the perpetrator does attack them, these normally wickedly smart people are easy mislead with the reader yelling "are you kidding me!" And finally, in closing, a long held secret is reveled amongst the recurring characters. Again, their reactions and resolutions were so atypical as to be unbelievable. I buy these books in hard cover for my library, after this offering, I'll be giving that careful consideration in the future.