From Potter's Field: Scarpetta 6

by Patricia Cornwell

Book Overview

The inspiration for the Prime Video series Scarpetta--starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis

#1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns to the chilling world of gutsy medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in this classic forensic thriller.

An unidentified nude female sits propped against a fountain in Central Park. There are no signs of struggle. When Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her colleagues Benton Wesley and Pete Marino arrive on the scene, they instantly recognize the signature of serial killer Temple Brooks Gault. Scarpetta, on assignment with the FBI, visits the New York City morgue on Christmas morning, where she must use her forensic expertise to give a name to the nameless--a difficult task. But as she sorts through conflicting forensic clues, Gault claims his next victim. He has infiltrated the FBI's top secret artificial-intelligence system developed by Scarpetta's niece, and sends taunting messages as his butchery continues, moving terrifyingly closer to Scarpetta herself.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684195984
• ISBN13: 9780684195988
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

This is not large print . its ordinary paper book print

Not large print ordinary paperback print

One of the Best in the Scarpetta Series

Kay Scarpetta seems to be a very unhappy person at times, but she does get involved in some dandy murder mysteries--and this book is one the best in the series!Temple Gault is still on the loose, focusing this time on Kay and her niece, Lucy. Temple likes to kill just for the thrill of it and never leaves any clues.He centers in now on Kay Scarpetta, and it is up to her to stop him in matter what.This book defines "thriller" and I could not put it down - especially the scene late one night in the morgue. What happens? Read and find out. You won't be sorry.

Cornwell does it again, and again, and again, and again...

...and with this book, she has done it yet again. The book does not start off too well, with the sherrif Santa bit being a bit confusing for the first couple of pages. I didn't like it. And i thought i might be in for a disappointing Cornwellian offering. My, was i WRONG. This book is yet another stunner. She has definitely veered away from the cunningness and cleverness which inhabited her first three books. But she more than makes up for it with a chilling plot and one of the most cold and clinical serial killers i have eve read of. Essentially, this is a serial killer novel, and as that it not especially original. But it is nonetheless a good one. Marino, Benton, Lucy and of course Kay are back again for another great read. Cornwell's writing is sharp and to the point, and keeps the you turning those pages. I can't really put my finger on a reason why, but from the first time i read a Cornwell book i feel in love with the way she writes. It's simply...wonderful. I can't get enough of it. It's no more literate than the next person's, but for some reason i just relish every sentence she writes. The plot here is sometimes scatty and random (as was Cruel and Unusual) but here, she pulls it off a lot better. I tend not to like books full of random killings, without rhyme or reason (yoo hoo, James Patterson, author of Violets are Blue, i'm talking in particular about you.), but here i really did. The randomness is chilling, and Tenple Gault is a super villain, who curdles the blood. He is just so...hateable. You loathe him absolutely. Especially when you find out how he treats his sister. You just hate him even more. With every part of i wanted him to die, die, die. It is hard to conceieve of anyone so cruel and horrifically terrifying than him. When Scarpetta talks to his parents, it's painful to read, even though it's fiction. It's an extremely moving scene, full of emotion. (As is the entire book.)This book moves along relentlessly to it's absolutely brilliant conclusion. It is the best conclusion she has penned yet, down in the bowels of the New York subway. Dark and frightening, she really brings over the atmosphere. I loved this book, as i have loved almost every single Scarpetta novel so far. The identity of the first victim should come as a real shock.

This will hook you in!

This was the first Scarpetta Novel I read. I was half way through the first chapter when I went back to the store and bought all the books in the series that came before. This is the best there has been. This book delves into the mind of a sadistic killer, Temple Gault. It can not get more terrifying than starring into his dead ice blue eyes. If you are into thrillers this is one that will keep you up all night and not just reading. Guaranteed to make you jump at any sound.

Meeting the Parents of a Serial Killer

Another great book from Madame Medical Investigator Author Patricia Cornwell. Always well-researched, this time the book causes Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Marino and of course, FBI Agent Benton Wesley to investigate the death of a frozen naked woman propped openly in Central Park. Their path leads them to the parents of a psychotic serial killer, one of whom can see nothing wrong about her son and the other parent who would only see his if pointing a shotgun at the son's face. The woman's identity is a shock, as is Scarpetta's handiness with a side-arm. A must-read!

Couldn't put it down

This was my first Cornwall book and I found it compelling in its descriptions and plot. She creates suspense that makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I can't wait to read her previously published books.