Book #23.Flesh and Blood, by Patricia Cornwell. Unabridged
audio.
I consider myself a big fan of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay
Scarpetta novels. I started reading them I (and Cornwell and Scarpetta) lived in
Richmond, Virginia. We have all moved to other towns since then, but I continue
to read the novels, and generally to enjoy them. I reviewed the novels immediately
preceding this one here and here.
Kay and her FBI husband Benton are headed out to vacation,
when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their home. The oddity of
the situation is compounded when a high school music teacher with a history of antagonizing
Scarpetta is killed five minutes away.
When other people connected to Scarpetta and the case are
killed, the team realizes that they have a serial sniper on their hands.
Scarpetta’s niece Lucy is implicated in the killings, but that is all part of
the mystery.
The solution to the mystery involves a person from much
earlier in the series, who although presumed dead, obviously survived. As a
comic book reader, I am used to the concept of “if you don’t see the body, you
can’t be sure the person is dead.” It was a surprising reveal, no doubt, but
made sense in the context of both the series and the novel. And the absolute
ending of the novel demonstrates character growth for Scarpetta, Lucy, and
others, while also setting up future books in the series. This mix of plot
moments and character moments is a strength of the novel, and makes this a very
enjoyable read.
This is the first Scarpetta novel I’ve listened to you that
was not narrated by Kate Reading. Lorelai King does a fine job, but I confess
that it took me until halfway through to be disappointed every time I started a
listening session and remembered that Reading was not doing the voice work.
Source: public library
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