Unnatural Exposure: Scarpetta 8 Paperback – Import, 2 Sept. 2010

Excellent book highly recommended A+

I liked this book. People change and life goes on. Looking back on my own life I see that I am someone other than the person I was 20 years ago. Fortunately Patricia Cornwell is catching this development in her books as well.Life for Kay Scarpetta is no less complicated than before. In addition to her work her relationship with her FBI lover and her FBI niece are still a challenge to her. But to Kay her first and foremost love is her work. She has a passion for forensics that probably drives those around her insane and yet seems to inspire them to achieve new heights. When she is caught up in a case, nothing else seems to matter. Of course, Cornwell shows that things are not that simple, but there is no doubt in my mind that work is Scarpetta's first love. How wonderful it would be to be in love with your own job.This time the story begins in Dublin. Kay is on a lecture stint in Ireland and is investigating the possible connection between bizarre murders in Richmond and Ireland. Dismembered and beheaded bodies turn up in dumps and it has not been possible to identify the victims. The MO between the murders in both places seem identical.Then something strange happens. A new body turns up in Richmond. It, too, has been dismembered and beheaded, but in all other aspects it differs from the other bodies - older victim and different dismembering tools. Bad goes to worse as the discovery of postules on the victims body raises questions. Then another body turns out (with all of its limbs in place). This time the postules are the same, but the victim is completely disfigured by them. It turns out that this is a smallpox related illness and a high alert goes out all over the country.This has become a race against time. This killer is obviously out to get the world.

Cornwall makes you feel like part of the cast in the very well laid out, and brilliantly developing plot. Your actively involved until the very end. Don't forget to read the epiloge.

Always a great read

Once again Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, finds herself up against it. Already overworked, and fighting the impact of the furlough imposed on federal employees while Congress and the White House, she has been reviewing evidence that suggests a serial killer is at work in the state.As the novel opens, she is in Ireland, presenting lectures to international colleagues, although she has also been reviewing the headless and limbless corpses of five victims of a killer who may now have relocated to Virginia. Satisfied that the perpetrator may be the same in all the cases under review, she returns home, and liaises with her regular investigatory partners, Captain Pete Marino, head of homicide in the Virginia Police Department, and Benton Wesley, the FBI’s senior profiler. Meanwhile, one of the Medical Examiners in her state-wide team, contacts her in a panic, convinced that one of the corpses he had recently been called to review may have died of Smallpox. It gradually emerges that these two unfolding horror stories may be connected.Cornwell manages all of these plot elements fairly tightly, and certainly manages to build up the suspense. Unfortunately I felt that there were too many recurring elements with which we have grown all too familiar: a bigoted and narrow-minded lead investigator with his own agenda and deep-rooted (yet never properly explained) grudge against Scarpetta and anyone connected with her.As with a few of her previous books, I felt a degree of frustration that someone as capable of writing a good, gripping thriller, should produce something as frequently clumsy as this book is. Cornwell’s first four or five novels were excellently plotted and constructed, with watertight and convincing stories, and highly plausible characters. Somewhere along the line, however, she seemed to lose some of her plot management skills, leaving subsequent books with a tendency to lose their focus.

Definitely worth the read x I enjoyed the story the way it came together as well as the characters! I love the sub-story that comes with reading them in order! Can’t wait to read the next x

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.

Brilliant read, Another great book in the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cromwell , loved it and definitely recommend it

A real.page turner, love the Scarpetta series. Really enjoy the continuation of character. It allows the reader to really get involved and engrossed

Love the series

As usual,Cornwell provides an addictive story line,with twists and turns in every chapter.Her detail of all things medical and technical are fascinating and eye opening.I couldn't put this book down

The story is well developed and Dr Scarpetta face an elusive enemy that stays well hidden behind the scenes until the end. One of the best Scarpetta books so far.

コーンウェルの作品の中では、完成度の高いものの一つです。今回の作品は細菌をテーマにしています。コーンウェルは、細菌の恐ろしさを見事に描ききることが出来たと思います。また、ストーリーの展開もスリリングですので息つく暇もありません。また、最後のドラマチックな展開が見事です。