-A knockout- (People) of a thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. -Killing me won’t kill the beast- are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can’t explain how Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell’s fingerprints on another crime scene–after she’d performed his … she’d performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target. And if the next victim is someone she knows, the punishment will be cruel and unusual…
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An earlier book, better than later formulaic books
Another great book from the best medical mystery writer!
All of Patricia Connell books are great. This one included.
Patricia does it again. Love the Scarpetta series.
Like all the Scarpetta novels immensely.
One of the best reads I have had in awhile!
These stories of Dr. Scarpetta and Detective Marino just keep getting more enticing! Scarpetta just gets more involved with these cases and this one definitely took an interesting turn.
This story had so many twist and turns that I just couldn’t help but keep reading. I loved all the drama between the staff members, I thought that was genius! I know they had thought they had some corruption before, but this was an awesome twist. Kay always got in so deep, but she got in way over her head in this one. She definitely played a different role in this book, because she really had to take a few steps back and re-evaluate. The drama within the lab though really made me appreciate some of these other characters, they were great! There was also a good bit of corruption and media in this book. It really took both to a new level.
Lucy, I LOVED seeing Lucy more in this. It’s so funny to think of her as almost an adult, it was clear that Kay didn’t, so that was great to see. She showed a new side of herself that we hadn’t seen before. We got to see her be more vulnerable and see just how much she’s grown. Between Lucy and Mark, Kay had gone through a lot of changes. I almost wish we had a little more of the in-between there. It felt like this book had really jumped forward and it really threw me off.
The ending of this book really leaves so many things up in the air, and that’s even better. It doesn’t have a cliff hanger, but it really leaves things up for interpretation. Can’t wait to get my hands on the next book!
Great
I’d read anything by Patricia Cornwell!
Cruel & Unusual by Patricia Cornwell, the fourth in the “Kay Scarpetta” series was a solid book with a little more edge than some of the others, hence the 4.5 rating. Two key parts of this one that appealed to me:
1. Scarpetta learns more about the prison system, in particular how a newly killed inmate’s finger prints could show up on a dead body several days after the inmate died. The “gimmick” has been used before, but Cornwell keeps it tightly wound until the end of the book. It’s a page turner, for sure. You think you’ve figured it out, but more details come out. And it gets very scientific, which really helps push you closer to the edge of not wanting to stop reading it. That said, the technology is almost 25+ years old compared to today’s standards, so it’s nothing earth-shattering at this point. It was something to read in the 90s to truly get the best impact. Still a good read today, I’m sure.
2. Kay and her niece, Lucy, continue to play the game of mouse and cat, so to speak. I’m not sure who is the mouse and who is the cat anymore. But what’s fun here is that Lucy ends up helping on the case, despite the risks. And it call comes down to computers, which again, are much more advanced in the last ~30 years. Reading how people thought back then, how they interpreted and stored files, is amusing for someone in the technology field. I read this shortly after it came out but I was still very close to technology way back then.
The series is still solid at this point. And I’d recommend this read for someone who isn’t too particular about tools and techniques in the fields of investigation, criminology, computers and DNA changing significantly over the years. Enjoy this for the puzzle it was at the time, not the slightly slower path it would be today. All in all, as much as she annoys you, Scarpetta is one of those people I wish I knew in real life. A bit too brilliant in some ways tho!
Excellent read …. Worth the time ……………
Scarpetta novels are exciting and riveting Hard to put down once started. Have enjoyed the series immensely.