While Lucy Farinelli goes undercover in Miami to bring down a notorious criminal cartel, Dr Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino discover a body in a cargo ship recently arrived from Belgium at Virginia's Deep Water Terminal in Richmond. Initially it seems as though it  may be the decomposed remains of a stowaway, but Scarpetta's post mortem reveals neither a cause of death nor an identification. So the victim's personal effects and an odd tattoo take Scarpetta on a hunt for information that eventually leads her and Marino to Interpol's headquarters in Lyon.

At first the highly confidential information they receive seems incredible, a bizarre trail of conspiracy and deceit, but inexorably the facts reveal a web of privileged and criminal arrogance which puts Dr Kay Scarpetta directly in harm's way, and places her and those she holds dear at mortal risk.

I haven't read a Scarpetta novel in a while, and this is the first of the ones I haven't read so when I saw it on ebay I put in a bid...which I apparently won. I'm not sure whether I'm looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with Patricia Cornwell as when I last read her she was beginning to loose her appeal. Maybe the break will allow me to read this with a fresh interest.

January 15th 2004
The End

It has been almost four years since I read a Scarpetta novel, and though I originally purchased this on ebay the huge hardback novel wasn't exactly snuggling up under the duvet material, and so I bought the paperback and read it straight away.

In many ways reading this book was like coming home from holiday, or reuniting with an old friend. The style was intimately familiar, and reminded me why I had liked Patricia Cornwell's novels so very much.

The book begins where Point of Origin ended. Benton is dead, and Scarpetta is having trouble coming to terms with her grief and picking up her life without him. Marino and Lucy are equally distraught and the trio begin to turn on each other in the frustration of their loss.

Meanwhile a body is discovered in a cargo ship, badly decomposed and with a message written in blood beside the corpse. Scarpetta begins to put together the pieces needed to identify the man, all the time having to fight newly appointed Deputy Chief Bray and her lackey the incompetent rookie Detective Anderson.

I really enjoyed reading the power struggles involved in this book, and the rising tension created by the exchanges was artfully built. The character of Bray, with her empire building tactics, was fabulous to see butt heads with Marino and Scarpetta, whose inability to do their jobs under her rule becomes increasingly difficult. I think this is one of the darkest novels to date, given the material involved that's quite an achievement, but each of the characters seemed more emotional than in previous books and their desperation gave them new dimensions. I liked this book so much I immediately ordered the next one, which continues the stories begun in Black Notice. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all pans out.