A torso has been found in a Virginia landfill – just the torso, no legs, no arms, no head. This is the fifth one to be found in a landfill in several months and the tenth to be found internationally with the same MO. Only it’s not exactly the same MO. This time the appendages are severed through the bones rather than through the joints. This time the victim is elderly rather than youthful. This time the dismemberment occurred through a covering rather than being done to a nude body. And this time the stumps of the remaining appendages and the buttocks are covered with a crop of virulent pustules.Before the lab work can come back on the nature of the virulent pustules, Scarpetta and company discover they have a high-placed and virulent leak of information to the media as well as to local political and legal officials. Scarpetta and Marino are quite certain the leaks are coming from Detective Inspector Percy Ring of the Virginia State Police. Ring has a highly placed uncle in law enforcement and Ring has a highly developed ambition, making it clear that being a cop is only a low rung on his professional ladder. And it appears that Ring intends to jump several rungs at once by trying to first discredit Scarpetta with the leaks, and then by trying to make a quick arrest before Marino or Wesley can. He then intends to destroy Scarpetta and Lucy by outing Lucy’s lesbian status to the FBI (don’t ask, don’t tell is the current government policy) while painting Scarpetta with the same brush.Along with the bio-toxin storyline and the sub-plot with Ring, the novel also includes snippets into the relationship between Kay and Benton as well as that of Lucy and Janet. Marino is still his loyal but obnoxious self but is a fairly minor character in this entry. And, of course, mental allowances have to be made for the fact that this book was copyrighted in 1997, which, as I write this review, is 17 years ago. The Internet was still in its early years commercially and AOL was the primary service provider. Thus, the reader today will have to embrace the explanations of technology long defunct as a history lesson or else slide over it to the meat of the story.Also, the bio-toxin storyline is a good break from the typical plots that have preceded this in the Scarpetta series. There is still gore and murder and psychopathy but Kay isn’t running from guns, knives or bombs this time. However, it is incredibly clear that she is running from herself.And with that, I must issue a SPOILER ALERT before I explain why I downgraded my review of a very well written and capably researched novel. This is the 8th book in a series that now contains 21 entries, each arriving about once a year since 1990. Even if reviews previously written on Cornwell’s books or comments made on discussion sites hadn’t alerted me to what happens in the next book and then in the 12th book, I would have picked up serious clues to it in this entry. Even if I had been reading this book in 1997 instead of 2014, I would have known what was to come.Kay’s former lover, Mark, an FBI agent killed several years ago in a terrorist attack on a London rail station, is brought up – out of the blue – by a colleague near the beginning of the book. Later, again out of context with the current situation, Lucy brings up Mark again, telling Kay that she has not resolved her feelings for him, in spite of Benton. And stuck in the middle of another scene is a comment about Benton being jerked away from their current crisis to attend to an old case, a case he later casually and tersely relates to organized crime. Finally, the epilogue is totally devoted to Kay going to the London rail station to see where Mark was killed, asking Benton for the truth behind the FBI account of the death.I realize that the more famous authors, and those aspiring to be better authors, plan the basic plots for the successive entries in their series well in advance. Put the four cited scenes that stand out like the proverbial sore thumb with this passage spoken by Kay to Benton, three pages from the end, and Cornwell’s forward path is clear: “I want to know if this is all fiction…How do I know this isn’t some cover-up, some ruse, because he’s alive and in hiding? A protected witness with a new identity…I must know the truth. If it really happened…I believe this is some great big Bureau lie.”Even in 1997, Cornwell was no rookie in the writing business. While there is no cliffhanger, per se, the telegraphing of future intent is clumsy, at best. Those out-of-context scenes are as obvious as an author solving a crisis by deus ex machina.
(view spoiler)[I'm not quite finished but I have a feeling that I know where the WIngo storyline is going and I'm not happy about it. I liked him in the first book. Then he seemed to disappear from books 2-7 and now he's back and she's going to kill him off. This is one of my pet peeves. My biggest pet peeves actually. Author's create this likable side character and then kill them off to let us know that no one is safe... except all the main characters are. Like I could lose Lucy and be ok or Benton, seriously get rid of Benton. Kill off major characters if you want to shock me, but I just don't understand why authors create these little golden nugget side characters and then kill them off. It annoys me. Not to mention Wingo is everything I like and he's a nice counter to Kay. He is big hearted and sweet and smart and earnest. He's her gay morgue assistant that has gotten HIV. Imagine what a great side storyline that would be. And here is my biggest problem with the whole situation... Kay is so freaking irresponsible. I know there is confidentiality and all, but why not take a second from your bitching and moaning about being quarantined and call Wingo? Encourage him to come in to the CDC. You know overall just help save his life.... But whatever, please spend more time trying to keep Benton from sending Lucy into danger. Not that she is a grown women, very healthy and an FBI agent. Please continue treating her like a 10 year old, and screw everyone else....Ok, I'm a little further along, and she finally thought to call Wingo, but 2 days later and he's surely a goner, maybe his mom too. Right now I'm reading a lot of detail about riding in helicopters and putting on biohazard suits... Finished- Wingo's dead. I really wanted to be wrong... (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Unnatural Exposure (2015)?
I don't know why I like the Scarpetta series - it's overblown, Mary-Sue, unbelievable trash - and yet I find myself going back to it again and again. This is the first one I've read in over a year, after the last one stretched my suspension of disbelief to breaking point, and while it was tame in comparison, it was still pretty far-fetched.The good: Cornwell's plots and characters may be ridiculous, but her writing is accessible and somehow engaging. The bad: Bioterrorism? By someone who's motivation is at best shaky? Right. Also, I know it's necessary for Scarpetta's Mary-Sueishness for her to wander around freely, but seriously, QUARANTINE. The cringeworthy: Considering Cornwell's personal life, her treatment of gay characters is... not great. Lucy isn't so bad, I suppose, but poor old Wingo gets beaten hard with the stereotype stick - and this was only written in the '90s, so she doesn't even have ignorance on her side.In short, if you're looking for complex literature and intricate plot, keep looking. But if you want a mildly diverting aeroplane or beach book, this is for you.
—Zoe Carney
This is the eighth book in the crime mystery series starring Dr. Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner for the State of Virginia. This was a good addition to the series, even though this audiobook was abridged (I personally hate reading, or listening to, abridged works).In the late 1990s (this book was published in 1997), in late October, Dr. Scarpetta is in Ireland, reviewing a case of dismembered bodies found in landfills, presumably the work of a serial killer. Back home in Virginia, a torso is found in Virginia, and there are similarities to the Irish bodies, but also puzzling differences.Dr. Scarpetta’s life is also complicated by the divorce of FBI profiler Benton Westley (with whom she had an affair, and with whom she currently has a complicated relationship), by email that comes to her AOL account from the apparent killer, and by the ramifications of her neice Lucy’s sexual orientation in the “don’t ask, don’t tell” world of the FBI.This was a good book to listen to, but I do wish that I could have found an unabridged audiobook of the book.
—Kathryn
Don't let jealousy bite you because it can destroy you. Be content.This is the first Patricia Cornwell book I've read and I somewhat like it. I love the main character's attitude, namely Dr. Kay Scarpetta. I like that she's firm with a lot of gentleness and kindness to people who needs it. I hate Ring, too bad the book doesn't say if he's been punished. Maybe that will be in the next Cornwell book. I just don't like how the book ended. It's like it's cut short and I had no inkling whodunit because if memory serves me right there was no mention of Dr. Phyllis Crowder. Maybe I'm used to other books like this where they give clues as to whodunit and you have to make a choice only to be proved wrong in the end. No matter, I am still going to read other Cornwell books. That's definite.
—Normalyn Espejo
