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Dr. Kay Scarpetta is wilting in the unusual autumn heat as she makes her way to dinner with her husband, FBI Agent Benton Wesley. The dinner is quickly interrupted by calls to both their cell phones. Coincidence? For Scarpetta, the call is about a case involving a dead bicyclist who's been discovered along the Charles River in Boston. As for what the FBI is up to, well, that's confidential.
It's not just the heat and the case, however, that has Scarpetta on edge. She's been receiving strange phone calls with sinister rhyming messages in Italian. Adding to her anxierty level is the arrival of her difficult sister from Florida, but Scarpetta won't be able to meet her at the airport or likely even get away from the case for several days.
What first appears (and is quickly misdiagnosed by a rookie detective on the scene) as a random attack on a young woman by an assailant while she's riding by turns out to be more complex than thought. It's a long night for Scarpetta and her investigative partner Marino, and just as they are getting ready to transfer the body from the scene, the FBI swoops in to take over the case, adding to the frustration level.
With the terrorism alert level raised, the FBI wants all of Scarpetta's expertise, but isn't willing to share the information they have. With her duty to the victim firmly in mind, Scarpetta has a few tricks up her sleeve to solve the case, before things turn truly personal and potentially deadly.
While things are messy and complicated for about the first third of the book, once the investigation gets truly under way, the pieces begin to come together, and everything gets linked up in a satisfying (if mind-bending) conclusion. For those who haven't followed the series, there are some loose ends, but overall Patricia Cornwell fills in the gaps along the way, and the mystery can still be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.
§ Christine Zibas is a freelance writer and former director of publications for a Chicago nonprofit.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, October 2016
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