Depraved Heart: A Scarpetta Novel

Patricia Cornwell

Oct 2015 · Kay Scarpetta Book 23 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

In Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell has a character as strong as any in popular fiction" —Wall Street Journal

New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell delivers the newest engrossing thriller in her high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

Depraved Heart: “Void of social duty and fatally bent on mischief.”

—Mayes v. People, 806 III. 306 (1883)

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It’s clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago.

As Scarpetta watches she begins to learn frightening secrets about her niece, whom she has loved and raised like a daughter. That film clip and then others sent soon after raise dangerous legal implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, worried, and not knowing where to turn. She doesn’t know whom she can tell—not her FBI husband Benton Wesley or her investigative partner Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.

In this new novel, Cornwell launches these unforgettable characters on an intensely psychological odyssey that includes the mysterious death of a Hollywood mogul’s daughter, aircraft wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in the back of a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta’s entire world and everyone she loves. The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious—but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that’s the message they send when they raid Lucy’s estate and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life.

In the latest novel in her bestselling series featuring chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell will captivate readers with the shocking twists, high-wire tension, and cutting-edge forensic detail that she is famous for, proving yet again why she’s the world’s #1 bestselling crime writer.

Ratings and reviews

I've read many novels from this series and I'm finding this one to be very disappointing. The story is simply awkward like she was trying to make something out of what she knew wasn't the greatest material. I hate it when characters do frustratingly stupid things in order to maintain the storyline and this is a prime example. I also got really tired of a supposed scientist using the word, "proof" repeatedly. "Empirical proof" is just a ridiculously annoying phrase that inspired me to write this review.

That was my last Patricia Cornwell novel. I did not expect it to be just a rehash of all the drama between Kay and her niece, repeating history and histrionics ad nauseum. Unbelievable FBI plotting against Lucy was absurd and I put the book down 25 pages before the end. I just don't care to read the same story over and over again.

This is the first review I've taken the time to write and frankly it's because the book was a waste of time. The characters were poorly developed , almost random. There were so many threads that the storyline was tedious and repetitive. It was as if she couldn't decide on a theme so she tried to blend a few, resulting in literary chaos, poorly developed plot and spotty resolution. I would not suggest this book to anyone.

About the author

Patricia Cornwell is recognized as one of the world’s top bestselling crime authors with novels translated into thirty-six languages in more than 120 countries. Her novels have won numerous prestigious awards including the Edgar, the Creasey, the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Prix du Roman d’Aventure. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Patricia has written a definitive book about Jack the Ripper, a biography, and three more fiction series among others. Cornwell, a licensed helicopter pilot and scuba diver, actively researches the forensic technologies that inform her work. She was born in Miami, grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston.