At the same time there is a modern weapon threat that is realistic enough to scare the pants off of me. Full of all the action and sharp wit that the series possessed in its heyday, Cornwell keeps readers highly entertained and thoroughly captivated.

The reason that I share this outline is because it has become a repeated pattern for each of the Kay Scarpetta novels. Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. Having inherited a case that is now making headlines and drawing a large television audience, Scarpetta must separate truth from fiction as all eyes are on her. Perhaps though it is that these days I prefer to let my imagination picture what is happening rather than having to read paragraph after paragraph of graphic depictions of what happens to bodies after death, etc.Chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta is the reluctant star witness in a sensational murder trial when she receives shocking news. Her testimony in the trial of Gilbert Hooke, who's accused of killing his girlfriend April Tupelo, contradicts that of a previous medical examiner. The attention to detail and means by which she could weave a tale left me in awe of Cornwel’s abilities and kept me coming back for more. In this twenty-sixth instalment in the Kay Scarpetta series, Livid, Cornwell has written an ominous thriller that sees Virginia’s Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta not only testifying in the April Tupelo volatile trial but also investigating the bizarre murder of CIA employee Rachael Stanwyck, sister of her close friend Judge Annie Chilton, that as it unfolds also seems strangely connected to a failed assassination attempt on the President, the brutal murder of a beloved local market owner and the suicide of a Tidewater medical examiner. of this book was describing each “environment” within each scene and very little suspense or drama typical to this series.

There's clunkiness here and there where everything is spelled out in dialogue instead of conveying some in narrative or where readers are inside Scarpetta's head too much, but that's minor.I am so pleased that Patricia Cornwell is back and can only hope there are more Kay Scarpetta novels to come of this calibre. Furthermore, I became increasingly irritated by the amount of 'fillers' that seem to pepper this story. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. We have pages devoted to descriptions of car journeys, sitting in traffic jams, meal preparations, and, although a little more relevant to the plot, the technology behind and impact of, microwave weapons.

Cornwell is not creating something new and refreshing, but rather continues to rely on her plotting methodology of solving a mystery over a condensed two-to-three-day timeframe, an approach that she established and perfected, then used repetitively over and over again until it just got old. Overall, Livid is another action-packed, intriguing, sinister tale by Cornwell that I am sure will be a solid, satisfying, entertaining read for any long-standing fans of the series.I was bored out of my mind reading this, desperately waiting for a little bit of action or for something exciting to happen. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around October 25, 2022. The rulings the Judge makes during Kay's testimony would never happen, nor would the outrageous objections made by the prosecutor.