‘Things end where they begin and begin where they end.’

This is the 18th novel to feature Kay Scarpetta in the 20 years since ‘Postmortem’ first appeared. This novel is written from Kay Scarpetta’ s point of view, and it gives shares some secrets from the past and provides some new insights into her character.

At the beginning of the book, Scarpetta is undertaking a training fellowship on Computer Tomography (CT) – assisted virtual autopsies at Dover Air Force Base. However, as the chief of the new Cambridge Forensic Center (CFC) she is required to return home to Massachusetts when a case threatens the reputation of the CFC. A young man, who apparently died of a heart attack, begins to bleed in the cooler. Was he alive when he was shut in the cooler? As Scarpetta investigates this case, she discovers connections with another case. And nothing is as it seems: her husband Benton Wesley, her long-time colleague and friend Pete Marino, and her niece Lucy all seem to be withholding information. Scarpetta herself is obsessing about a guilty moment in her past and this, as much as solving the case, seems to be occupying her mind.

For those readers wanting more insights into the character and motivations of Kay Scarpetta, this will probably be a good read. I’d rather focus on the cases being solved, and I found Scarpetta’s angst irritating at times.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith