The Scarpetta Factor
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- ISBN13: 9780399156397
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta—despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN—to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is questioned live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast she receives a startling call—in from a ex- child psychiatrist uncomplaining of Benton Wesley’s. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package—possibly a bomb—waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta’s life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a legendary actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a gorgeous millionaires with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past.
Scarpetta’s CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Agreed the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a “special factor,” a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like additional TV personalities: her own stereotype.
The Scarpetta Factor, the seventeenth in the series, finds the familiar cast of characters together again in New York. Marino is effective for the NYPD; Benton Wesley uses his forensic psychological expertise at Kirby and Bellevue; and Lucy continues to dazzle with her expertise in forensic computer investigations as she works yet another case with NY prosecutor Jaime Berger.
Amazon.com Review
Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson: Leader One-on-One
In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together blockbuster authors Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson and questioned them to interview each additional. Find out what two of the top authors of their genres have to say about their characters, writing process, and more.
James Patterson is one of the bestselling writers of all time, with more than 170 million copies of his books sold worldwide. He is the leader of two of the most well loved detective series of the past decade, featuring Alex Cross and the Women’s Murder Club, and he also writes nonfiction and The Maximum Ride series for young readers. Read on to see James Patterson’s questions for Patricia Cornwell, or turn the tables to see what Cornwell questioned Patterson.
Patterson: Here’s a chance to say all the fantastic things the critics would about The Scarpetta Factor, if there were any newspapers left that still reviewed books. Or, as they say in the TV interviews: Tell us about this one, Patricia.
Cornwell: As was right in the last book (Scarpetta), the new one is set in New York City, and it starts with Kay Scarpetta effective on the autopsy of a young woman who presumably was murdered the night before in Central Park. While the apparent circumstances of the violent crime say one thing, the body is telling Scarpetta a very different and incredibly disturbing tale that causes the prosecutor, the police, additional officials, and even Scarpetta’s friends and colleagues, to marvel if she’s building mistakes or has begun to judge her own legend. While others are questioning and criticizing her, she starts to doubt herself and her choice to be the senior forensic analyst for CNN—an exposure that possibly leads to her BlackBerry disappearing and a suspicious package being left for her at her apartment building. As the intrigue unfolds, the past is no longer past, and she is soon faced with an ancient nemesis who threatens to be her final undoing.
Patterson: This book is set in New York again—what do you like about the Huge City? What don’t you like?
Cornwell: Certainly New York City is the essential Huge City. By placing Scarpetta in the midst of NYC within its medical examiner’s office, I’ve positioned her on an international stage where anything can and does take place. The machinery is huge (NYPD and the FBI meadow office, for example), yet the private lives of the characters remain intimate and tiny. Not only is this a huge tale about a huge-city case that captivates the world, it’s also a very close look at the characters and who and what they are to one another in contemporary times. In terms of what I like and don’t like about NYC? The only thing I don’t like about it is driving there.
Patterson: I regularly get questioned what I have in common with Alex Cross. What would you say you have in common with Kay Scarpetta?
Cornwell: Scarpetta and I share the same values and sensibilities. We approach cases the same way (which should be rather obvious, since I work the cases by taking on her persona). Beyond that, there are many differences. I’m not Catholic or Italian or married to Benton Wesley. I’m not a forensic pathologist with a law degree. I don’t have her emotional discipline or inhibitions, nor do I have her professional dazzle. (I permanently remind people I was an English major who ongoing effective at age eleven, first as a babysitter, then in food service!) I don’t have Scarpetta’s pedigree. But then, she isn’t a writer, unless she’s writing professional journal articles or autopsy reports.
Patterson: What’s your routine like when it comes to writing? Do you do write every day? On the road? Do you need vacations from your writing?
Cornwell: I wish I had more of a routine. I start each book with research that continues up to the very end of the process. But gradually, as I approach the deadline, I sink deeper into seclusion until eventually I don’t even answer e-mails or the phone anymore (unless it’s my partner, Staci). I just write morning, noon, and night. The pulling together and completion of a novel is so intense, I’m nearly living out of body by the time I’m done. It’s the most wonderful and miserable experience imaginable. I would like a trip but never seem to have time, and I doubt I’d know what to do if you made me “do nothing.” In fact, Staci and I have a weird habit of going to foreign lands and visiting their police departments and morgues as a replacement for of just hanging out at the beach. I don’t write every day because I do so much research, and currently, I have many additional responsibilities that keep me busier than ever (filming, involvement with forensic institutes—just the business of life, for example).
Patterson: What’s the best feedback you’ve had from a reader? Or—what was the best piece of writing advice you’ve had?
Cornwell: Frankly, the best feedback was when a reader complained some years ago that he wasn’t sure I liked my characters anymore. And I thought about this and realized I wasn’t sure I did, either. A horrible thing to realize. It was because the series had gone on for so long that it was time to reinvent the characters and their relationships with one another and the world they inhabit. I reflect this re-establish is most apparent in the last book, Scarpetta, and I am on a wonderful and invigorating new course that is even more evident in the new one, The Scarpetta Factor.
Patterson: Bonus question: How do you feel about the Hollywood adaptations of your work? Don’t be worried—let it all hang out.
Cornwell: In the past, very disappointed, because the projects went nowhere. Now, so far so excellent. The first films (Lifetime movies of At Risk and The Front, which are non-Scarpetta novellas) air this spring. I had a magnificent experience from beginning to end with the producers, actors—everyone. It’s way too early to talk about the 20th Century Fox project with Angelina Jolie, although who wouldn’t be excited about her?
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I have yet to read this book but I have read all of the Scarpetta series and I find her books well written.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
EXCELLENT CORNWELL. I FEEL SHE ENLARGED ON SOME OF HER ONGOING CHARACTERS, YET THEY ARE STILL THE FAMILIAR PEOPLE WE LOVE TO READ ABOUT. LUCY SEEMS TO BE SPIRALING TOWARD SOME SORT OF CATASTROPHE; EITHER IN HER PRIVATE LIFE OR PROFESSIONAL LIFE OR BOTH. MARINO IS ACTUALLY IMPROVING. HE HAS MORE INSIGHT INTO HIMSELF AND HIS ACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES. KAY AND BENTON SEEM TO BE MORE COMFORTABLE WITH EACH OTHER, AND A LOT OF HEALING SEEMS TO HAVE TAKE PLACE WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIP. THE ACCESSORY CHARACTERS ARE INTERESTING AND KEEP THE ACTION MOVING. I ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE OF THIS BOOK AND WOULD CERTAINLY RECOMMEND IT. EVEN IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST CORNWELL BOOK, THE REFERENCES TO THE PAST MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU KNOW THE CHARACTER’S BACKGROUNDS ALREADY. FOR FORENSIC MYSTERY LOVERS THIS IS ONE GREAT BOOK. I LOOK FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I was very pleased with this item and with the shipping company. The item was received in perfect condition and quickly. I have been extremely pleased with the service from Amazon and its many suppliers.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Excellent book. A lot “techy” as usual but worth the read. Will permanently prefer the Scarpetta books.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
LOVED IT! Could not place the book down! This is certainly the best Scarpetta book ever written, I don’t know how Patricia Cornwell can do any better than this!!
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5