Patricia Cornwell's heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta is back; this time to solve the mystery of the death of an Associated Press reporter who was killed while nosing about in a decommissioned navy yard. Scarpetta's involvement in the case leads her to be targeted for murder herself by a nasty little neo-fascist cult with delusions of grandeur that include a plan to "kill and maim, frighten, brainwash and torture" all who oppose their plan to rule the world. Helping Scarpetta is her niece Lucy, an F.B.I. agent whose computer expertise leads to a heart-stopping journey into cyberspace.


From Publishers Weekly
First, the good news: the omni-competent Kay Scarpetta is back, along with her sidekicks, in a murder mystery that's tighter than her last escapade, From Potter's Field. Chief medical examiner for the state of Virginia and an FBI consultant, Kay finds ample opportunity to demonstrate her skills in the autopsy room and outside it, too: here, she also dives with a Navy SEAL rescue squad and, through her computer-genius niece Lucy, an FBI agent, takes an up-close-and-personal look at a robot operated via virtual reality. But there is bad news: the work lacks the extraordinary, can't-go-to-bed-til-you're-finished suspense of Cornwell's earlier novels, e.g. Cruel and Unusual. The killers here, members of a nihilistic, fascist cult who think their founder akin to God, are identified early on but never developed as characters. Their crimes, while heinous, don't baffle and tease the reader (or Kay) in the manner of the villain Temple Gault, who was dismissed in the last book. While Cornwell's authoritative presentation of forensic sleuthing, FBI procedures and high-tech crime-fighting compensates mightily for the overneat dovetailing of characters' paths and even the implausible role Kay plays in the climax, the hurried, almost slapdash pace of the climactic scenes is disappointing from so accomplished a writer. But even at less than her best, Cornwell remains a master of the genre, instilling in readers an appetite that only she can satisfy. One million first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Cornwell is well known for crime novels starring Dr. Kay Scarpetta (e.g., Body of Evidence, Audio Reviews, LJ 3/1/96). In this somewhat improbable story, a New Year's Eve fatality in the Elizabeth River sets the stage. With cyanide poisoning as the cause of death, an unfriendly reception at the site of the accident, and the presence of Hand's Bible in the dead man's apartment, the evidence points to the New Zionists, a cult headquartered nearby. Soon thereafter, the New Zionists take over of a nuclear facility, verifying the notion that they seek weapons-grade plutonium to be used in their worldwide pogrom. Peter Marino, a hardened cop, and Lucy, Scarpetta's brilliant FBI agent niece, are on hand for the excitement. Although the reading by Blair Brown is quite good, the unaccountably overprotective whining of Scarpetta regarding Lucy's role in the case is irritating and out of character. Given the author's popularity, however, this will do well in popular collections.?Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., ProvidenceCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
If the opening scenes ... don't grab you, then you're a bigger stiff than the corpse on Dr. Kay Scarpetta's morgue slab.


From AudioFile
An investigative reporter is found dead in an inactive Navy shipyard. While doing the post mortem, Virginia Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta detects the unmistakable odor of bitter almonds arising from the body cavity. Death by cyanide is not usually an accident, and this one proves no exception. As Kay, niece Lucy, and pal Marino get tangled in the investigation, more murders occur. Meanwhile, Kay and her erstwhile lover re-kindle an old flame, and a terrorist cult and their messianic leader are introduced. C. J. Critt's reading is appealing, despite predictable scenarios and a credibility-stretching conclusion. Cornwell and Scarpetta are usually a great team, but this time the shaky plot doesn't measure up, leaving Critt a handful of interesting characters, but little else to work with. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Her publisher is giving it plenty of prepub hype, but Cornwell's latest crime novel is, frankly, disappointing. Her usually crisp prose and gripping plots have turned mushy, vague, and unsatisfying. In her latest case, the always savvy Dr. Kay Scarpetta investigates the death of a young reporter who has apparently drowned at Virginia's Inactive Navy Shipyard. Scarpetta suspects the death wasn't an accident, and in her effort to get to the bottom of the case, she soon finds herself and her loved ones the targets of violence. The plot quickly turns bizarre and nearly inexplicable: there's a Branch Davidian^-like cult with a plan to take over the world, the invasion of a nuclear power plant and the disruption of the entire Virginia power and electric system, a band of violence-prone Middle Eastern terrorists, and--oh, yes--the resurrection of Scarpetta's long-dormant love affair with FBI agent Benton Wesley. The story has Cornwell's trademark emphasis on detailed forensics and the requisite amounts of action and gore, but this time that's about all. Still, Cornwell's multitude of fans will probably forgive her for any weaknesses. When you're as hot as she is at the moment, bestsellerdom is almost an afterthought. Buy plenty--there's certain to be a huge demand. Emily Melton


From Kirkus Reviews
The fascination with monstrous evil that's run through Cornwell's recent work (From Potter's Field, 1995, etc.) blossoms with a vengeance when Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta is called out on New Year's Eve to examine the body of Ted Eddings, an investigative reporter killed during an unauthorized dive in Norfolk's Inactive Naval Ship Yard. The typically arresting opening sequences--which take Scarpetta from beneath the icy waters of the Elizabeth River to the morgue, where she makes a shocking discovery about the manner of Eddings's death--masterfully set up all the conflicts that follow, from Scarpetta's instant antipathy to the Chesapeake police detective who'll end up lodging a sexual harassment complaint against her to her uneasy examination of the Book of Hand, the Bible of radical New Zionist messiah Joel Hand. And the momentum builds through a second murder, as usual unnervingly close to Scarpetta (has any series heroine ever survived so many deaths by proxy?). It's not till Scarpetta joins her brainy FBI niece Lucy and her tormented FBI lover Benton Wesley, who's leaving his wife but still can't commit himself to Scarpetta, to run the New Zionists' nefarious, incredible plot to ground and flush them out of their hidey-hole that Cornwell's apocalyptic moralizing turns shrill and unconvincing. Full marks, as always, for the gripping forensic detail and beleaguered Scarpetta's legendary toughness. It's only the sketchy, unbelievable villains who ring hollow. (First printing of 1,000,000; $750,000 ad/promo budget; Literary Guild main selection; Mystery Guild main selection) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Midwest Book Review
Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta faces her most eerie case yet: a New Year's Eve diving death designed to look like a drowning - but Scarpetta's survey reveals murder and involves her in a second murder which strikes too close to home. Cornwell has the perfect protagonist in a medical examiner who uses high-tech savvy to foil killers.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Patricia Cornwell submerges Dr. Kay Scarpetta in a labyrinthine case that wraps a web of danger around those closest to her and threatens to wreak fear and death far beyond the confines of Virginia. New Year's Eve and the final murder scene of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War takes Scarpetta thirty feet below the Elizabeth River's icy surface. A scuba diver, Ted Eddings, is dead, an investigative reporter who was a favorite at the Medical Examiner's Office. Was Eddings probing the frigid depths of the Inactive Ship Yard for a story, or simply diving for sunken trinkets? And why did Scarpetta receive a phone call from someone reporting the death before the police were notified? With the advent of a second murder - this one hitting even closer to home - the case envelops Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, and police captain Pete Marino in a world where both cutting-edge technology and old-fashioned detective work are critical offensive weapons. Together they follow the trail of death to a well of violence as dark and forbidding as the water that swirled over Ted Eddings.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

First, the good news: the omni-competent Kay Scarpetta is back, along with her sidekicks, in a murder mystery that's tighter than her last escapade, From Potter's Field. Chief medical examiner for the state of Virginia and an FBI consultant, Kay finds ample opportunity to demonstrate her skills in the autopsy room and outside it, too: here, she also dives with a Navy SEAL rescue squad and, through her computer-genius niece Lucy, an FBI agent, takes an up-close-and-personal look at a robot operated via virtual reality. But there is bad news: the work lacks the extraordinary, can't-go-to-bed-til-you're-finished suspense of Cornwell's earlier novels, e.g. Cruel and Unusual. The killers here, members of a nihilistic, fascist cult who think their founder akin to God, are identified early on but never developed as characters. Their crimes, while heinous, don't baffle and tease the reader (or Kay) in the manner of the villain Temple Gault, who was dismissed in the last book. While Cornwell's authoritative presentation of forensic sleuthing, FBI procedures and high-tech crime-fighting compensates mightily for the overneat dovetailing of characters' paths and even the implausible role Kay plays in the climax, the hurried, almost slapdash pace of the climactic scenes is disappointing from so accomplished a writer. But even at less than her best, Cornwell remains a master of the genre, instilling in readers an appetite that only she can satisfy. One million first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections. (July)

Library Journal