Livid: The new Kay Scarpetta thriller from the No.1 bestseller

Product Information

With strong themes building throughout the short chapters, the reader feels propelled towards a climactic ending that has all the ingredients for a stellar novel. In addition, Reddy's former secretary - who Kay inherited - is difficult, obstructive, and spies on Kay for her former boss. Scarpetta and Marino discover some odd burn patters that could mean something even more problematic, as everything points to a new age weapon. Virginia's chief medical examiner Dr Kay Scarpetta is testifying at a trial and only the defense team is happy about it since she says no one was murdered. 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.

After a grueling cross-examination by the prosecutor, Scarpetta leaves the court only to discover that the sister of the judge on her case has been found dead. 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. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen. As always in this series, there are gory descriptions of dead bodies and autopsies, so not for the faint of heart.I read all three authors when their respective series started, and after many many books, stopped all three. That was also when I was having my babies and reading about Kay Scarpetta's investigations was a wonderful escape. Unfortunately, in this case, the original autopsy was not performed correctly by the pathologist who is no longer alive, and Kay’s subsequent follow-up work has caused her to change the cause of death from asphyxiation to drowning. When she and her longtime friend and investigator Pete Marino arrive, they're struck by the stricken; everywhere are dead bugs, birds and what appears to be finely tuned destruction. After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer.

It seems someone stood outside and blasted radiation into the house, which fried Rachael's brain and killed her. Scarpetta must act as the expert witness for the case—an investigation previously botched by another forensic pathologist. Even more strangely, her garden is full of dead plants and insects, which seems very unusual and makes no sense.

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. It worked well, and I loved listening to the history of their friendship but also the connections to the governor. I can however tell you about every item of food the Scarpetta clan ate in the final chapter of the book. Scarpetta ultimately finds herself facing a powerful, invisible enemy who’s planning the unthinkable .