Depraved Heart

By Patricia Cornwell

Depraved Heart - Patricia Cornwell
  • Release Date: 2015-10-27
  • Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Score: 4
4
From 864 Ratings

Description

In Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell has a character as strong as any in popular fiction" —Wall Street Journal

New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell delivers the newest engrossing thriller in her high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

Depraved Heart: “Void of social duty and fatally bent on mischief.”

—Mayes v. People, 806 III. 306 (1883)

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It’s clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago.

As Scarpetta watches she begins to learn frightening secrets about her niece, whom she has loved and raised like a daughter. That film clip and then others sent soon after raise dangerous legal implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, worried, and not knowing where to turn. She doesn’t know whom she can tell—not her FBI husband Benton Wesley or her investigative partner Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.

In this new novel, Cornwell launches these unforgettable characters on an intensely psychological odyssey that includes the mysterious death of a Hollywood mogul’s daughter, aircraft wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in the back of a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta’s entire world and everyone she loves. The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious—but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that’s the message they send when they raid Lucy’s estate and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life.

In the latest novel in her bestselling series featuring chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell will captivate readers with the shocking twists, high-wire tension, and cutting-edge forensic detail that she is famous for, proving yet again why she’s the world’s #1 bestselling crime writer.

Reviews

  • Depraved Heart

    2
    By grannycha
    I guess this is my least favorite of all Patricia’s books. So much repetition that I wondered if I had put my bookmark in the wrong place. Sorry Dr. Kay, Benton, Pete and Lucy.
  • Depraved Heart

    4
    By gratefulsteed
    The Scarpetta series are always good to read. I enjoy that the stories are built around real science. This one was a bit predictable in the end but still glad I read it.
  • Depraved Heart

    2
    By Shihtzu5
    Manic, repetitive read. Far from her best.
  • Awfully Close to Non-Fiction

    5
    By Dingaling365
    It was rather disturbing how close the author got to real life events these days. Reading it caused knots in my stomach. Government conspiracy, collusion, covert operations. You got some closure in the end, but not enough. Guess there is another novel after this one to read.
  • TERRIBLE

    1
    By 3805JB
    I really, really tried to read it but couldn't. The first 30 pages and have no idea what it is about.
  • Another great Scarpetta story

    5
    By pointaken
    Will not disappoint!
  • Depraved Heart

    1
    By i hated this book
    I will give this book one star because I didn’t give up on it when it entered the “stupidest” territory. It didn’t resolve anything. I would not recommend this book.
  • Depraved Heart

    5
    By justdandyNJ
    If you are a Kay Scarpetta fan, this book does not disappoint. Although there is a better sense of continuity if the books in the Scarpetta series are read in order, fans of forensic novels and medical mysteries will enjoy reading any book in the series, in any order. Read in order, each novel builds on the next, as each character develops. Readers are introduced to each character, and then throughout the series readers experience family bonds, friendships, growing-up, challenges, mystery, and sometimes surprise. The villains are usually different in each book, although many have ties to previous psychopaths, and a few appear multiple times. There are a variety of elements to every book, and most all include forensics, criminal profiling, technology, FBI, law enforcement, and the workings of a medical examiner, (just to name a few.) The medical and forensic terminologies used are accurate, but not distracting from the storyline because they are clearly explained and not difficult to understand. After I read the first book in the series in less than a day, I found I wanted to read the next. By about the tenth book, I had read all that had been written to date, and anxiously anticipated the next book being published. I would read the book cover to cover in less than a day, and then the waiting started again. No matter how hard I tried, it is nearly impossible to not want to read “just one more chapter.”
  • Depraved Heart

    2
    By Bob-par
    Really a lousy read. Couldn't get into it.
  • Interesting!

    5
    By Mjp1952
    Some new twists and turns. Hope this is a series as this left me feeling there is more.