Part of Kay Scarpetta, book 25
First published 2021
Dr. Kay Scarpetta has returned to Virginia as chief medical examiner after years away. She works from Old Town Alexandria with her husband Benton Wesley, a forensic psychologist with the Secret Service. The post-pandemic world around them churns with civil and political unrest. Within weeks of starting her new position, Scarpetta receives a call to railroad tracks where someone has displayed a woman's body with her throat slashed to the spine. The investigation leads toward Scarpetta's own neighborhood. Meanwhile, disaster strikes a classified laboratory in space where at least two scientists die under mysterious circumstances. The White House assigns Scarpetta to the secretive Doomsday Commission and summons her to the Situation Room. She must investigate the first crime scene in space while working remotely. As she handles both cases, an apparent serial killer continues to strike. The danger moves closer to Scarpetta herself as the investigations intensify.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, government-conspiracy, serial-killer
Setting: Virginia, Old Town Alexandria, White House, Situation Room
Period: post-pandemic
416 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: death, violence