Unnatural Exposure (edit title)

Tiffany M edited the series of Unnatural Exposure Wednesday, October 14 2009.

• Added this book in the series: Kay Scarpetta book 8 (Primary series)

Shelfari edited the contributors of Unnatural Exposure Wednesday, September 30 2009.

• Removed a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Removed a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Removed a contributor: PATRICIA CORNWELL: (Primary None)
• Removed a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Removed a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Removed a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)

Shelfari edited the contributors of Unnatural Exposure Tuesday, September 15 2009.

• Added a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary Author)
• Added a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Added a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Added a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Added a contributor: PATRICIA CORNWELL: (Primary None)
• Added a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)
• Added a contributor: Patricia Cornwell: (Primary None)

Timothy Gray approved Kelly M’s request to combine 15 books, including Unnatural Exposure, Monday, September 14 2009.

Kelly M submitted a request to combine 15 books, including Unnatural Exposure, Monday, September 14 2009.

Shelfari edited the description of Unnatural Exposure Saturday, August 1 2009.

• Virginia Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta has a bloody puzzle on her hands: five headless, limbless cadavers in Ireland, plus four similar victims in a landfill back home. Is a serial butcher loose in Virginia? That's what the panicked public thinks, thanks to a local TV reporter who got the leaked news from her boyfriend, Scarpetta's vile rival, Investigator Percy Ring. But the butchered bodies are so many red herrings intended to throw idiots like Ring off the track. Instead of a run-of-the-mill serial killer, we're dealing with a shadowy figure who has plans involving mutant smallpox, mass murder, and messing with Scarpetta's mind by e-mailing her gory photos of the murder scenes, along with cryptic AOL chat-room messages. The coolest innovation: Scarpetta's gorgeous genius niece, Lucy, equips her with a DataGlove and a VPL Eyephone, and she takes a creepy virtual tour of the e-mailed crime scene. Unnatural Exposure boasts brisk storytelling, crackling dialogue, evocative prose about forensic-science sleuthing, and crisp character sketches, both of familiar characters like Scarpetta's gruff partner Pete Marino and bit players like the landfill employee falsely accused by Ring. Plus, let's face it: serial killers are old hat. Cornwell's most vivid villains are highly plausible backstabbing colleagues like Ring, who plots to destroy Lucy's FBI career by outing her as a lesbian. Some readers object to the rather abrupt ending, but, hey, it's less jarring than Hannibal 's, and it's the logical culmination of Cornwell's philosophy about human nature. To illuminate the novel's finale, read Cornwell's remarks on paranoia in her Amazon.com interview. --Tim Appelo

Shelfari edited the first sentence of Unnatural Exposure Thursday, July 16 2009.

• NIGHT FELL CLEAN and cold in Dublin, and wind moaned beyond my room as if a million pipes played the air.