Depraved Heart

September 11, 2016 - Depraved Heart (Paricia Cornwell). Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're really not out to get you. And, someone is out to get Kay Scarpetta, and everyone except her seems to know all about it!

Depraved Heart picks up about two months after the end of the previous Scarpetta novel, Flesh and Blood. That book ended with Scarpetta surviving an underwater attack by nemesis Carrie Grethen, who everyone hoped had died years ago in a helicopter crash. Scarpetta is now back in Boston and back on the job as Chief Medical Examiner, but her leg still aches where Carrie shot her with a spear gun.

Kay and company are called to an old house where a woman has been found dead. By all appearances, she fell off a ladder, but Scarpetta suspects that's not really how she died. As Scarpetta works through the pain to examine the body, her phone lights up. It appears to be an emergency text from her niece, Lucy. Instead, it links to a video of Lucy and Carrie secretly recorded years ago when Lucy was training with the FBI.

Scarpetta is so freaked out that she essentially abandons the apparent homicide so she can rush to Lucy's compound. Turns out the FBI is already there, but no one will tell Scarpetta why or what they're looking for. About 400 pages follow, but there are bound to be even more because the Carrie Grethen arc is still not over.

This series is becoming increasingly frustrating. The narrative is largely stream-of-consciousness from Scapetta's perspective. She comes out of it occasionally to listen to what other characters are saying. But, mostly it's Scarpetta whinging internally about incompetent staff and why the people she loves are hiding things from her. You can see her mentally stomping her foot and silently screaming, "Tell me, dammit!" And, after 500+ pages (in this book) of all that, there are still no clear answers and no resolution.