Set in Richmond, Virginia, Miami, Florida, and Aspen, Colorado. That the criminal is portrayed as driven by an insult by Lucy when a child a decade before the period of the book also goes to the series self focus - the various killers from Carrie Grethren to Chandonne and now to Pogue each come to target Scarpetta.Īllusions/references to actual history, geography and current science In a similar way Lucy, her niece, is derogatory about her neighbor for her house, reliance on security, interest in her neighbors - all traits equally applicable to Lucy. In Trace she complains about not being told the building that once housed her office was being destroyed, yet in earlier books she constantly complained about its limitations. For example, Scarpetta constantly is said to have been fired from her role as Chief Medical Examiner, yet her resignation is well set out in The Last Precinct, along with her internal satisfaction at resigning. ![]() It is not clear whether this is intended by Cornwell. Get 30 bonus with an order Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Books > Suspense Books. The third person brings out the self focussed contradictory mindset of many of the familiar characters. The writing crudely diminishes all those whom Scarpetta dislikes, leaving the reader little space for judgment. ![]() Where previously the criminal's mind was never made available to the reader – thus intensifying their "otherness" – the later novels allow space to explore their point of view and uncover their motivations. This device not only allows for more characters and their perspectives to come to the fore, but also marks a significant transformation in the way that the novels represent the criminal. This change in narrative style from the first-person narration of Kay herself is one first seen in the previous work in the series, Blow Fly. Although diagnosed as "psychotic" by Benton Wesley, a criminal profiler, a number of chapters are narrated from his perspective which help to account for his behaviour. In Trace, one of Scarpetta's former employees, Edgar Allan Pogue, is discovered to be pursuing her niece, Lucy. Dale Singer of the St Louis Post Dispatch described the book as combining "sensitivity to human emotions with the latest in forensic techniques - and one of the creepiest villains to come along since "Silence of the Lambs." Others, however, considered it to be repetitious and meandering, still not a full return to form. This novel was considered to be an improvement over previous lacklustre installments by some reviewers. Postmortem 237,856 ratings Open Preview Cruel & Unusual.
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