Book: Depraved Heart

 

Author: Patricia Cornwell

 

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

 

Summary: Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a highly suspicious death scene in a historic home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages, immediately begins playing...and it seems to be from her niece Lucy. But how can it be? It's clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago. As Scarpetta watches she comes to grips with frightening secrets about her niece, whom she loves like a daughter. That first clip and others sent soon after raise dangerous implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, alarmed, and not knowing where to turn. She doesn't know whom she can tell - not her FBI agent husband, Benton Wesley, or her investigative partner, Pete Marino. Not even Lucy. Cornwell launched these unforgettable characters on an intensely psychological odyssey that includes the bizarre death of a Hollywood mogul's daughter, 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 and singularly "depraved heart" behind what unfolds seems obvious - but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that's the message they send when they start harassing Lucy 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 medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell captivates readers again with the jolting twists, high-wire tension, and cutting-edge forensic detail for which she is renowned, proving yet again why she is the world's number one bestselling crime writer. - Harper Collins, 2015. 

 

I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway. Depraved Heart was the first book I read by Patricia Cornwell. I was worried because it was the 23rd book in the Kay Scarpetta series. I could not get into the story. The book seem to be vague with a lot of dialogue and I was lost and could never seem to get what was going on. The author does bring some background information of what has happened before, but this is not a book to start the series.

 I am enjoying the arc of Kay's realizing first that Lucy is perhaps not just a sociopath, but also may be a dangerous sociopath; and Kay's exploration of how badly she spoiled Lucy and indulged Lucy's narcissism.

 

Kay has avoided fully acknowledging these glaring dangers with the belief that Lucy is, when it comes to her loved ones, a weapon pointing outwards from their wagon circle. But now, Kay is facing the fact that isn't true.

 

She has also avoided facing head-on the fact that Lucy's ravens have and will come to roost. Every selfish, dangerous thing she has done, every emotionally or physically violent act, every careless relationship...and every time Kay has fixed it all for her (special treatment in the Quantico dorms, for example)... consequences are and have been coming due all along.

 

 

coming this autumn: no. 24, Chaos

A Depraved HeartKathleen ValentineI couldn't stop reading this book!! So many twists and turns and it kept me guessing right up to the very end! Great ending too! If you haven't read a Kathleen Valentine book yet, you really are missing out.  Not too much romance, just the right amount. Plenty of mystery suspense and twists and turns! Kathleen is now one of my go to authors!!

If you haven't read a Kathleen Valentine book, you are really missing out. Kathleen is one of my favorite authors due to her ability to write deep, intricate novels and short stories that elicit emotions that run the gamut of feelings. I have read books of hers that I was crying tears of heartache that suddenly went to tears of joy!I must say that Kathleen Valentine is one of those authors who are classic examples on why I love and very frequently seek out Indie authors over the big house publisher authors. I truly feel that Kathleen's writing is above the cookie cutter writers that you see in big house publishing houses.This book was no exception. Kathleen's character and setting development is so strong that frequently I have to map them out and how they interact with one another. This is a real talent to be able to do so. Also, in the majority of Kathleen's books, as well as this one, she has the ability to write with a darkness that is below the surface, yet can keep the storyline light, so it isn't necessarily depressing and characters are "approachable". I loved this book, also, because of the mystery component that was visible, but not quite visible. I was kind of surprised with this one because of the level of romance that was in this book compared to her other books. I do this lightly (because I abhor when people do it flippantly), but this book almost had the feel of Du Maurier's Rebecca with a bit more sexual spiciness to it.