Unnatural Exposure

Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta has been investigating a series of murders in which the victims' bodies have been decapitated and dismembered. But when the latest unidentified torso turns up, the M.O. now appears to be very different, and the consequences may be disastrous.

This is actually book 8 in a series, none of which I had previously read, but while it did leave me feeling like I'd come in in the middle of the story as far as developments in the main character's personal life go, Cornwell is diligent enough about bringing new readers up to speed that I had no trouble with it, even though I'm usually not a fan of coming into series in the middle.

I read this one only because it was given to me by a mystery-loving friend who thought show more it seemed like the sort of mystery story that science-nerd me would like, because there's a fair amount of medical science in it and the investigation takes a scientific approach. And while I'd hardly call it the most science-oriented book I've ever read -- hey, I read a lot of SF -- I did find some of the forensic details quite interesting.

Said friend also described Scarpetta as a "strong female character." That, unfortunately, is a phrase that now too often seems to either be used in a way that's so vague it means almost nothing, or else reserved only for female characters who are very limited and stereotyped varieties of "strong." But I'm pleased to report that the phrase fits Scarpetta in the good way: she's an intelligent, respected professional, but she also has flaws, and she feels very human, rather than being anybody's wish-fulfillment idea of a strong woman. I liked her.

As for the plot, it's nothing particularly groundbreaking, but I did find it engaging enough, and, pleasantly, it turned out to be exactly the kind of thing I was in the mood to read. I only have one real complaint about it, but unfortunately it's a significant complaint for this kind of story. The ending, I felt, was entirely too abrupt and not really very satisfying. Especially as, now that I think about it, it does leave a pretty serious dangling plot thread. So that was a little disappointing, but despite it, I've come out with a reasonably good impression of Cornwell, and wouldn't be adverse to picking up another of her novels sometime.

I will add that this particular work, having come out in 1999, now feels kind of dated. Not in a bad way that made it more difficult or uncomfortable to read. But I can't help finding it amusing that it includes careful explanations of what the internet is, or how it's possible to scan a photograph and e-mail it to someone. And the story also includes several gay and lesbian characters. They're treated by both the author and the main character with acceptance and sympathy, but reading this in 2019, it's hard not to find it weird how both author and character seem to feel the need to address the subject of their love lives with a sort of coy delicacy, and the way it's taken for granted that it could be disastrous for any of them if their employers found out does kind of bring home just how much some things have changed. On the other hand, the fact that the novel is set during a federal government shutdown thanks to congress not being able to pass a budget is a depressingly familiar detail.

Rating: I'm giving this one a 3.5/5, although I probably would have gone up to a slightly generous 4/5 if the ending had been stronger. show less

This is the eighth book in the Kay Scarpetta series, which made Cornwell a bestselling author (28 books to date). The books are, unfortunately, somewhat formulaic, and usually end up with series protagonist Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief Examiner (ie, pathologist) of the Commonwealth of Virginia, confronting the villain herself in the last few pages. Here, the title refers to exposure to disease, and a serial killer who seems to be using a mutated smallpox virus to kill their victims. The investigation is somewhat hampered by superficial resemblances between the state of the first victim and that of a serial killer who may have moved from Ireland to the US (a narrative thread that’s not resolved here, but will no doubt be concluded in a show more later volume). Cornwell scores high on her descriptions of procedure, and is unusual among her contemporaries (this book was published in 1997) for her treatment of computers–which is sort of like almost nearly accurate (for the time). The same, unfortunately, can’t be said for Cornwell’s UK-set scenes, which include several small mistakes. The identity of the killer also didn’t come as much of a surprise as I was aware of the smallpox outbreak in the UK in the 1970s - but it’s unlikely a US reader would know about that. Readable, bot not one of the better entries in the series. show less

This is a solid mystery in the Cornwell tradition, although if you’ve read a lot of her (as I have), she may be wearing thin on you by now (as she is on me). I like following the ongoing developments of her four main characters: Kay Scarpetta; her lover FBI agent; her niece Lucy; and her curmudgeonly police detective friend. But the mysteries seem to be getting less and less believable as the series rolls on. Maybe it’s time for Cornwell to move in a different direction. (And she does aggravate a major pet peeve of mine – over-reliance on the “and” conjunction, resulting in convoluted and nonsensical sentences.)

Kay Scarpetta is investigating not only murder in this eighth volume of her series, but also a possibly intentional outbreak of a pox-like virus. In fact, she herself might have been exposed!
My impressions:
-I think it's ridiculously sad that one of Kay's staff or colleagues has to die in every book.
-It's also pretty far-fetched that Kay, as the chief medical examiner for the state, has a personal face-to-face encounter with the killer at the end of every book. I don't expect my fictional entertainment to be exactly like real life, but this particular trope is getting pretty old.
-Kay spends some time in quarantine after thinking she might be exposed to the virus and she's not a good patient. She snaps at people who are just trying to show more help and she's super bored, which is, as you can imagine is also boring to read about.
-Previous to this volume, there was a three book arc in which Scarpetta was chasing the same killer around. This seems to be happening again, as there is another mystery began in this book which is not solved by the end of it.
-I'm getting pretty impatient with the relationship between Kay and Benton. There's no longer any obstructions (i.e. his wife) so, there shouldn't be any reason for them to stay apart, but Kay's prevaricating. Fortunately, now that Lucy is older, her relationship with Kay seems to be improving.
-I enjoyed learning more about viruses and quarantine procedures. Cornwell has definitely done her research here. It's just mystifying sometimes how she can be so accurate and factual about certain things like procedures and time-lines, but then feels like she has to manufacture suspense and manipulate her characters into doing things that seem out of character for them to do in order to create relationship conflicts.
I've read these first eight books pretty much back to back...I think I'm pretty much Scarpetta'd out at this point. I'm going to take a break for a while and revisit this series again in the future. show less

I read this one in one day, because once the first pox victim showed up, I realized I had read this one before.

The beginning of the book focuses on the hunt for a serial killer who dismembers his victims. This killer has been working both in Ireland and in the United States. Dr. Scarpetta has been looking at the evidence from both the countries. About half way through the book, a new victim shows up who has been dismembered, but not quite in the same way, and also with possible small pox lesions on her body. This leads to the question of a copycat killer, or has the original killer changed his m.o.?

I guess I am not quite clear on if the same person was doing all the killings, or if the small pox victims were killed by one person, and show more the original dismembered victims killed by another. By the end of the book, when the killer is caught, I understand the reasoning for the small pox killings. But why all the previous dismemberments? That wasn't super clear to me.

Even with some plot flaws, I enjoyed this book very much. Biomedical terrorism is a very scary subject, and it is easy to imagine it happening now. The pace of the book was brisk, and the story was compelling. This is one of the best Sarpetta books. show less

Nobody does forensic detail like Cromwell. The technical stuff can be very boring at times but the viral epidemic angle and the evolving relationships in Scarpetta's life made for interesting reading. I do find Scarpetta's ability to go wherever she wants whenever she likes seemingly with very little red tape quite unbelievable but I can understand Cornwell wanting to create a female character with the same agency as men.

Cornwell's styles is always engaging and does not disappoint with "Unnatural Exposure". That being said she does get a little technical when it comes to the forensic side of the descriptions. This is part of what makes her writing so great as it paints such detailed pictures. I am working my way through the whole Scarpetta series and have not read one yet i would not highly recommend.