Book Review | Autopsy by Patricia Cornwell

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has returned to Virginia as the chief medical examiner. She is called to a crime scene where a woman’s body is found mutilated by the railroad tracks. Meanwhile, an accident occurs at a top-secret laboratory in outer space leading to the death of two scientists. Scarpetta is summoned to the White House to find out what happened. Between remotely examining the first crime scene in space and dealing with a possible serial killer, Scarpetta finds herself caught in a dangerous situation.

Surroundings I’ve found charming and a comfort in the past suddenly seem ominous. Tall evergreens and winter-bare trees rock violently on the roadside, the Baptist church shrouded in veils of fog. Its steeple light eerily turns off and on as the recording of the tolling bell plays nonstop, caught in some kind of computer glitch.

Autopsy is the 25th book in the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell. I’ve never read the series so I went into this not knowing who’s who, but enough background info was given so I managed to figure out the important characters pretty quickly.

Scarpetta has returned to Virginia as the chief medical examiner but she faces challenges from her snobbish secretary to possible corruption in her predecessor’s office. She’s called to investigate a woman’s body found at a railroad, before being brought to a case involving deaths in outer space. Yes, both NASA and the White House made an appearance here. She also gets sick from attempted poisoning.

The book progresses swiftly, and Scarpetta constantly moves from place to place. The murders are gruesome, though they are described in a clinical way through Scarpetta’s point of view. The number of side plots is a lot to handle and I wish the story is more focused. This is reflected in the climax where the killer’s identity is dropped with no prior clues. It’s an unsatisfying ending to the book after the interesting buildup before.

This is one of the many recent books that take place during the pandemic. So you can see how it affects Kay and her family members who have lost their loved ones. One of the characters tries to cope by creating an AI version of their partner, which is both uncanny and sad. I believe I would’ve been more affected if I knew the characters better. It was hard to understand the weight of their relationships and the loss. As it is, I still felt the book manages to portray grief in a compassionate way.

Autopsy didn’t hit the mark for me but if you’re a fan of this series, don’t miss out on Scarpetta’s latest adventure!

Thank you to the publisher and Times Reads for a review copy.

About the author: Patricia Cornwell

Photo by Piron Guillaume