The only way to review this book without spoiling anything (not that it isn’t spoiled in and of itself) is to say: been there, done that.

Having already driven a stake through the heart of her long-term characters in the previous novel in the Scarpetta series (Blow Fly) Cornwell came back and handed her readers a heaping helping of rehashed story ideas – the killer hiding in plain sight in someone else’s home being the biggie – a horrifically illogical digression involving Lucy that provided important insight to Scarpetta’s case that was altogether too pat and a truly broken and dysfunctional relationship between the MD/JD forensive pathology genius and an important man in her life.

For some reason, Ms. Cornwell seems bound and determined to kill this series, book by book. If you’ve been a longtime Scarpetta fan, skip Trace, so that Cornwell doesn’t take you down with her.