Just Jennifer

Chaos by Patricia Cornwell

After twenty-four thrillers featuring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her colleague investigator Pete Marino Patricia Cornwell has regained her stride as she creates a story that on the surface appears chaotic and disorganized, but all leads back to Kay’s perpetual nemesis Carrie Gretchen who will not be happy until she bests, perhaps kills, Kay.  As the September heat builds to a crescendo in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kay is walking to meet her husband, FBI profiler Benton, using the time to wrestle with the impending visit of her sister Dorothy with whom Kay has a difficult relationship in spite of having a mother-like relationship with Dorothy’s daughter Lucy who Kay often raised as her own.  While walking through Harvard Yard, Kay encounters a young woman on a bicycle, a young woman she ran into earlier when purchasing theater tickets.  Kay and Benton are used to their dinners being interrupted by the call of business, but even so it is odd to both of them when they each receive calls.  Kay’s is a summons to a body found along the path in Harvard Yard, found by pre-teen twins.  To her surprise, it is the young woman she saw earlier, and even more so, it appears the woman was struck by lightning, even though there has not been a drop of rain or a cloud in the sky for days.  Precisely timed messages that would mean nothing to most people but have no pattern or order to them, add to Kay’s chaos theory and brings the plot back to Kay and her family and those who will stop at nothing to bring them harm.