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Patricia Cornwell

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Point of Origin: Scarpetta (Book 9) (Kay Scarpetta) Kindle Edition

by Patricia Cornwell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Book 9 of 28: Kay Scarpetta

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The clues to a series of remorseless killings go up in smoke—and only Kay Scarpetta can find them in this #1 New York Times bestseller from Patricia Cornwell.

“Sears its way into the psyche…Ablaze with Cornwell’s finest, scariest writing.”—Atlanta Journal Constitution

The devastating fire tore through the horse farm, destroying everything it touched. Picking through the wreckage, Dr. Kay Scarpetta uncovers human remains—the work of an audacious and wily killer who uses fire to mask his brutal murders. And when Scarpetta learns that her old nemesis, Carrie Grethen, has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is somehow involved, the investigation becomes personal. Tragedy strikes close to home. And Scarpetta must match Grethen’s every move with one of her own to douse the inferno of evil that threatens everyone around her...

Includes an Introduction by the Author

Book 9 of 28

Kay Scarpetta
Print length

400 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Berkley
Publication date

August 1, 1999
Reading age

18 years and up
File size

3217 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Virginia's chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta is getting ready for a romantic holiday with her retired-FBI-profiler boyfriend, Benton Wesley, when she receives a cryptic and foreboding letter: "Hey DOC, Tick Tock, Sawed bone and fire," it begins. Even more creepy, the taunting note has been signed by Carrie Grethen, the psychotic killer Kay helped send to a psychiatric facility for going on a murder spree with Temple Gault in Cornwell's earlier book Body Farm. Benton believes that Grethen--who also happens to be the former lover of Scarpetta's niece Lucy--has big plans for a comeback. And before Kay and Benton can leave for their trip and discuss it further, Scarpetta is called upon to don yet another professional hat, that of a "consulting forensic pathologist" for the federal government. Someone has burned a highfalutin horse ranch and all of its contents, including a human being, to the ground. Worse, Grethen has escaped and is on the loose and closer to Kay and her beloved than she knows. Point of Origin, the ninth Scarpetta thriller, is classic Cornwell: rich with detail and strong dialogue, and doused with harrowing twists.

From Publishers Weekly

Cornwell fans who relish her Kay Scarpetta stories for the postmortem findings will welcome this tale of twisted minds and the gory havoc they cause. Acronym fans will also be pleased. This tale opens with the complete destruction by fire of a Virginia horse farm, the owner of which was said to be in London. As consultant to the FBI and the ATF's NRT (that's the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' National Response Team), Scarpetta joins the investigation on site and discovers some remains of a young woman in the master bath. Although the origin of the fire remains a mystery, research turns up two similar unsolved incidents from years earlier, female victims who were dead before the accompanying conflagration. Another fire disguising another murder, and the escape of Carrie Grethen, evil woman partner of Scarpetta's now dead archenemy Temple Gault, from a New York City hospital for the criminally insane, ups Scarpetta's anxiety level about both her beloved, brilliant niece, Lucy, who was seduced by Grethen in The Body Farm, and her lover, psychological profiler Benton Wesley. A third fire covers a third personally devastating death before Scarpetta is able to finger Grethen's new diabolical partner and survive a harrowing finale in a helicopter. Although Cornwell repeatedly tells us how anxious, strung out or devastated Scarpetta feels in the face of Grethen's evil threats, there's very little dramatization of these powerfully emotional conditions. The author is convincing mainly in the delivery of chilling forensic details. One million first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild main selections; simultaneous Putnam Berkley audio.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Cornwells ninth novel in the Kay Scarpetta series finds Scarpetta, Benton Wesley, Pete Marino, and Scarpettas niece, Lucy, investigating a series of arson cases also involving human victims. To further complicate the plot, Scarpettas old nemesis, Carrie Grethen, featured in Cruel and Unusual (Scribner, 1993; Avon, 1995. reprint) and From Potters Field (LJ 8/95), has escaped from a maximum-security psychiatric facility and is threatening Scarpetta and those close to her. Though this new work contains many of the characteristics of Cornwells best Scarpetta novelswell-drawn characters, nail-biting suspense, and shocking plot twistsScarpetta herself seems to be growing increasingly weary of it all, and the series seems to be losing momentum. It will be interesting to see where Cornwell takes it next. Still, readers who have enjoyed Cornwells other installments should like this one, too. Recommended for public libraries and popular reading collections.
-Leslie Madden, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib. & Information Ctr., Atlanta
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Fans will rejoice: It’s classic Patricia Cornwell.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Gripping…Her hottest adventure in years.”—People

“Patricia Cornwell retains that finer Dickensian indignation with the ways of the world that has been neglected by the small landscapes of much so-called serious writing.”—The Washington Post

“Her most engrossing effort in years…By the time you get to the gruesome denouement, you’re emotionally spent, but satisfied.”—Los Angeles Times

“Fans…will welcome this tale of twisted minds and the gory havoc they cause…chilling.”—Publishers Weekly

“Creepy doings …The technical material…continues to fascinate.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Cornwell’s best in a long time…a fiery climax.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

From the Back Cover

"Cornwell is the class act."
--Vouge

About the Author

Patricia Cornwell's most recent bestsellers include Red Mist, Port Mortuary, and Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper��Case Closed. Her earlier works include Postmortem��the only novel to win five major crime awards in a single year��and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain��s prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of 1993. Dr. Kay Scarpetta herself won the 1999 Sherlock Award for the best detective created by an American author.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000OIZV16
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley; Reissue edition (August 1, 1999)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 1, 1999
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3217 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0751544787

Best Sellers Rank: #58,240 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #103 in Medical Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #270 in Mystery Series
- #275 in Read & Listen for Less

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Patricia Cornwell

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In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. An auspicious debut, it went on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize—the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. Growing into an international phenomenon, the Scarpetta series won Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Today, Cornwell’s novels and iconic characters are known around the world. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Cornwell has written the definitive nonfiction account of Jack the Ripper’s identity, cookbooks, a children’s book, a biography of Ruth Graham, and two other fictional series based on the characters Win Garano and Andy Brazil. While writing Quantum, Cornwell spent two years researching space, technology, and robotics at Captain Calli Chase’s home base, NASA’s Langley Research Center, and studied cutting-edge law enforcement and security techniques with the Secret Service, the US Air Force, NASA Protective Services, Scotland Yard, and Interpol.

Cornwell was born in Miami. She grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston and Los Angeles.

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Kindle Customer

Sad sometimes

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2024

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So well written, but sad at times. Characters veo move on but bad guys in this one were definitely lethal. The

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024

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Interesting reading and perspective. A bit of everything in it of human living and relationships.
A bit disappointed by the ending .

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2024

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Another great read from Patricia Cornwell.
I am reading the entire series again. Enjoying just as much the second time around.

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2024

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I totally enjoyed this book. I read all the time. This book was really good. Thank you June Daniel. Enough

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2023

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Patricia Cornwell is one of my favorite authors! I love rereading her books, especially the Scarpetta series! This adventure is just a thrilling as the rest.

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Barbara LeMaster

One of Scarpetta's better books

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2008

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This book is what I consider the last good Scarpetta novel; all the books that follow it (The Last Precinct, Blowfly, Predator, et al) are hardly worth the paper they're printed on.

The plot centers on the suspected arson of a media magnate's home which resulted in the death of one female and several prize horses. A new villain enters the picture (Newton Joyce), and he's aided by serial killer Carrie Grethen, newly escaped from prison. There's a subplot involving Benton Wesley, Scarpetta's FBI paramour, which turns into the mother of all plot twists in her later novel 'Blowfly'. I felt that Cornwell didn't give her characters enough chance: she rapidly ditches both Joyce and Grethen in favor of Le Loup-Garou, her villain of 'Black Notice' and 'The Last Precinct', which in my opinion was a mistake.

The supporting characters are back: Lt. Pete Marino (I swear if she kills him off I will never touch one of her novels again), FBI agent Lucy Farinelli, Scarpetta's neice (although too much of a deal is made of her lesbianism), and one of the best villains in contemporary thrillers, Carrie Grethen. Carrie can be placed easily next to Hannibal Lecter in terms of fictional villains.

As you read, you'll learn about how arson fires are investigated and, incidentally, how fires work in terms of accelerants and point(s) of origin (where the fire initially begins); you'll also learn a little bit about how a scanning electron microscope (SEM) works. Cornwell's science is always dead-on, and this book is no exception.

10 people found this helpful

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Susan A Gillespie

Point of Excellence

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2023

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I don’t know that I have ever been more immersed in a story than I was in Point of Origin. I felt like I was one of the characters; experiencing everything with them. It’s a truly gifted writer who can bring the reader into the story so completely.

One person found this helpful

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Utahute72

Read at your own risk.

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2015

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I don't understand how this series has made it to 23 books. This book itself was pretty good, but killing off (apparently) one of the major characters was an issue for me. The follow up to this, "Black Notice", however, is almost unreadable. Some of the issues with that entry begin to creep into this book. Things like the author's overall negativity toward the world and her main character's continuing issues with the power structure. I recognize this is done to create tension and suspense, but in Cornwell's books it comes off as whining and preachy. The Temperance Brennen series by Kathy Reichs handles these subjects much better and actually builds empathy for the main character, while Cornwell does none of that. I may try to finish the series, but at this point I need a break.

8 people found this helpful

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Keith B Haynes

Scarpetta - Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024

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As usually Patricia Cornwell doesn't disappoint with another great story with twists and turns right to the very end - brilliant read.

Carolyn Carter

Brilliant!

Reviewed in France on February 6, 2024

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Patricia Cornwall's books areon brilliant. I find it difficult to put them down once I begin reading. Now looking forward to the next one in the series.

Origpic

First rate Scarlatti

Reviewed in Canada on November 22, 2019

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Some of Patricia Cornwell’s novels get out of hand plot thickens and the author goes to ever more risky places to extricate herself from the convoluted story she has got herself into. Not in ‘Point of Origin’. This, gruesome, scary thriller is Cornwell at her best.
Dr. Kay Scarpetta, our hero Medical Examiner for Virginia, is also at her muddled finest. Scarpatta, who tells these stories in first person, has always been an unreliable narrator and here her vision of herself and how the reader sees her are at their most conflicted. Scarpetta is just not quite who she thinks she is as she excuses herself for being judgmental, tolerates the intolerable and rides roughshod over anyone who even hints of getting in her way.
Scarpetta’s character is the center of these novels and her inner conflicts and frequent lack of self-awareness are on full display as she puts herself, her friends and her niece in harm’s way. Scarpetta is on the trail of a killer who puts fire to a horse farm and kills a beautiful young girl in the process. That’s the beginning. As the story develops so we are taken into the villains of Scarpetta’s and her friends’ past tying together plot lines that have been festering through the previous several novels. Still, ‘Point of Origin’ works perfectly well as a stand alone.
Scarpetta’s intelligence and intuition help her but, they also risk everything as this book proceeds to tie up the stories of killers from earlier books in a highly satisfying way but not without dire consequences to those closest to her. As with the best of the Scarpetta novels, this one is emotionally searing. It’s clear that all those close to Scarpetta are in danger, the only question is who will survive and who will die a horrible death.
The novel races towards the end with a surprise aerial chase that is so carefully put together it reeks of the research that went into writing it and that’s a good thing.
Cornwell is at the top of her game. Not to be put down.

Chez

Heart wrenching

Reviewed in Australia on September 6, 2023

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One of the best in this series in my opinion. Couldn't stop the tears from flowing. What a terrific novel.

tonbei

FBIへのねじれた意識が心地よい

Reviewed in Japan on November 9, 2009

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ATF's NRTに所属する Lucy。FBIを追い出された形だ。そこでおもしろいのは、ATF隊員たちのFBIにたいするライバル意識。FBIをFeebsと呼んで　からかう会話が心地よい。こういう描写はあるていどリアリティを反映しているのでしょう。最後の場面は感動的です。上から撒くのかなと　初めに想像していたら、そうではなかった。胸にジーンときました。ところで、最初に出てきた　GKSFWFYという文字の羅列は何であったのか。Carrieからの手紙の中にあった。GKSFWFYが何を意味するかは、結局最後まで明かされることはなかった。

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Point of Origin: Scarpetta (Book 9) (Kay Scarpetta) Kindle Edition

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