Reviewed by Rod McLary
It has been thirty-four years since Patricia Cornwell’s first novel Postmortem was published and Dr Kay Scarpetta emerged as new protagonist in the crime genre. The novel won four major awards [the Edgar, Creasey, Macavity and Anthony] – it was the first book to ever win all four awards in the same year. By any measure, it was a major achievement.
Since then Dr Kay Scarpetta has appeared in twenty-seven books along with her niece Lucy, husband Benton Wesley, sister Dorothy and her friend and colleague Pete Marino [who is now Dorothy’s husband]. It may be tempting to compare each book with its predecessors but is it fair? Perhaps not. While the key characters appear in each of the books and a crime is at the core of the narrative, the elements vary from one book to the next so each brings its own circumstances; and thus can be read as a stand-alone novel.
But what doesn’t change are the forces marshalled against Dr Scarpetta – whether they are rogue secretaries, corrupt politicians, dishonest security guards or those who simply wish to have her fail significantly and publicly. And in Identity Unknown, her arch-nemesis Carrie Grethen makes an appearance; readers of the series would recall that Carrie was once Lucy’s lover but she is now focussed on destroying Dr Scarpetta and her family. Dr Scarpetta has a great deal to contend with but with the assistance Lucy’s technological skills, Marino’s strong-arm protection and her own forensic ability, she is able to save the day.
In the early stages of the narrative when the groundwork for the subsequent investigation is being set out, there is what looks like a casual sidestep into speculative fiction as frequent references to UFOs, UAPs [unidentified anomalous phenomena] and ‘others’ [the current term for aliens] are present. But it seems that UAPs are a real thing and the term is increasingly being used to avoid the cultural baggage of the term ‘UFO’ which is generally associated with alien spacecraft. This brings a currency to the narrative and to my mind an embracing of new ideas by the author which are then reflected in the unfolding of the investigation.
The UAP/UFO exposition directly impacts the investigation of one of the two deaths in the narrative; while there is an intensely personal element to this death for Kay Scarpetta which reverberates through the novel, it is overshadowed by the second death – that of a seven-year-old child in cruel circumstances. There is no avoiding the harsh realities of life in a Scarpetta novel.
All in all, Patricia Cornwell has crafted another tension-filled story – especially the sections in which Dr Scarpetta, Marino and Lucy are traversing the countryside in a helicopter during a storm and when Scarpetta and Lucy are scuba-diving to retrieve a dead body. As always, underpinning the crimes and their investigation is the strength of family and the support each gives the others. And the narrative ends with a family dinner with plenty of Italian food, wine and comfort.
Identity Unknown is a fine book and an enjoyable tension-filled read for every lover of quality crime fiction with more than a soupçon of humanity.
Identity Unknown
[2024]
by Patricia Cornwell
Sphere
ISBN 978 1 4087 3260 1
$34.99; 386pp