When you have been reading a series for over three decades, it is difficult for anything to surprise you. That could have been the case with Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels. UNNATURAL DEATH is the 27th entry in a series that has set the standard for forensic thrillers. I am always eager to spend time with Scarpetta and her regular cast of characters.

As I settled in for another enjoyable read, I was startled by what Cornwell has done here. Not only has she created a deviously clever plot that is unlike anything previously seen in a Scarpetta novel, she depicts her protagonist as being completely bewildered by the startling events that unfold. It is not easy to see a fictional heroine so thrown by a case, especially when I cannot recall it ever happening before. I, for one, loved it. These circumstances not only further humanize the chief medical examiner, but also put her in the same position as readers, sitting back on their heels and waiting for the next surprise to strike.

"The ending is a shocker and raises the bar for a long-running series that has proven you still can surprise and thrill your loyal readers."

Two campers, Huck and Brittany Manson, were killed near an abandoned gold mine in Northern Virginia. It was no easy task for Scarpetta and her team to identify them as both bodies were savagely torn apart, skewered with the hiking shafts they used.

It turns out that the Mansons were a notorious couple who had become infamous due to their subversive reputation. Scarpetta’s niece Lucy, a federal agent working the case with her, admits that the Mansons were under investigation for cybercrimes involving both Russia and China. They had been living off the grid, but someone or something found them and made them pay in probably the most brutal attack Scarpetta has ever witnessed.

One of the many strange clues at the crime scene is a large footprint. This speaks to Scarpetta’s longtime investigator, Pete Marino, who also happens to be a Bigfoot follower. Without making his views public, he privately begins looking into these killings as a possible Yeti attack. Right now, I am sure that your heads are spinning as rapidly as mine was. I am happy to report that there are more unpredictable plotlines to come.

Brilliant and refreshing, UNNATURAL DEATH once again shows why Patricia Cornwell has the reputation she has earned for these tremendous novels. The ending is a shocker and raises the bar for a long-running series that has proven you still can surprise and thrill your loyal readers.