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Depraved Heart

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Depraved Heart

By: Patricia Cornwell
Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
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About this listen

The No. 1 bestselling series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It’s clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago.

As Scarpetta watches she begins to learn frightening secrets about her niece, whom she has loved and raised like a daughter. That film clip and then others sent soon after raise dangerous legal implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, worried, and not knowing where to turn. She doesn’t know whom she can tell – not her FBI husband Benton Wesley or her investigative partner Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.

In this new novel, Cornwell launches these unforgettable characters on an intensely psychological odyssey that includes the mysterious death of a Hollywood mogul’s daughter, aircraft wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in the back of a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta’s entire world and everyone she loves. The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious – but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that’s the message they send when they raid Lucy’s estate and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life.

In the latest novel in her bestselling series featuring chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell will captivate readers with the shocking twists, high-wire tension, and cutting-edge forensic detail that she is famous for, proving yet again why she’s the world’s #1 bestselling crime writer.

Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Medical Mystery Police Procedurals Psychological Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths

Critic Reviews

Praise for Patricia Cornwell & the Kay Scarpetta Novels:

‘Cutting-edge’ Sun

‘A pioneer of the genre of forensic psychological thriller’ BBC

‘America’s most stimulating and chilling writer of crime fiction’ The Times

‘Devilishly clever’ Sunday Times

‘She is a brilliant writer and I was absolutely gripped’ Mail on Sunday

‘The top gun in this field’ Daily Telegraph

‘Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns’ Mirror

‘The Agatha Christie of the DNA age’ Express

‘One of the best crime writers writing today’ Guardian

‘Few writers match Patricia Cornwell when it comes to writing crime and her latest Scarpetta novel is one of her best’ Daily Express

‘When it comes to the forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell’ New York Times Book Review

All stars
Most relevant
Love Patricia Cornwell but it’s read in a very typically American style...loud! There’s no real tonal flow - I just felt like I was being shouted at for 10+ hours! Bring back Loreli King

Great story but not great reading

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I couldn't stop listening to the story. exciting from start to the finish. great read.

gripping

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Patricia Cornwell has delivered another riveting story in the great Scarpetta series! This novel should not be read as a standalone. For followers of the series it ticks all the boxes, but would be hard to grasp as a first-time Scarpetta read. My advice is always start at the beginning and work up from there.

Sadly I found the narration by Susan Ericksen to be grating and irritating. Unlike Lorelei King, there was little difference between character voices, and a great deal of unnecessary pressured speech, making it hard to listen to. I only kept going because, well, it's Scarpetta!

I believe the latest Patricia Cornwell release, Chaos, has also been narrated by Ericksen which is disappointing.

Great Cornwell - Disappointing Narration

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It’s super disappointing that there’s a new narrator but after a little while you get use to her voice!
I love this story! This book is by far one of my favourites! Very thrilling.

New narrator but excellent story

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This is the first and last Patricia Cornwell book I will listen to. Pretty much nothing happened and it was just the main character having inner dialogues and moaning about the same things over and over to the point where I wanted someone to come and off her to end the book. It all just seemed like one big set up for the next book.

Don't waste your time

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