Predator (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Predator
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = US cover
author = Patricia Cornwell
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Kay Scarpetta Mysteries
genre = Crime novel
publisher = G. P. Putnam's Sons
release_date = October, 2005
media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
pages = 416 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0-399-15283-0 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = Trace
followed_by = Book of the Dead

"Predator" is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell.

Plot introduction

"Predator" is the fourteenth book of the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series by author Patricia Cornwell.

Explanation of the novel's title

"PREDATOR" is an acronym for the "Prefrontal Determinants of Aggressive-Type Overt Responsivity", a secret neuropsychological project to determine whether dangerous murderers have different brain patterns or functions from "ordinary" people.

Plot summary

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowbound Massachusetts, one as unnerving as any she has ever faced. The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team—Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and Lucy Farinelli—to suspect that they are hunting someone with a cunning and malevolent mind whose secrets have kept them in the shadows, until now.

Characters in "Predator"

* Kay Scarpetta - Former Medical Examiner
* Benton Wesley - Profiler
* Lucy Farinelli - Kay's niece
* Pete Marino - Detective
* Rose - Kay's secretary

Major themes

* The hunt for a killer

Literary significance & criticism

Cornwell was considered courageous by some reviewers [ [http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/0399152830.asp Gershenbaum, B.L. 2005. Review of "Predator". The Book Reporter] ] for setting the characters of this novel at a major crossroads. All are on edge about their personal lives, relationships, and especially their long dependence upon and affection for each other. Mutual trusts have been eroded over previous books and the group lacks the cohesion of earlier in the series.

The narrative style seen in previous books is also seen in "Predator", with more than one character narrating. [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=6032 Dauncey, S. University of Warwick. "Patricia Cornwell." The Literary Encyclopedia. 18 Nov. 2005. The Literary Dictionary Company. 22 April 2007.] ] This change in narrative style from the first-person narration of Kay herself is one first seen in Blow Fly. This device not only allows for more characters and their perspectives to come to the fore, but also marks a significant transformation in the way that the novels represent the criminal. Where previously the criminal’s mind was never made available to the reader – thus intensifying their “otherness” – the later novels allow space to explore their point of view and uncover their motivations.

Allusions/references to actual history, geography, and current science and technology

Set in Florida and Boston, Massachusetts.

A stolen Treo compromises the Institute's security and vexes Lucy considerably.

References

External links

[http://www.patriciacornwell.com/ Author's Official Website]