Trace (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Trace
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = 2004 Hardcover dustjacket
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 = September 2004
media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
pages = 448 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = 0-399-15219-9 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = Blow Fly
followed_by = Predator

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

Plot introduction

"Trace" is the thirteenth book of the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series by author Patricia Cornwell.

Plot summary

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, having left Richmond, Virginia five years ago to become a freelancer, is asked to return at the request of her replacement, Chief Medical Examiner Joel Marcus. A young girl has been murdered, but very few clues are available. Scarpetta's investigations are hampered by Marcus's ineptness, the disarray of her former lab, and the interference of a glamorous FBI agent.

Characters in "Trace"

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

Major themes

* The hunt for the murderer of a young girl called Gilly Paulsson
* The threat of a stalker targeting Lucy and her lover

Literary significance & criticism

This novel was considered to be an improvement over previous lacklustre installments by some reviewers [ [http://www.themysteryreader.com/cornwell-trace.html Review of "Trace" at The Mystery Reader] ] . Dale Singer of the St Louis Post Dispatch described the book as combining "sensitivity to human emotions with the latest in forensic techniques - and one of the creepiest villains to come along since "Silence of the Lambs." [ [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/book/story/90351658340AFB0386256F09004B0237?OpenDocument&Headline=Scarpetta+encounters+old+ghosts,+a+new+creep+back+in+Richmon Singer, D. 2004. Review of "Trace". St Louis Post Dispatch] ] Others, however, considered it to be repetitious and meandering, [ [http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/0425204200.asp Harding, M. 2004. Review of "Trace". The Book Reporter] ] still not a full return to form.

In "Trace", one of Scarpetta’s former employees, Edgar Allan Pogue, is discovered to be pursuing her niece, Lucy. Although diagnosed as “psychotic” by Benton Wesley, a criminal profiler, a number of chapters are narrated from his perspective which help to account for his behaviour. [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 the previous work in the series, 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

Set in Richmond, Virginia, Miami, Florida, and Aspen, Colorado.

References

External links

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