A serial killer is on the loose in Richmond, Virginia, leaving a trail of terror in his wake. Three women have died, brutalised and strangled in the supposed safety of their own bedrooms. There is no obvious pattern; the killer appears to strike completely at random, though his timing is meticulously calculated—always in the early, dark hours of Saturday mornings. So when Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner, is awakened at 2.33 am by a dreaded phone call, she knows the news is bad: there is a fourth victim. She fears for those that will inevitably follow unless she can dig up new, microscopic forensic evidence from her morgue to aid the police. But Scarpetta is fighting a battle on two fronts. Not everyone is pleased to see a woman in such a powerful, high-profile job, and someone behind the scenes may even want to ruin her career, her reputation, and her life. This chilling, landmark novel permanently changed the crime fiction landscape. Combining cutting-edge forensic science with intense psychological suspense, it introduces readers to one of the most resilient and iconic heroines in modern thriller history as she races against the clock to unmask a monster.
