Una tarde de finales de verano en Cambridge, Massachusetts, la doctora Kay Scarpetta y su compañero de investigación, Pete Marino, responden a una llamada sobre una joven ciclista muerta que parece haber sido atacada con una fuerza casi sobrehumana.

Antes de que la sede de Scarpetta haya sido notificada oficialmente sobre el suceso, el agente Marino y Benton Wesley, el marido de la doctora Scarpetta, miembro del FBI, reciben llamadas de alguien supuestamente de la Interpol interesándose sobre el crimen. Pero no tiene sentido. ¿Por qué la agencia policial internacional conocería el caso o estaría interesada en él?

Pronto se hace evidente que las llamadas podrían ser obra de un ciberacosador anónimo llamado Tailend Charlie, que ha estado enviando a Scarpetta comunicaciones crípticas con informaciones privadas de su pasado desde hace más de una semana. Ni siquiera Lucy, su brillante sobrina experta en tecnología, puede rastrear cómo esta persona ha podido tener acceso a información tan personal. Cuando una segunda muerte conmociona a la doctora hasta lo más profundo, se hace evidente que ella y sus seres queridos se enfrentan a algo mucho más grande y peligroso de lo que jamás habían imaginado.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell returns with another scintillating thriller in her high-stakes series starring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

On a hot late summer evening in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her investigative partner Pete Marino respond to a call about a dead bicyclist near the Kennedy School of Government. It appears that a young woman has been attacked with almost super human force.

Even before Scarpetta's headquarters, the Cambridge Forensic Center, has been officially notified about the case, Marino and Scarpetta's FBI agent husband Benton Wesley receive suspicious calls, allegedly from someone at Interpol. But it makes no sense. Why would the elite international police agency know about the case or be interested? With breathtaking speed it becomes apparently that an onslaught of interference and harassment might be the work of an anonymous cyberbully named Tailend Charlie, who has been sending cryptic communications to Scarpetta for over a week.

Stunningly, even her brilliant tech savvy niece Lucy can't trace whoever it is or how this person could have access to intimate information few outside the family would have. When a second death hundreds of miles south, shocking Scarpetta to her core, it becomes apparent she and those close her are confronted with something far bigger and more dangerous than they'd ever imagined. Then analysis of a mysterious residue recovered from a wound is identified as a material that doesn't exist on earth.

In this latest in the bestselling series featuring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell shows us once again why she is the world's number one bestselling crime writer, mistress of the shocking turns, delicious thrills, and state-of-the-art forensic details that all fans of suspense have come to love.