Becca Reviews: Sharp Force by Patricia Cornwell

This is my first Patricia Cornwell novel, and it's #29 of the Kay Scarpetta series. The series follows Kay, a Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Alongside Kay, we meet; her husband, and FBI profiler, Benton Wesley; her niece, and tech genius, Lucy Farinelli; and her brother-in-law, and homicide detective, Pete Marino. They're all wonderfully stereotypical, three-dimensional, and easy to get on board with. Sort of like when you start a new detective TV series and meet the troubled protagonist with marital problems and crippling insomnia (it's like they're popping out of a production line!).

Even without reading previous work by Cornwell, you quickly find yourself up to speed and gripped by the plot. Note, the Goodreads synopsis currently says the events take place in July...this is wrong, the whole novel is set across the Christmas period.

At the beginning of the novel, we hear about Rowdy O’Leary's death. He appears to have fallen off a pier while fishing, but owing to an emerald ring he recently bought, the circumstances may be suspicious. We know Rowdy has had a tough few years since being injured in a hit-and-run years prior. However, the primary mystery is that of the Slasher, a serial killer using drones and holograms to spook his victims before slashing them.

I noticed that the pattern seemed to be that each scene would be VERY long and VERY detailed. Often with the reader travelling with Kay, e.g. from her house to work etc. This has the effect of when films use one long shot to create deep immersion and focus. I also really enjoyed the level of detail with which Cornwell rights about Kay's forensic pathology work. Some of it leans toward the very gruesome end of the spectrum, so if you're not expecting that, you may be a little grossed out! Similarly, some of the FBI techniques and protocols mentioned felt realistic and very gripping.

I am getting a little tired of yet again reading about AI in a thriller novel. This just seemed forced and very much a side note to the plot. Was the point just to have something Marino and Dorothy (Kay's sister) could argue about? Because I'm very sure they would have enough material without the AI Janet feature.

To be honest, I spent most of the beginning of the novel not being sure who was related to whom and how. Also, I didn't know actually who Janet was until just then when I googled it...

However, the biggest disappointment for me was definitely the ending. Now, obviously, I'm not going to tell you what happened but it really felt like they 'Johnathan Creek-ed' it; which in Becca language means, they pulled a random person out of thin air at the end and Kay basically stuck her finger in the air and said 'ah ha!' and had a miraculous realisation. Also, the ring and Rowdy's death mentioned earlier? No explanation for that, unless I missed it, which is possible, I was starting to lose the plot a bit, literally. But to my mind, it was largely abandoned in favour of the Slasher plot.

I was just staring at the cover, trying to think how it's relevant, and I remembered the old psychiatric hospital! I also don't remember the result of that side quest mystery...shame, as I was enjoying that one. Maybe that is on me for reading the 29th book in a series first, sure. But, it honestly feels like these loose threads were just forgotten and not tied up.

I was disappointed overall, hence the 3 stars. I'm keen to read her first or early novels, but I won't be rushing to do so.

Read: 15/08/2025

Published: 07/10/2025

Price: £18.75 (GBP) (Hardback)