Identity Unknown: The gripping new Kay Scarpetta thriller for 2024 by Patricia Cornwell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A riveting forensic thriller featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

In the midst of a harrowing investigation into the death of a child, Scarpetta is summoned to another murder scene by the Secret Service – a man dropped from the sky from an unidentified aircraft into the heart of an abandoned theme park.

The murdered man is Sal Giordano – an astrophysicist and old friend of Scarpetta’s, with whom she had a romantic relationship early in her career.

As the team delve deeper into Sal’s murder, they recognise the signature of a malign evil at work, a nemesis from the past who will stop at nothing to wreak havoc.

‘Identity Unknown’ is the twenty-eighth book in the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell. Scarpetta is investigating the tragic death of a child, a death the parents claim to have been accidental whilst having begun a campaign of harassment against Scarpetta’s office as she has not yet signed off on the cause of death. Scarpetta’s niece and Secret Service agent, Lucy, contacts her with devastating news – a friend and old flame has been found dead in suspicious and suggestive circumstances. Due to the highly classified nature of the investigation, Scarpetta and Marino must take charge of the recovery of his body from a closed down, crumbling theme park themed on ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and then conduct the autopsy in an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, following the shock return of a past villain in the previous novel, the threat continues to close in and remains never far away.

Cornwell continues the trend of her most recent Scarpetta novels in blending forensic science and crime investigation with speculative fiction and a political edge – crafting a superb thriller for the post-pandemic and new space age, with an additional sliver of intrigue with alleles of unexplained and paranormal phenomena infused within the narrative’s DNA – this time exploring UFOs and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Tightly plotted and lightning-paced, Scarpetta’s narrative draws us in to a disturbing and unsettling investigation. The autopsies always prove fascinating, while the retrieval of bodies within the abandoned theme park and beneath the Chesapeake Bay heighten the suspense and claustrophobia in thrilling action sequences with detailed focus on medico-legal procedure. Cornwell grounds her fiction in realism, the driving narrative of the plot focusing on Kay’s role as medical examiner, hinging on the forensic science and her advisory capacity to law enforcement and the government, her insights into elements outside of her role via her family and colleagues.

In the vein of the most recent additions to the series, ‘Identity Unknown’ once again conjures a sense of nostalgia, referencing events taking place in and around the early books in the series in Scarpetta’s early years as Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia. This time, we delve into an unexplored chapter of Kay’s past, looking back to a summer she took a teaching sabbatical in Rome, where she met Sal Giordano. At the time struggling with her feelings for Benton, who was married, Kay had a brief relationship with Sal, one that was always doomed to fail. But they remained friends. Sal’s death raises a lot of raw emotion for Kay, as well as proving a personal and professional struggle for Benton. Since the beginning of the series, I’ve loved Kay and Benton’s relationship – despite the challenges of their professional lives, there has always been a depth of emotion between them; and, no matter how they may have begun and the trials they’ve faced along the way, they belong together. I always enjoy the moments when we get an emotional insight into their relationship, this investigation bringing past and present emotions bubbling to the surface, not only for Kay and Benton, but also for Marino, Dorothy and Lucy, as the past continues to haunt them all.

An engrossing and gripping read, ‘Identify Unknown’ is another superb novel and a particularly emotional chapter in the series, delving into our hearts as it looks beyond the stars. I shall be eagerly awaiting another entry in this long-running saga.



View all my reviews
Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on Instagram
Follow me on Threads
Follow me on Twitter