As a Patricia Cornwell fan I was so excited to be given this book. I was pleased to find it had all the usual characters and in true style the opening had me hooked. Dr Kay Scarpetta is faced with the mysterious Phantom Slasher who is using AI to stalk and kill people. This was a pleasant twist and a really unusual change. If anything, the end felt a bit rushed and confusing in places but in all I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down.

Book 29 in the Dr Kay Scarpetta series and it follows the usual pattern. It is Christmas Eve and the good doctor is finishing an autopsy on a man fished out of the Potomac before flying to London for 2 weeks with her partner Benton. There is something not quite right about the nature of his death. Briefly, early on Christmas Day Kay receives a phone call. In the most fearful of snowstorms she is called out to an infamous psychiatric hospital to deal with the victims of a serial killer called “The Phantom Slasher”. Very quickly she is caught up in a vortex of horror involving an apparent ghost and a mental institution. In the middle of this her best friend Pete Marino and his partner, Kay’s sister, are having a serious row, which is causing turmoil in Kay’s private life that she could well do without. Good levels of suspense and with twists and turns aplenty you wonder if everyone will greet the New Year in unharmed. The technology used by the killer was fascinating and not something I’ve come across before in fiction. As always the main characters are great and their interactions authentic, and in the case of the children very kind, and of course I do love Kay. It’s a great read and my only gripe is that the climax is condensed into only a few pages and I would have liked a bit more. 4.5⭐️

Yet another brilliant and well-paced page turner from Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series. While I'm not sure I fully understood some of the tech involved, the characters are great, and the atmosphere is delightfully chilling. The combination of forensic investigation and crime thriller is a winning combination in Cornwell's capable hands. This, the 29th book in the series, is about a serial killer terrorising Northern Virginia and baffling those in pursuit with his ability to come and go, like a ghost. Will Scarpetta be able to stop the Phantom Slasher? Well, of course she will, but along the way, we will be made to fear both for her and those around her. With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC.