ReadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2025

Sharp Force

The nail-biting new Scarpetta thriller for 2025

Patricia Cornwell author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Little, Brown Book Group

Published:7th Oct '25

Should be back in stock very soon

Sharp Force cover

SCARPETTA, A BRAND NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, IS COMING SOON TO PRIME VIDEO

NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THE SERIAL KILLER.
NOT EVEN SCARPETTA...

During the early hours of Christmas morning, chief medical examiner Dr Kay Scarpetta receives a chilling call. The Phantom Slasher has struck again.

The serial killer has terrorized Northern Virginia for months. His pattern is to stalk with a sophisticated technology that enables him to invade his victims' homes and watch their every move. They wake up to a ghost-like hologram before being murdered in their beds.

Scarpetta is summoned to Mercy Island, the site of a notorious psychiatric hospital where two people have been brutalized, one of them from Scarpetta's past. It soon becomes apparent that she could be next . . .

'In Sharp Force Cornwell is at the very top of her game and Scarpetta is as finely wrought as ever. The research is impeccable as always . . . You are in the hands of a master storyteller. Sit back and prepare to be thrilled' DAVID BALDACCI

'Compelling, grisly and dark, another incredible thriller' THE SUN

'This is vintage Cornwell' THE FINANCIAL TIMES

'Masterfully plotted and utterly addictive' WOMAN'S OWN

PRAISE FOR UNNATURAL DEATH * - *
A chilling, thrilling, macabre masterpiece. Unnatural Death is Patricia Cornwell at her mesmerising finest. The best just got better -- CHRIS WHITAKER
Sinister, surprising and utterly unputdownable. Cornwell at her brilliant best -- M. J. ARLIDGE
Classic Cornwell with an up-to-the-minute twenty-first-century plot - an intoxicating blend that proves Scarpetta is still queen of the autopsy and Cornwell is still queen of crime fiction. An utterly thrilling roller coaster ride -- ANDREA MARA
An especially good entry in the series * BOOKLIST *
PRAISE FOR PATRICIA CORNWELL * - *
One of the best crime writers writing today * GUARDIAN *
Astonishing . . . Thirty years on, there's still no other crime writer like her * SUNDAY TIMES *
The top gun in this field * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
America's most stimulating and chilling writer of crime fiction * THE TIMES *
Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns * MIRROR *
A pioneer of the genre of forensic psychological thriller * BBC *
The Agatha Christie of the DNA age * EXPRESS *
The queen of the forensic thriller * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
Cutting-edge * SUN *
When it comes to forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW *
Slick, fast-paced and brilliant * HEAT *
PRAISE FOR PATRICIA CORNWELL -- -
Thirty years on, there's still no other crime writer like her * SUNDAY TIMES *
One of the best crime writers writing today * GUARDIAN *
Cornwell really is in a league of her own * HEAT *
One of the all-time greats of this genre * SUN *
Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns * MIRROR *
The top gun in this field * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
America's most stimulating and chilling writer of crime fiction * THE TIMES *
The Agatha Christie of the DNA age * EXPRESS *
The queen of the forensic thriller * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
In Sharp Force Cornwell is at the very top of her game and Scarpetta is as finely wrought as ever. The research is as impeccable as always . . . You are in the hands of a master storyteller. Sit back and prepare to be thrilled -- DAVID BALDACCI
Compelling, grisly and dark, another incredible thriller * THE SUN *
This is vintage Cornwell * FINANCIAL TIMES *
A masterfully plotted and utterly addictive crime thriller * WOMAN'S OWN *
With Cornwell's signature forensic detail and intense pacing, this latest instalment is a must read * YOURS MAGAZINE *
A brisk, kaleidoscopic thriller * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *
Expert pacing and psychologically nuanced and complex characters * LIBRARY JOURNAL *

ISBN: 9781408722596

Dimensions: 236mm x 160mm x 38mm

Weight: 620g

400 pages