Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC of Sharp Force in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the print copy for my collection.
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio
Published: October 7, 2025
Summary:
A serial killer terrorizes Northern Virginia, his ability to come and go baffling those pursuing him with zero success.
He disables the victims’ WIFI, attacking them in bed, the cause of death exsanguination due to sharp force injuries.
This has been going on for six months when Dr. Kay Scarpetta is awakened by her phone in the early morning hours of June 12, her birthday. She’s informed that the Phantom Slasher has struck again, only this time there are two victims, and one of them has survived, the scene Mercy Island and its notorious old psychiatric hospital. This is a modern ghost story, a ghastly apparition seen around the time the Slasher strikes in each case. The same figure in black is spotted levitating through the fog, and the technical explanation is one that’s of keen interest to the CIA, even the White House.
It’s up to Scarpetta to stop the Phantom Slasher before they strike again and vanish, leaving another trail of blood in their wake.
My thoughts:
This is the latest book in the Kay Scarpetta series — book 29 to be exact — and even though I have not read many of the books in this series, I picked this one up because I had the opportunity to see Patricia Cornwell at the Boston Book Festival back in October and I knew she would be talking about this particular book. Of course, I loved this one…and will now be going back and starting the series from the beginning!
I will say, jumping in here I felt the author gives just enough backstory about the main characters that I got the general gist of who everyone was without feeling too lost. Of course, there were some bits that I am sure would have been fully flushed out had I read the series in its entirety, which I plan on doing and now I have that motivation – I want to know the details!
I forgot how much I love this genre – crime fiction with a procedural bent to it. We have a serial killer on the loose and I loved the paranormal angle that this one includes. As I mentioned, I am late to this series but having had the chance to listen to the author talk about the book, she likes to change things up herself so that we the reader don’t get the same old story every time.
I’m very excited to read this series from the beginning…if you’ve been here for a while, you all know my love of series! Plus…it was recently announced that the series is coming to life on screen – #Scarpetta will be coming to Prime and I cannot wait!!
Audio thoughts:
I decided to listen to this one when I saw it was narrated by one of my favorites, January LaVoy. She did an amazing job with the voices, giving each one their own unique personality.
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