''Predator'' is a

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

novel by

Patricia Cornwell Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels; June 9, 1956) is an American crime writer. She is known for her best-selling novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, of which the first was inspired by a series of sensational murders in ...

Plot introduction

''Predator'' is the fourteenth book of the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series by author

Explanation of the novel's title

"PREDATOR" is an acronym for the ''Prefrontal Determinants of Aggressive-Type Overt Responsivity'', a secret neuropsychological project to determine whether dangerous murderers have different brain patterns or functions from "ordinary" people.

Plot summary

Dr.

Kay Scarpetta Kay Scarpetta is a fictional character inspired by former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Farinelli Fierro MD (retired). She is the protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell noted for its use of recent forensi ...

, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowbound Massachusetts, one as unnerving as any she has ever faced. The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team—Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and Lucy Farinelli—to suspect that they are hunting someone with a cunning and malevolent mind whose secrets have kept them in the shadows, until now.

Characters in "Predator"

- Former Chief Medical Examiner. * Benton Wesley - Profiler. * Lucy Farinelli - Kay's niece. * Pete Marino - Detective. * Rose - Kay's secretary.

Major themes

* The hunt for a killer

Literary significance & criticism

Cornwell was considered courageous by some reviewers Gershenbaum, B.L. 2005. Review of ''Predator''. The Book Reporter
/ref> for setting the characters of this novel at a major crossroads. All are on edge about their personal lives, relationships, and especially their long dependence upon and affection for each other. Mutual trusts have been eroded over previous books and the group lacks the cohesion it had earlier in the series. The narrative style seen in previous books is also seen in ''Predator'', with more than one character narrating.Dauncey, S. University of Warwick. "Patricia Cornwell." The Literary Encyclopedia. 18 Nov. 2005. The Literary Dictionary Company. 22 April 2007.
/ref> This change in narrative style from the first-person narration of Kay herself is one first seen in Blow Fly. This device not only allows for more characters and their perspectives to come to the fore, but also marks a significant transformation in the way that the novels represent the criminal. Whereas previously the criminal's mind was never made available to the reader—thus intensifying their "otherness"—the later novels allow space to explore their point of view and uncover their motivations.

Allusions/references to actual history, geography, and current science and technology

Set in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and Boston, Massachusetts. A stolen Treo compromises the Institute's security and vexes Lucy considerably.

References

External links

Author's Official Website
{{Authority control 2005 American novels Novels by Patricia Cornwell Novels set in Florida Novels set in Boston American crime novels G. P. Putnam's Sons books