Sharp Force
On sale
7th October 2025
Price: £22
Genre
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
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
Reviews
PRAISE FOR PATRICIA CORNWELL
With Cornwell's signature forensic detail and intense pacing, this latest instalment is a must read
A chilling, thrilling, macabre masterpiece. Unnatural Death is Patricia Cornwell at her mesmerising finest. The best just got better
PRAISE FOR UNNATURAL DEATH
The top gun in this field
America's most stimulating and chilling writer of crime fiction
Cutting-edge
The Agatha Christie of the DNA age
The queen of the forensic thriller
Thirty years on, there's still no other crime writer like her
One of the all-time greats of this genre
Slick, ghoulish, and a reliable stocking-filler for crime fiction lovers
Slick, fast-paced and brilliant
PRAISE FOR PATRICIA CORNWELL
The Agatha Christie of the DNA age
The queen of the forensic thriller
The top gun in this field
Sinister, surprising and utterly unputdownable. Cornwell at her brilliant best
A brisk, kaleidoscopic thriller
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
Cornwell really is in a league of her own
An especially good entry in the series
Compelling, grisly and dark, another incredible thriller
This is vintage Cornwell
One of the best crime writers writing today
A masterfully plotted and utterly addictive crime thriller
Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns
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
America's most stimulating and chilling writer of crime fiction
Astonishing . . . Thirty years on, there's still no other crime writer like her
Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns
When it comes to forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell
One of the best crime writers writing today
Expert pacing and psychologically nuanced and complex characters
A pioneer of the genre of forensic psychological thriller
