Predator

Florida is full of human predators; and they all give Dr Kay Scarpetta the opportunity and the means to do what she does best - persuading the dead to speak to her. And in Boston; Benton Wesley is working on a secret case involving convicted killers. It is a project which gives Scarpetta deep disquiet; as does the behaviour of her niece; Lucy; who is spending too much time in cheap bars looking for casual pick-ups. The Academy is called when a woman's body is found in Boston. She has been tortured; sexually abused; her body tattooed with handprints. The same sort of handprints Lucy had seen on the flesh of her latest pick-up. Meanwhile; Scarpetta and Marino are investigating the disappearance of a family in Florida; called in by a concerned neighbour; but as they search and find the tell-tale signs of abduction rather than disappearance; they also discover that someone had assumed the identity of the caller; and she is now dead. They've been set up; and it becomes clear that someone is tracking their every move.