“Killing me won’t kill the beast” warned convicted rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell four days before his execution. Ignored as a madman’s rant, the words come to haunt Scarpetta when Waddell’s fingerprints show up at a fresh crime—committed after she’d performed his autopsy.

It’s a chilling game, and Scarpetta can’t afford to lose. Because if Waddell’s next victim is someone she loves, the

punishment will be CRUEL AND UNUSUAL.

When Dr. Kay Scarpetta and Police Lieutenant Pete Marino find the brutally wounded body of a 13-year-old boy carefully propped against a dumpster, and the only fingerprint that of an already executed criminal, their investigation takes a "cruel and unusual" turn. An 11-week NYT hardcover bestseller. Cornwell's previous novels All That Remains, Body of Evidence, and Postmortem have over 3 million copies in print.