Trace by Patricia Cornwell

Book Title : TRACE 

Author : Patricia Cornwell 

Publisher : Barkley 

Date Published : 2004 

Number of Pages : 401 

Genre : Crime 

 Book Code : NV/0842 

          The main characters of this novel are Kay Scarpetta-Chief Medical Examiner for the city of Richmond; Pete Marino, Kay’s partner who is a Detective with the Richmond PD; and Lucy Farinelli, Kay’s niece who is more like her daughter and a school kid. Kay was asked to investigate a corpse of 14 year old girl. After that she found that the girl was murdered then she tried to investigate the murder. Lucy Farinelli, who has grown from chubby schoolgirl to FBI Agent, then runs a private investigative service called The Last Precinct, where Pete Marino is now working for her; tried to investigate a person who tried to kill her lover. Unexpectedly, the murder was the same person of whom Kay was seeking. 

            I like the part when the murderer can be known because it makes my curiosity release from my mind. Actually the murderer is one of Kay’s former staff members. He sought revenge against Dr. Kay and her niece called Lucy for causing his disability such as a lung condition which makes him difficult to breathe. 

               I still feel confused why the mother of the murdered girl, Susan did a strange behavior, such as after she had done a sexual role play with Pete Marino based on her willing and there’s no force to her, Susan instead lied and accused Pete having raped her. This strange behavior from the bereaved mother drew her into the investigation as a suspect or accessory to the crime. I think she’s mentally ill. 

             I don’t like the part when Pete Marino was not consistent on his main purpose coming to Susan’s home. He did a sexual role play with her instead of just investigating her about her daughter’s death. In short, instead of solving the problem, Pete added a new problem by doing that. He was accused of having raped her. 

          I have heard some experiences related revenge but in another case, such as: being hurt by his employer, an employee killed his boss. 

             If I had a right to change this novel, especially the fate of the employee, I would make the employee have a brave not for revenge instead of for talking and demanding money as an expense for having made him be a disable person. Moreover, I would make Kay’s more opened eyes toward her employees by taking her care of them. Therefore, this criminality would not happen. 

            The issue raised in this novel is about an employee’s revenge toward his employer who had made him be a disable person. The employee sought revenge against Dr. Scarpetta and her niece, Lucy. He made some attempt to satisfying his revenge such as by mostly killing Lucy’s lover called henry; and having burnt Gilly’s house. 

            The moral value of this novel is that do revenge is a worthless effort. It adds worse thing rather than satisfying the person. For example, the employee made himself in a dangerous position by killing another person. Maybe at first, he felt satisfied but at the end he will be disappointed because of what he had done. For example, at the end, the murder could be known. He are then put in jail. That’s a bad ending for him.