Friday, November 22, 2019

Books: "Quantum" By Patricia Cornwell



Quantum: A Captain Chase Novel
By Patricia Cornwell
Thomas & Mercer; 352 pages; hardcover, $24.95; Kindle, $9.99; audiobook, $26.24

The latest novel from Patricia Cornwell, Quantum, is the start of a new thriller series that will feature a brilliant heroine in an extraordinary setting.


Captain Calli Chase is a NASA test pilot, quantum physicist, and cybercrime investigator. While growing up just outside of NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia, she and her twin sister have long had their sights set on going to space. 

On the eve of a top-secret mission, Calli detects a tripped alarm in the tunnels below NASA's research center. She knows there are no accidents in this high security, high tech facility, and that a looming blizzard and government shutdown could provide the perfect cover for sabotage, with deadly consequences. 

As it turns out, the danger is worse than she thought. A spatter of dried blood, a missing security badge, a suspicious suicide, part of a series of disturbing clues pointing to Calli's identical twin, Carme, who's been MIA for days.

Captain Chase, desperate to halt the countdown to disaster and clear her sister's name, digs deep into her vast cyber security knowledge and her painful past in search of answers to her twin's erratic conduct.

About Patricia Cornwell:
In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. An auspicious debut, it went on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure prize - the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year.

Growing into an international phenomenon, the Scarpetta Series won Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of the Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development. 

Today, Cornwell's novels and iconic characters are known around the world. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Cornwell has written the definitive nonfiction account of Jack the Ripper's identity, cookbooks, a children's book, a biography of Ruth Graham, and two other fictional series based on the characters Win Garano and Andy Brazil.

While writing Quantum, Cornwell spent two years researching space, technology, and robotics at Captain Calli Chase's home base, NASA's Langley Research Center, and studied cutting-edge law enforcement and security techniques with the Secret Service, the United States Air Force, NASA Protective Services, Scotland Yard, and Interpol.

Cornwell was botn in Miami and grew up in Montreal, North Carolina and now lives and works in Boston and Los Angeles. Check out her website: www.patriciacornwell.com.

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