Port Mortuary is - literally - a port to receive the dead. And the deaths are mounting, as dangerous secrets come back back to haunt Scarpetta. She'd been training at the Port to master the art of 'virtual autopsy', a ground-breaker that could revolutionise forensic science. Soon these new skills urgently need to be put into practice when a young man drops dead, apparently from a heart condition. But examination shows he may have been alive when zipped inside a body bag and locked in the cooler. When the 3D radiology scans show internal injuries unlike any Scarpetta has ever seen, she realises this is a case of murder - and she's fighting a cunning and uniquely cruel enemy.