Grief

Grief is a theme of this novel because it is grief that motivates two of the characters. The first is Mrs. Harvey, whose obvious grief stems from the murder of her daughter. Mrs. Harvey is consumed by grief not only because of her love for her daughter, but because they had a fight the day Deborah disappeared. Mrs. Harvey uses her political power to keep involved in the investigation. However, when the bodies are found, the FBI does everything they can to keep Mrs. Harvey out of the investigation, including telling Scarpetta not to release the autopsy report to her. Mrs. Harvey sees this as a cover up and decides to go public with her opinion. When Mrs. Harvey throws a press conference, accusing the FBI, the CIA, and the coroner's office in being involved in a cover-up, suggesting they know who killed her daughter, the press reacts...