Rating: 
Summary: How the Mighty have fallen
Review: When Napoleon set out to conquer the world with his brain, he made one tactial error.
So has Cornwell.My first question is the first question Cornwell Enterprises should be asking themselves:
Did the editor fall asleep on the job?
I am not going to go into ALL of the obvious annoyances, like the repetition of character
names, green contact lenses or character ages. Why, if I were to do that, I'd be here all
day.
I am just going to vent. 1. Third person writing has no place in the Scarpetta series. The series was created around
Kay Scarpetta and her observations. That was the intrigue. That is what held us as readers
through some of the best crime writing known to the literary world. 2. This novel was Her Highness' chance to overcome the languid pace that she had
adopted through "Black Notice" and "The Last Precinct". We waited three years for the
valiant return of the Chief, only to find random blatherings, coincidences beyond belief,
and inhuman character development. 3. Benton Wesley. Dead. He had no place to return, but he did. This could have perhaps
been pulled off if the readers didn't expect such a terrible slip. Over the years, rumors of
his return plagued the Internet, and to my dismay his presence in this novel was dust on a
shelf. So now what? He and Scarpetta live happily ever after? Good job, Trish. 4. This better be the end of the series. There is no point going on. After feeding us the finest
steak and lobster, Cornwell has given us leftovers that she herself wouldn't touch. I guess
money changes everything. And that, gentle readers, is the largest insult of them all.
Rating: 
Summary: Patricia Cornwell are you sure?
Review: I waited for ages for this book, I have always prefered the Scarpetta novels. But the writing didn't even read like Cornwell. I think Kay was called Kay maybe 5 times in the whole book. Lucy needs to find a good woman and settle down, what happened to Janet? Benton back from the dead? I'm not sure that it would be possible for Lucy or Marino to lie for that long to Kay. It didn't feel like a Scarpetta novel and it didn't read like one either. That being said the stage is nicely set for the next book which I hope goes better. Although I find myself missing the days of Temple Gault.
Rating:
Summary: Scarpetta where are you?
Review: I started buying PC books in hardcover after the 3rd one. She ranked in the top 3 of my favorite authors... But her books have become worse and worse. From now on, I'll look at it in the library - maybe....
First, except for an initial glimpse in the opening chapter, Kay Scarpetta isn't even IN this for the first 119 pp. (1/3 of the book). The single thing that made this series great, I think many will agree, was being inside the head of this admirable and interesting character, her repartee with Marino, and her relationship with her niece... all these characters were interesting in terms of their relationship to her. Secondly, the books had great plots, intensely exciting and scary...
Now they have become more like spy novels than mysteries... Style changes haven't improved things, either....I, too, dislike the 2nd person present tense - it doesnt seem more immediate just more unreal...
and now the chapters are so short, I feel like the rhythm is choppy... when the chapter breaks picks up the same plot thread it is just an interruption, and when the scene changes, it makes me feel like some pin ball bouncing aimlessly around the different subplots... it doesn't add anything....
Recently her books became so gloomy because of all the terrible things that befell her characters.. so much so, that I was reminded of a Stephen King novel... but her attempt to fix this (if that was the intention) by resurrecting BW fails, because she so effectively killed him off and the details of his comeback are incredibly lame and contrived... Sorry....
It is a shame, because PC is a terrific writer still... her talents are all still there but they revolve around a plot that is just a big hollow nothing.... I hope she revisits what made her former books so great... not a formula, necessarily, but the structure of the plots I think.
Rating:
Summary: whose fantasy is scarpetta living?
Review: One wonders whether Cornwell is getting bored with her own life. Writing is invention, not acting out! Get with it, PC, and bring back the old Kay! Forget about mooning over old lovers. The whole business with Wesley was never quite believable anyway. And what in the world is happening to Lucy? She is metamorphosing into an adult Kay, but showing psychopathic tendencies. Yikes!
Rating: 
Summary: Different, yet still compelling
Review: I, like so many, have been anxiously awaiting the return of Kay Scarpetta. After reading other reviews on Amazon.com, I have come to the conclusion that apparently I look at the book in a totally different light than others who have read it. The last book left us hanging. Kay was totally destroyed and scrambling to get on with her life. This book, to me, is a unique segway between what was and what (hopefully) is to come. The use of the 3rd person point of view shows how distanced all of the characters have become from themselves, each other, and life in general. As a reader, we cannot expect Cornwell to have her main character immediately pop back into her old ways. Kay's life has shattered. What Cornwell does is guide us through the fog to a clarity with Benton, Kay, Lucy, and Marino. Yes, they are still on the same case. However, by structuring the book as she does (very short chapters, third person, conflicting situations), Cornwell leads us through the maze and drops us off at the end with a "Well! What comes next, then?" I give it a three simply because it is not of the same standard Scarpetta situation as the other novels. "Blow Fly" stands alone. Cornwell's writing is as sharp as ever and I sincerely hope that her next chapter of Scarpetta's life has more clarity for character and allows the characters involved to find some resolution in their lives.
Rating:
Summary: I got 100 pages into it...
Review: before I just had to stop. I was so excited to get this book, I waited all summer. I thought Patricia Cornwell would maybe pull out of the slump she has been in since the character of Benton Wesley was killed off. Not so.
This book started out rambling and did not stop in the 100 pages I read. The use of third person was disconcerting to me, and the fact that everyone else was talking about Kay, but we never actually heard from Kay was irritating.
The reason I started reading Cornwell in the first place and especially the Scarpetta novels was the way Scarpetta solved these cases without all the nonsense and blather. In the past, Cornwells novels focused on Kays job as the medical examiner and how she performed this task. The other issues, such as the affair with Benton Wesley, and her personal life were just side notes that added to the real story.
Kay Scarpetta has become a boring, washed up version of her former self. Cornwell needs to retire this character rather than teasing the fans who have been there from the start. Her name on the cover does not a best seller make.
Definitely don't spend your hard earned money on this one...
Anyone who read this as their first Scarpetta novel, go back and read Patricia Cornwell's early Scarpetta books. You will be hooked...
Rating:
Summary: Wait for the paperback (preferably used)
Review: I felt Cornwell fleeced loyal readers who paid full price for 'Isle of Dogs' last year, but decided to give her one more try when she returned to her much-honored Scarpetta series with 'Blow Fly'. Now I'm cured. I'll wait for the remainders pile before I try her next book -- though it seems Cornwell has become so bored with her writing that it wouldn't shock me if she just decides to call it a career (at least with this series). In 'Blow Fly' she gives us 100 good pages. Unfortunately, it's a 400+-page book, and the good ones are near the end. The story finally gets cracking when Scarpetta finally actually goes to work -- but, alas, the crisper storytelling stops just before the book does. The ending seems like little more than a few loose ends left dangling in case Cornwell decides to pick up the case again -- if readers still have any interest. Lucy and Rudy's East European adventure with which the book begins remains little more than a forgotten enigma at book's end. What exactly was that all about? And resurrecting Benton Wesley essentially negates the angst present in the previous two Scarpetta novels, set after his earlier supposed death. (Hope you didn't plan to read those books again. They're now out-of-date and falsified.) I can't believe Patricia Cornwell, who turned out page-turners for more than a decade, doesn't realize this (and her last couple of recent efforts) is a subpar offering. I can no longer afford to subsidize her self-amusement. If she still needs the money, she's got to do better than this.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost but not .....
Review: I was so excited to read this book, but when i did i was disapointed. I thought it had a lot of potential, but it stopped short of satisfying my Scarpetta cravings. I could care less about Benton, and thought he was out of the picture for good. I thought Dr S was headed in a new direction, and maybe the book would her over Benton and the fact she is stuck on him. More of Lucy, Marino and anyone else would have been great. Maybe Dr. S could have become a lesbian!! But i doubt that will happen now. Maybe Lucy will get her own book. I am hoping for a long detailed story line with Nic. But i am wanting more, and will always buy the books no matter how much i disagree with the story line, i think they are the best told ever. P Cornwell is the greatest writer, even if i think she is in a little slump.
Rating:
Summary: Check your averages!
Review: You'd better check the customer review averages for this book. You give it 5 stars and the only four reviews give it 3, 2 and two 1's. Mine is the third 1. This is a poor excuse for a Kay Scarpetta novel. The third person, present tense, is a constant annoyance. The plot is contrived and unbelievable. I was hoping for better from Patricia Cornwell, but her books have usually been either very good or very bad. This one is very bad.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The author cuts the heart out of the book by using the third person narrative; at first I kept flipping ahead to see if Kay herself would join us at some point, but alas, she did not. The cast of characters we have known for so long seems here to be played by unenthusiastic and not-very-talented stand-ins and everyone spends an inordinate amount of time feeling sorry for themselves. The return of Benton Wesley was about as believable as Bobby Ewing in the shower in the old "Dallas" soap. Towards the end of the book things began to get more interesting, but the tale was abruptly brought to a halt by the killing off of the vast majority of the people who were causing problems - voila, no more story left (or, are they REALLY dead... but at this point, who cares). Maybe Patricia Cornwell was pressured to do another Kay Scarpetta book when she really didn't feel up to it. Hopefully she will bring the good doctor back in style someday, or if not, let her retire with dignity.
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