Rating: 
Summary: An in-depth physchology of Kay
Review: I am most impressed with the tone at the beginning of this book. The author really sets the mood as it might well be after such a tramatic event in a person's life. The character of Kay is so much more real because of this. Later the book takes on her usual "cool". I am a bit disappointed with the quick fix like ending. I feel like she drew the book out so much at the beginning that she had to hurry up and wrap it up at the end. I feel it unlikely the "gorgeous" Jay is hooked up with a real sleazy-type. Not quite the ending it could have been. But still a really good read.
Rating: 
Summary: The Last Precinct
Review: I'm sure my rating will be far below the majority who have read this book. However, my main reason for rating it so low is strictly for language. As with all of Patricia Cornwell's previous books - I've read them all - I have been taken into a world of intrigue, mystery and downright good writing!!! ALL of the books were VERY hard to put down!!! BUT. . .I noticed with the previous book that certain language has begun to creep into her books. This last book in particular is so full of the "F" word that I actually put it down and did not pick it up for two months. I am NOT a prude, however I also do not wish to willingly subject myself to characters who have lowered their standards of speech equal to that of what one would find used by the worst of uneducated street thugs. I find it incomprehensible to have a character who apparently lacks for nothing and will settle for nothing less that better than the best in everything she wears, eats, drives. . .well, you get the picture. . .and yet has a mouth that competes with the worst (not to mention every other main character to boot.)! I am extremely disappointed in this. I have enjoyed every book she has written but if this is any indication of the direction any future books are going, I guess "The Last Precinct" will be my "Last Patricia Cornwell" book. THAT will make me very sad!
Rating: 
Summary: Can't bring myself to finish it.
Review: Having read all of Cornwell's Kate novels, I started this one with the same enthusiasm, only to be disappointed. I just can't "get into it". So far it has lacked the appeal of her previous books. Who knows, maybe I'll get it another try, someday.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the start of something better . . .I hope.
Review: On the bright side, this book is better than its predecessor (Black Notice). But, as anyone who managed to suffer all the way through "Black Notice" knows, that ain't saying much. Yes, loose ends are tied up in this latest installment -- though the fact that aforesaid loose ends are all tied up together into a neat little ball of everyone's-in-cahoots-together-against-Kay seems like an easy way out. Also, a potential positive is Kay's apparent move to NYC. HOWEVER, Cornwell's narrative -- in other words, Kay's inner voice -- is still unbelieveably pretentious, paranoid and overblown. In earlier works, the characters came alive by their actions as the plot moved along. Now, Kay's pendantic thoughts define the characters: "My headstrong niece, who is like a daughter to me, whose career in law enforcement, blah blah blah lesbian, blah blah blah problems with authority" or "I am a chief forensic pathologist, a lawyer, I have seen what evil people are capable of yadda yadda horrible death of Benton Wesley". It gets tiresome, to put it mildly. Whoever edits Ms. Cornwell needs to sort out the narrative rut she's gotten herself into. The stories themselves are still good, and there's great potential in Kay's presumed move to NYC (and perhaps a greater focus on her legal career). But the writing style of the last 3-4 books is just off-putting.
Rating:
Summary: Paranoia in novel form
Review: I have read all of Cornwell's books, even the strange Judy Hammer ones, and this is the one that is going to make me give them up. If I had picked this one up first I would never have read another one. Kay Scarpetta is so drenched in paranoia, Marino so nasty, and Scarpetta's psychologist friend so completely venal and treacherous that I found myself hoping some character would come along and just finish them all off. The reader is set up to expect that the "Last Precinct," a private firm started by the suddenly and miraculously wealthy Lucy, would play a big role, but other than providing Lucy with an excuse to get a helicopter, it has nothing to do with the plot. Instead, the plot seems to be that all of the antagonists in all of the Scarpetta novels turn out to have been in league with each other to set Scarpetta up. In the next novel it will no doubt turn out that they secretly implanted an electronic monitoring device in her brain, and she has to wear a foil hat to keep it from transmitting. Cornwell's earlier novels, though grim, were at least well plotted and entertaining. This one is just all over the place. How did it get past her editor? I wish Cornwell would take a long vacation and a few tranquilizers before she writes another word, and that the publisher would hire editors who know what they're doing.
Rating:
Summary: 3 for the Genre, 4 for Cornwell, but Suspend your Disbelief
Review: In comparison to the current novels on offer by her colleagues, I give this installment in the series a 3-rating (a relatively non-thought provoking read that shoudn't win her any awards) and a 4-rating for the series itself (her best effort in 3-4 attempts, inclusive of that Charlotte cop/reporter series she's gotten into).There are two challenges here for the reader - firstly, and as pointed out by numerous readers before me, get past the first 100 or so pages penned with a view to intense boredom surrounding a self-analysis session with her 70 year old shrink, Anna, and, secondly, give up on what really does happen in real life, in Richmond, Virginia or elsewhere. Once again, we find our somewhat paranoid and spontaneously manic depressive heroine combatting her emotional and real-life demons in a continuation to the author's previous novel, 'Black Notice,' in which, Kay & Co., went toe-to-hoof with a very nasty werewolf type person by the name of Jean Claude Something-Or-Other (Van Damme methinks). 'The Last Precinct' picks up the day or so after with, not only a serious cleaning up job to be done, but yet again a mildly outrageous plot line crammed into about a one week over the Christmas period. Without spoiling anyone's read, here are the high/low lights (nothing new here): Highs: : if you're into the postmortem stuff, Cornwell's technical knowledge is excellent, : introduction of a strong, interesting and, seemingly normal new character, Jaime Berger, and : the pacing, in most parts, is 'rapid.' Lows: : the aforementioned session with the shrink - will try anyone's resiliance, : the walk-through by Berger and Scarpetta at the Scarpetta crime scene - 'been there, read all about it' in the previous novel, : Kay's incredible paranoia and mistrust for everyone, : introduction of a scaly, reptilian lawyer, Benton I: continues to haunt us two years on (it's over, Kay. Let it go - like you let that guy Mark who got blown up in the train station go - haven't heard him mentioned for awhile, uh?), Benton II: his incredibly dubious profiler wisdom (with all the technology, even a rookie would have figured out the 'impressions' on the . . . (also, I would assume, the administrators in the nuthouse would have been screening Carrie's outgoing . . .), Lucy: continues to astound with her ongoing development as the next Bill Gates/PowerPuff Girl/(insert name here), this time through the incredible business savvy we all knew she was hiding, Scarpetta: sadly, I'm limited to 1,000 words, Marino: I don't think even the author knows what to do with this guy. One time, he personifies 'what the dog dragged in,' and 'the cat didn't have the courage to drag out,' while in the next chapter he hits stride with his remarkable people interrogation skills and all are in awe of his perceptiveness. Conclusion: good summer fare. Cornwell can definitely write well (when she wants to) and I'll continue to purchase her books (I may just wait a little longer so that I can enjoy the 69% saving currently offered on 'Black Notice') just so I can put in my two cents worth.
Rating:
Summary: NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Review: I read the last 3 novels of P.C. in a heartbeat, but it took me more than 6 months to finish this one. The first 100 pages are so uninteresting that I had to force myself through them. If we discount the unnecessary intense brutality, cruelty and incredible violence, there is very little plot or new information in The Last Precinct. That said, one cannot discount Patricia Cornwell's mastering of the English language, but it is not enough to make an interesting novel. It really seems that she had to produce a new book to satisfy her Publisher, despite she was short of inspiration at the time. The pace is very slow, and I was wondering, with only a few chapters till it's end, how there will be time enough to give the reader a satisfying "ending". To my opinion, it didn't, and I have found the development very hasty and the abundance of coincidences lacking credibility.
Rating:
Summary: This is my last book from Cornwell
Review: I enjoyed the first books in her series and recommend them to others. This last effort shows that Patricia Cornwell has simply run out of gas and stories. I forced myself to complete the book. The author has lost her way and is now writing for the advance money. The plots are getting sillier and sillier.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, But Gory
Review: This book is very interesting, but seems to move at a slower pace than previous Kay Scarpetta novels. The many twists and turns do get a little difficult to follow, but make the book hard to put down. The crime scenes and autopsies are explained in too much graphic detail. Read this book if you like good mysteries and gory horror movies.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to get into, but then her best yet!
Review: I found this one hard to get into the first few chapters, because Kay just "wasn't herself." But once I did get into it, I thought it was one of the best ever with quite a twist at the end!!
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