The Last Precinct

Rating:
Summary: Good read -- but what happened to the ending???
Review: I am a devoted follower of the Kay Scarpetta novels, and generally enjoy each of them. This one was a little different, in that we learn more about Kay's psyche -- and unlike some of the other reviewers, I enjoyed that.

HOWEVER --- I have two major complaints with this novel. The first one is one that I've had with several of her recent books: we have the stock subplot of "Kay's job is in jeopardy because of bad people/politics/professional jealousy/etc." Come on, folks, if her job was in jeopardy as often as it is in these books, she'd have been gone before now! At least it looks like this may not be an issue in future books.

Second -- and this was my biggest complaint -- after the book builds and builds to the climactic scene, it just sort of ends. There's this major cliffhanging moment (it's hard to write this without giving away secrets of the book, and I don't want to spoil it for you who haven't read it), the chapter ends in the middle of the drama -- and the next chapter picks up about 2 weeks later, and just sort of says, Oh, by the way, here's what happened and how Kay got out of the trouble she was in. I felt like Cornwell had just suddenly lost interest in the book, and rather than put her all into it, just wrote a quick expository chapter to tie up loose ends, end the cliffhanger, and get on to writing the next novel. What a disappointment!!!!!

Bottom line: read it, but not one I'd like to add to my personal library.

Rating:
Summary: Kay's biggest Crisis
Review: This is the eleventh book in the series featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta whose job as the chief Medical Examiner of Virginia has put her in touch with many crimes and many conflicts with other law enforcement colleagues. In previous novels Scarpetta has always come through her ordeals with criminals such as Temple Gault and Carrie Grethen. These two in particular may have given Kay some of the worst experiences of her life yet they are far outweighed by her most recent assailant, the Warewolf. Even though Kay is clearly the only living victim of this killer, she is still accused of killing Deputy Chief Diane Bray. This mad, very hairy killer murdered Bray in "Black Notice", Cornwell's previous novel. Kay's most frightening crisis however, isn't being accused of Bray's murder, it is finally having to confront what happened to her former lover, the FBI agent Benton Wesley. Kay is forced to bring out her feelings and examine them in the cold light of day, just like one of her autopsies. Only when she does this does Kay realise that only she can help herself through this and that no longer can her niece Lucy and admirer Pete Marino, help her through what has to be the hardest time of her life.

Rating:
Summary: Time for a fresh approach
Review: This book and previous one, Black Notice, seem to focus largely on the dark emotional turmoil of Kay Scarpetta. Murders and characters of each book are tied together to the point of being tiresome. In Cornwell's earlier stories, it was much more exciting to read about the new murders and cases.

In The Last Precinct, so much was tied to previous books, it was a bit taxing to try to remember what I had already read in those books. I think when reading a mystery, it's enough that the reader be asked to be alert for clues given within that same book, let alone be expected to recall clues from books read 1-2 or more years ago.

I found Lucy's financial situation a bit too convenient. I didn't like how the end indicated that the next book will tie in with events that took place in The Last Precinct.

I did like Jaime Berger, however, and I think Kay Scarpetta needs a good female friendship (or even deeper female relationship). I think there's potential for a good storyline with female camaraderie between Kay and Jaime.

I look forward to Jaimie and Kay working together on cases, as long as I'm not expected to recall too much from The Last Precinct.

Rating:
Summary: REDEMPTION
Review: I have just now finished this book, and was so thrilled with it that I wanted to review it immediately. After reading the last book in the series (Black Notice) I posted a very negative review. Perhaps my expectations were a tad too high, but I was very disappointed with the plot and the characters. Dr. Scarpetta must at least have worthy adversaries, and Diane Bray was never that. I found her and the whole 'loup garou' story so unconvincing. Mercifully 'The Last Precinct' had a far more complex and intriguing plotline, and I was just on the edge of my seat the whole time. And paranoid, wow, I was right there with Scarpetta, being suspicious of everyone. I don't usually find her very human, but at last she became that way through her isolation and utter vulnerability. Lucy didn't even annoy me the way she usually does, she's becoming an avenging angel of heroic proportions. I'm totally looking forward to the next instalment. Can't WAIT to read about what the ladies at The Last Precinct are up to. You go girls! But what's to become of Marino - where will he fit in to all this? I'm fully confident that Ms Cornwell will lay it all out for us in splendid style. Far from being a spent force I found her to be a long-term visionary with this book, and I take back my harsh comment that she had lost the plot. Excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: O.K. But Too Much Whining and Moaning
Review: I have really enjoyed Cornwell's books, although recently she seems to have Scarpetta spend entirely too much time whining for herself and bemoaning Lucy. In "The Last Precinct" Scarpetta not only does this to excess - it was tiresome, especially for the first half - but also exhibiting personal weakness in contrast to the strength we have come to know. And Police Captain Marino is portrayed as an intolerant slob; one can wonder how he continues to hold his position. On a positive note, this book tied in nicely with the previous book, "Black Notice", which one should read first. All-in-all, I hope Cornwell gets off her downward spiral and soon will recover.

Rating:
Summary: Beating a dead horse (or a live werewolf?)
Review: I agree with some of my fellow reviewers that in "The Last Precinct," Patricia Cornwell drags in way too much of her previous novel, "Black Notice"--the first hundred pages literally paraphrase what went on in BN. Unlike others, I've never found Dr. Kay Scarpetta to be a particularly sympathetic or even likable character. Cornwell tends to paint Scarpetta as the all-knowing and all-seeing wisewoman, with an insufferable attitude towards those she finds "inferior", most notably Pete Marino. The situation with her niece Lucy (oh, did you know that she's a lesbian? It's hard to ignore when Cornwell mentions that fact seemingly every time Lucy's name comes up) is getting to be a joke as well. Cornwell, as usual, is technically flawless in the forensic details, but inside Scarpetta's chilly, self-absorbed psyche is not a place where'd I'd want to hang out for very long.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not as great as the rest
Review: This novel was ok, helped to fill you in on the why and how, but spent too much time inside Kay's head. Also, because of this, she writes the novel in first person, which is different from all her previous novels, which makes it a little harder to read if you are used to reading Cornwell's other style. I think this book was okay, but not one of Cornwell's best.

Rating:
Summary: excellent reading
Review: I have read the entire series of Patricia Cornwell books where she writes about Dr. Kay Scarpetta and all of them are excellent reading. If you just getting started on this series I would suggest that you read them in the order that they were written in since the books do tie into each other. It is an excellent series and is worth the time to read them. It is one twist after another as she finds the killer or killers with the help of her neice and a police captian. They should all be rated at least 4 star reading.

Rating:
Summary: Painful self analysis
Review: Kate Scarpetta is supposed to be one tough woman, not given to self analysis, self doubt or weakness of character. Too much time was spent dealing with the flaws in her character. I have read only one half of this book but I may finish it in the spring when my winter doldrums are over. Much too depressing to finish now with a new six inches of snow on the ground, grey skies, low temps, icy driveway and sick children.

Rating:
Summary: She needs to study her geography
Review: I usually really enjoy Cornwell's books, but her characters are starting to get into a bit of a rut. I would think it's hard to keep all the characters fresh after so many books, but Lucy and Marino and both pretty irritating at this point.

I live in Williamsburg, Virginia and the thing that really annoyed me about this book is her geography of Jamestown is all screwed up. First of all, there is no modern place called Jamestown. All the people who live near the Jamestown settlement actually live in Williamsburg, according to their mailing addresses. So when a character who lives near Jamestown says "He's staying with his grandparents in Williamsburg", it sounds totally stupid because someone actually from here wouldn't say that. They would refer to the place where he's staying as "nearby" or "in town". They wouldn't refer to Williamsburg like it's some other town because it's the town they live in.

She also has a character who fishes at College Landing Park, which is supposed to be near Jamestown and it's not. It's several miles away.

She also keeps referring to Route 5. It's a road that winds through many parts of town, but only one section of it is referred to as Route 5. The rest of the road is referred to by different names. Either the part she refers to is a stretch of the road that no one really calls Route 5 or the places she mentions as being near each other, can't really be.

I used to live in Richmond and her descriptions of places there would always make me feel like I was there because they were so exact.

Her descriptions of the Williamsburg area were confusing and definitely sounded like they were written by someone who doesn't know the area. It surprised me. I actually pulled out a map because I couldn't figure out where she was talking about.

I guess this is all totally petty, but it was irritating.