Rating: 
Summary: The Last Train Wreck
Review: Patricia Cornwell's latest novel sadly confirms that she no longer has the ability to adhere to the tight plotting and write with the dark emotion that made her first few novels so engrossing. While "The Last Precinct" ties up some of the loose ends from "Black Notice," it goes nowhere in either new psychological terror, or territory for that matter, and falls apart well before its abrupt and unsatisfying ending. I had felt that the series lost its emotional center with Benton's death; Cornwell fails to recapture that center in this book. The series has, in my opinion, never recovered. The direction that Cornwell takes with the character of Jay Talley is frankly not believable, and the grand jury investigation simply does not ring true. One of the hallmarks of Cornwell's previous work was her ability to create a fairly accurate picture of the workings of criminal law; in this case, however, neither the investigation itself nor its "dramatic" ending are believable. This will be the last Kay Scarpetta novel for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Mystery
Review: I'm normally not a fan of a series, but whenever I read "Black Notice" I couldn't wait for the follow up book and I must say that "The Last Precinct" is a worthy Scarpetta continuation. There are surprising twists and turns. The beginning is a little slow, but as the story goes on the book intensifies significantly to the end as it also offers an enganging ending -- well done indeed. Another thriller that I just read and I thought was awesome as it is fast paced and plays on an international level is the new intelligent and explosive megathriller by Alec Donzi "The Consultant."
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Give Up On This One
Review: I am a huge Cornwell fan. I have bought the last 11 books in hardcover the day they came out. (And there's no other author I buy in hard cover). I have even taken a day off of work to read them as I can't put them down. So when this book didn't come out in the usual month of July, it was agony to wait. I finally picked it up and began it the moment I got home. I was at first disappointed. The first 100 or so pages were hard to get through. I kept losing interest, and even dozed off at one point (never happened before!) I ended up putting it down for a few days and trying again. Once I got past the part at the beginning, which is a lot of rehashing of the past (this may be necessary for many readers as the last book came out about 15 months previous), I found that there were several interesting twists which snagged my interest. I found myself getting excited again as I had to know how these played out. It's apparent from the ending that there is still much unresolved and the next book will surely pick up from this story. Now I get how this is working. Cornwell isn't writing about isolated cases as much any more. Every seemingly new case is connected to the last. She has slowed down time and there is more detail. It makes sense. Earlier she had to jump ahead in order to show Lucy growing up and becoming more involved in the investigations. She can't keep jumping ahead or everyone would age too much. Also, it was hard for me to get over Benton's death, but I am convinced there are even more surprises to come surrounding that whole mystery. Any new Cornwell reader may find this latest book a little confusing and maybe even hard to wade through. Don't give up. All the more reason to read the earlier books. Cornwell is amazing in the small details that have meaning at later times. I wonder if she knows 5 books in advance of all the twists she throws into earlier, seemingly solved cases. Or does she come up with new ideas as she goes along?
Rating: 
Summary: Skip it
Review: I couldn't put down the previous book, and this one is the exact opposite. It obsesses over everything that happened in the previous book without moving the character forward. Really, you could never read this book and not lose your place in the series. It is just like missing a few days of your favorite soap opera -- no harm done. Save yourself the money and wait for the next one, hopefully one with a new plot.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best!
Review: After the death of her serial killers - Patricia has left much to be desired in her story line. Although I'm glad to see Kay is back in the books (I couldn't finish Hornets Nest or her next one) the excitement that existed in her earlier books is missing. I hope that her next one begins another long running story that will keep all of her faithful readers on the edge of their seats (again). Overall - I found this book hard to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than expected...
Review: I've never written a review for a book before, but here it goes...This one is better than what people are writing. Sure, it's not the earlier Scarpetta books, but this one ranks higher than the last few. I like how "Black Notice" and this one tie into each other. I also like the newer plot twists that have occurred. I have discovered that when reading a new Scarpetta book, you can't compare them with the earlier books. People change, so why can't characters? I also discovered another reason why I enjoyed this one more than the recent ones- Lucy isn't in it as much. I like her, but it seems like she has major propblems all the time. In this book, Scarpetta is the one with the problems and I like how she resolves them. Give this book a try.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Satisfying Follow-up to Black Notice
Review: After experiencing mild disappointment with Black Notice, I was extremely pleased to see that The Last Precinct picked up with the last scene from the prior book -- truly a continuation of the story that I thought had ended prematurely and unsatisfactorily. The Last Precint delivers on any number of levels and allows the exploration of Kay's personal feelings on a variety of subject matters. Kay is approaching middle age and, like many baby boomers, is questioning whether the job she is presently doing is what she wants to continue to do for the next part of her life. More than once I had to stop and examine my own feelings in this regard. This book moves our character along and the theme of change is also reflected by Lucy's career move as well. If only Patricia Cornwell could see her way clear to "clean up" Marino's personal habits in her next book!! I believe fans of this series will be pleased with this book and, as always, look forward to the next, possibly set in New York.
Rating:
Summary: The LAst Precinct
Review: As a big fan of the Kay Scarpetta series,I feel that Ms Cromwell has done a great job with keeping the reader wanting more.I would like to know what will happen in Kay's future.I hate when I get to the end of the book as i do not want them to end. I feel that Kay needs to get a life ; get the smell of Formalin out of her system for awhile. Maybe by working in "The Last Precinct"with Lucy she can find some of the happiness she shared when Benton was alive . Can't wait for the next "Kay Scarpetta".Keeps me hoping that in my next life I will come back as a Forensic Patholgist and not a Dental Hygienist with a love of forensics.
Rating:
Summary: Series Going Downhill
Review: This book is better than the last one, but a far cry from her earlier works. The first 25% is devoted to Scarpetta's angst and mental condition....BORING! I'm getting tired of all these heroic, strong women and weak, ineffectual men that she feels compelled to stock her book with. Her niece, Lucy, can do no wrong no matter how far off the chart she goes. Now, she's a multimillionaire sponsoring an elite private organization. She seems fixated on brilliant, criminal masterminds that also team up as a loving couple in their off hours. Cornwell is at her best when she focuses on forensic procedure to capture the bad guy, not dealing with these absurd international plots. It's like she's taken Quincy and turned him into James Bond in order to save the world from SPECTRE. If you want to read a REALISTIC mystery with strong a woman as a protanganist, then pick up any of Sue Grafton's books. Scarpetta used to be a good series, but it's time for Cornwell to retire her unless she can ground her once again in the real world.
Rating:
Summary: Her greatest for a long time
Review: I'll admit that I was skeptical when I first looked through it in the bookshop, and went so far as not to buy it, which is pretty hard for me as I've been a die-hard fan for a while. I didn't like the fact that it was about the werewolf murders, which I never found interesting at all when they were in BN, and most of all I didn't like it being written in the present tense. Plus there were a few revelations I found flicking through it that I didn't think were good. But I did eventually buy it (exactly one week later) and I couldn't put it down from the first page. I can see that it wouldn't be a good book to someone who hadn't read the Scarpetta series. It's so fixated on the characters rather than the crimes. But I loved learning so much more about the characters, seeing as I am familiar with the series. I wasn't really looking forward to LP, because like many others I felt that her books had been going steadily downhill since around Unnatural Exposure, and Black Notice was the worst so far. But this has completely changed the direction of the series, it's gone up and up and up. Although I don't know how I'm going to wait another year for the sequel. In short, I thought that this was a great, incredible book, and I hope the next one is as good.
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