Southern Cross

Rating:
Summary: doesn't deserve 1 star
Review: Southern Cross was awful.I can't believe I stuck with it hoping it would get better. I am a big fan of Patricia Cornwell and out of respect I kept reading. I shouldn't have. The story was lame and the characters were shallow and confusing. Even the names of some characters Like Brazil, West, Butner, and Chief Hammer showed no thought. I even noticed alot of product names blatenly used as if Patricia sold ad space in her book.There was no real plot, it was hard to figure who was the main character. I felt the ending was rushed like Patricia herself couldn't stand writing such a waste of time story.I have never been this mad about an Author showing no effort, just a deadline to meet.Learn from Stephen King about writing dribble to please a publisher.I am glad it wasn't a Scarpetta novel though, she was getting boring, but this showed no imagination and no thought. It actually made me mad.I probably won't read her again even a Scarpetta novel.

Rating:
Summary: Southern Cross
Review: I believe people have trouble with Patricia Cornwell's two books, HORNETS NEST, and SOUTHERN CROSS, because they keep expecting to see Dr Kay, and Lucy and Marino to come into it somewhere along the line, and they don't. You must remember these books are about totally different characters, and Kay,Lucy, and Marino are not part of either of these books. I had the same proplem, because I wanted to see these loveable characters enter somewhere within the story, and I kept flicking trying to find them on a page further along, but trust me you wont find them, cause they aint there! You need to read these books in a different light, they have totally different characters in them, whom you will grow to like as well. Patricia Cornwell is a wonderful writer, and puts a tremendous amount of research into her work, which I believe so many of her readers dont realise...I have enjoyed every book Patricia has written, and I look forward to the release of her new book in the summer of 2000.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I have loved all of her other books. This one was very disappointing. I only keep reading because we have to pay so much for a book. It seemed like no one proof read it before it went into print?

Rating:
Summary: Please Return To Kay Scarpetta!
Review: I ended up skipping 5 to 10 pages at a time just to see if the story was improving! The first 3/4 of the book were boring, weak and scattered. The characters were 1 dimensional (ok...Bubba was 2 dimensional) and the plot disolved with too many unnecessary sidetracks. What ever happened to introducing THE CRIME in the beginning and bringing us all along for the ride to SOLVING IT! I am a major Cornwell Fan, but this was a total waste of my precious reading time! Please return to the Coroner and all of the wonderful details of a well planned Murder Mystery!

Rating:
Summary: I tried !
Review: I have to say I had read the many reviews of Southern Cross before I opened it up. I tried to enjoy it, but I could not. I am a fan of Patricia but I did not like this book. I never got into it. Shortly after starting the book, I wondered why am I struggling with this? I won't give up on Patricia though.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Stock Characcters
Review: Patricia Cornwell really outdid herself with the creation of characters Butner Fluck and Lelia Ehrhart, either one of whom is worth the price of admission. The former, is more or less a redneck Homer Simpson, and the latter an arrogant Country Club Woman whose immigrant English has some of the funniest malapropisms I can remember reading in a long time. Oh yes, there's a plot with murders and police/detective work, but this book is more appealing because of the hilarious sub-plots and stock characters. You can almost hear Ms. Cornwell laughing as she was writing......

Rating:
Summary: All P. Cornwell books are great
Review: Southern Cross is so good, I started reading it and couldn't put it down. I've read other books from Cornwell and love them. Thwy are are hard to put down. I can't wait to read her new one coming out in July(?).

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time!
Review: I have read many of Patricia Cornwell's books, and have thoroughly enjoyed them all -- until now. Honestly, my impression of this book is that Ms. Cornwell had a publisher deadline to meet and had absolutely nothing to submit, so she threw this together. The first 3 or 4 chapters should have been a good indication to me that I didn't want to finish this book, but being familiar with her other work, I kept forging ahead, waiting for it to get better. It never did. In a review of a John Grisham book, I mentioned his character development was lacking compared to some of his other works. In this Cornwell book, there were no characters, only caricatures. The story line was unimaginative, and the most intelligent actor in the book was Deputy Chief West's CAT!

Rating:
Summary: DRECK & DRIVEL
Review: What was the author thinking? How did the editor allow this mess? You think even the typesetter would have disassociated himself with this blatent mass market rip off. Please....dogs and cats giving the play by play of their masters' actions? A cat dialing a phone to try to reconnect two lovers. GAGGGGGGGGGGG. Where is Kay when we needed her? She could have chopped this book to pieces with her scapel and band saw.

Rating:
Summary: A Reader from Indiana
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. I thought the characters were stereotypes and the women were not believable. The romance between West and Brazil is just plain boring. Why don't they communicate? They are both supposed to be intelligent individuals. I think Ms. Cornwell should go back to her excellent books with the forensic pathologist.