The Last Precinct

Rating:
Summary: It just didn't grab hold
Review: I found this book so tedious and such a departure from Ms. Cornwell's previous work that I was quite disappointed. The 1st person, present tense writing style has always driven me batty; it always feels like the story is being told AT you rather than told TO you. Some authors may believe that it's a more "personal" style of writing, but I think it's a poor attempt on the authors part to give the reader a deeper sense of being part of the characters life, when in reality it feels more like a cheap trick or a cop out.

I would really like to see Ms. Cornwell branch out with these characters. How about a book where Kay is a supporting character but Lucy is the main character? That could be interesting, as long as she ditches the present tense writing style, and lets the characters get back to basics, with her normally strong, willful and energized women.

Rating:
Summary: Crime isn't written better from any other author...
Review: My boyfriend's eye noticed Cornwell's latest Scarpetta novel, "The Last Precinct," on the shelf in our town's bookstore, and he told me what an interesting story it was. I love Cornwell's images and genius, and like all the other great reads, I bought "Precinct." The plot was far more interesting and haunting than "Black Notice." And Cornwell has raised new heights and crossed dangerous territory in this hard-boiled crime novel. I can't understand, however, how people who read her novels rate them so badly. Kudos to Patricia Cornwell for her inexplicable genius.

Rating:
Summary: If you like Kay Scarpetta
Review: This book picks up where "Black Notice" left off. DR Kay Scarpetta and crew are working against time to find and international serial killer. It takes you through some harrowing twists and turns but was fairly predictable about halfway through. As always there are the antics of Pete Marino. His character always has something to say and he always offsets the refinement of Dr. Scarpetta very well. This is proof that opposites attract. I recommend this book if you had read Patricia Cornwall before. If not, read her novels in order so you will have the full feel of where the characters came from and where they are going to at this time.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointed
Review: I could not finish this book. It just rambled on and on, with no story to speak of, and certainly nothing to keep this reader's attention. Terribly disappointing. I had to check the cover to make sure it was really written by Cornwell. I tried to keep reading, thinking it would get better... or get SOMETHING... but it never did. Totally boring.

Rating:
Summary: This is it.
Review: I swore after I read Black Notice that I wouldn't buy another one of these. This will definitely be my last. Take the same story line as her last few books and add more sex and violence and there you have it.

Rating:
Summary: Last Princinct is Not Her Last Book
Review: Unfortunately, the 468 pages of this book were put there to give some space between Point of Origin and Patricia Cornwell's next book. This effort was boring and confusing. You may keep on reading in hopes that she will make sense of things, but you'll be disappointed. I re-read this book to learn what I had misssed, but it seemed even more jumbled the second time.

Do yourself a favor and read all her early Scarpetta books, or at least Post Mortem and Cruel and Unusual, but stop before you crack the cover of Point of Origin. Avoicd this current book, The Last Princinct. There are so many delightful mystery-thrillers out there.[....]

Rating:
Summary: The concept of the "anti hero" seems compelling...
Review: ...until you take it too far. There's a certain attraction to having a main character who has flaws he or she is combatting at least half as hard as the "bad guys". After all, it's juvenile to expect heroes who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, isn't it? The problem is when you go past the DMZ of mediocrity and wind up with someone who's too dysfunctional to save the day. Kay Scarpetta in this book is hardly the Meryl Streep-esque intrepid lady forensic scientist I've come to admire over the years. She's torn between a paranoia caused by recent events of the last couple of books and the individualistic cussedness that made me a reader of Cornwell books in the first place. The problem is that this stand-alone compulsion now works against her by making her reluctant to reach out to some pretty obvious sources of support. Like the niece who she more than half raised and now wants to help the aunt who was more a mother to her than her real mom. Like her shrink friend who is Scarpetta's own de-facto aunt, but can't get past the barriers. Like her detective friend who's mostly succeeeded in keeping his unrequited crush on her from screwing up the friendship too badly. A word of warning--Cornwell is exaggerating Marino's rather abrasive Sipowicz-clone personality in this book to the extent that if you didn't know him from previous books, you'd write him off as a real a**hole. But as for Scarpetta in this book, it's hard to root for a "good guy" who has an Olive Oyl need to to be rescued from Bluto. After all, who gets to be Popeye? I think the whole anti-hero thing has run its course and needs to be outgrown, by authors and readers alike. Tina Turner once sang "We don't need another hero". But I think we need this particular hero back.

Rating:
Summary: I'd give it no stars, if I could¿
Review: The reader/reviewer from Acton, MA has it exactly right. This is a sloppily-written, plotless book, dripping with false-angst that makes the reader feel as if he or she had been mentally tortured to no purpose. Did Cornwell even submit this to an editor or was it sent directly to the printer? (The last is the only explanation for how it got into print in the first place.)

How bad is it? The writing is so bad that Cornwell apparently thinks that 'prepossessed by' is somehow synonymous with 'absorbed by' or 'consumed by,' and that it makes sense to write of something making one's psyche hurt. There is no plot, only a tedious unravelling of Kay Scarpetta's paranoid thoughts. The suspect isn't the suspect. The original crime isn't ever resolved (or even explained). The ending is simply an arbitrary farce, lacking surprise or suspense (and introducing minor characters who are brought onstage out of sheer desperation. Of course the main bad guys escape which makes me fear that Cornwell plans a sequel. I urge her to give up her plans and spare us.

With the price of paperback 'thrillers' edging up to ten dollars, readers deserve more from an author than typing. Don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: In depth and vulnerable - a new look at Kay Scarpetta
Review: At first I was dissappointed that Patricia Cornwell chose to dissect (pun intended) Kay Scarpetta this way. I would seem that to make her ever-strong and resillient doctor-lawyer into a sniveling introspective mess to be the downfall of the whole series. I was wrong.

What really happens is that we finally get through the shell. We actually get to do to her what she does to all the victims that cross her autopsy tables and let her do the talking. At times the revelations are blatant and at others they sneak up on the reader and reinforce the thoughts and impressions that we had about the doc all along. We always knew there was a real person under there. We always knew that she could feel as helpless as some of the people that she sees everyday in car wrecks and shootings. We get to see the moody/bitchy side probably more than we'd like, but it's the real Kay Scarpetta this time.

Overall, the story is out of hand with way too many plot twists and turns, but I liked the fact that we see her as a real person with all her flaws (like her cigarettes) and imperfections (her ability to never quite put 2 and 2 together fast enough).

I'm starting to tire with Marino's cavalier attitude, but the faint hint of real emotion we see from him comes as a comfort. Lucy is up to bigger and better things and is pretty much stopped being the snivelling brat she's been up to now.

I'm intrigued now...just when I was about to say goodbye to the whole Scarpetta series. I may just stick around to see what the good doc is up to in the future.

Keep an open mind and you may see the doc come back to life.

Rating:
Summary: Stop me before I buy again!
Review: There was one previous Scarpetta book (I have forgotten the title) that made me annoyed enough to actually write a review - I think this one is worse. What are these people (the author, the publisher, the reviewers) thinking? That we're stupid? I'm going to vote with my feet here and NEVER, NEVER buy another book by this woman who obviously cares nothing about her fans. If she did she wouldn't be commiting this fraud. At least there is ONE improvement - Marino stopped saying "crib"!