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Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This was my first Cornwall book and I found it compelling in its descriptions and plot. She creates suspense that makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I can't wait to read her previously published books.
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Summary: Cornwell's Books are a MUST Read!
Review: This book, along with all others of Patricia Cornwell's, was wonderful. She is my absolute favorite author. Her plots are always very tense and cause me to want to stay up all night to finish the book. Ms. Cornwell will be anyone's favorite who loves the subject of forensic pathology and mystery all-in-one. I definitely recommend Ms. Cornwell's books...they are ALL a MUST read.
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Summary: From Potter's Field by Patricia Cornwell.
Review: This was a very good book with excellent descriptions. It's a real page turner and keeps you wondering what's going to happen next. The best parts are at the very beggining and the end.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I loved this book. Cornwell is an excellent, compelling writer. She knows her stuff and she knows what to do with it! Thumbs up!!!
Rating: 
Summary: More of a "yawn" than a "scream", really...
Review: Usually I read "general fiction", but I also like to read "crime novels" from time to time. Of course that good "crime novels" also qualify as literature. Take Graham Greene, for instance, or James Ellroy, the Tinseltown Dostoyevsky. Of course that it's a very tricky business, that of writing crime novels. And unfortunately, Ms. Cornwell's "From Potter's Field" falls a little bellow the mark.Let's take the character development, for instance. Or rather, let us not take it, since there isn't any. Scarpetta continues to be a paranoid b***h who simply cannot stop moralising for a second (I like strong women characters; unfortunately, this one is just irritating). Lucy, whose very existence should be considered a crime, manages to be more annoying than Jar Jar Binks. Gault barely manages to be ONE-dimensional, let alone be terrifying (he's about as scary as Dr.Evil from "Austin Powers". Minus the jokes.) Marino is his usual amusing cardboard self and everyone else is just walking backdrop. But let us forget character for a while. How about the plot? After all, a good plot can save a crime novel, can't it? Well, not always, but in this case there is no plot. None that Cornwell hasn't written before, that is. Think about it: someone is out on a killing spree, Scarpetta takes on the case, Scarpetta goes here and there and finally, some name is pulled out of the filofax and thrown into the page, only to have him/her shot dead (usually by Scarpetta) at the end. The only difference here is that this time we *know* who the killer is, so the plot becomes quite obvious after the first twenty pages! Not that there weren't enough intriguing possibilities around: say, what has the Army got to do with everything? Or who exactly is Gault's father? (It would be interesting if Cornwell did a "Chinatown" here - you know: the scene where Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) reveals who is the father of her daugther - and came up with some really nasty solution to the question of Gault's parentage. Instead, it appears that Peyton Gault's brother was shagging his wife - duh!) But unfortunately, none of this leads anywhere. The "plot" merely goes on undeterred in its path towards Trite-city, Predictable-land. The only thing that starts out by being vaguely arousing is the scene where Scarpetta meets the Gaults. We aren't usually treated to this kind of viewpoint in the over-simplistic Scarpetta novels, so my hopes were high. What a major disappointment, considering that that scene is handled with all the subtlety of a demolition ball wrecking a building. I know that scenes like that are very difficult to write, but surely Cornwell could have come up with something better? After some time I came to realise that the purpose of that scene was to remind us how much "The Sweet Hereafter" was brilliant in its handling of the reactions of parents towards their wayward - or their lost - children. Also, since we are talking about Scarpetta meets the Gaults, let us pose a question: why, pray tell, is there no explanation concerning Gault's fixation on Scarpetta? And consider the following situation: two twin siblings, very similar genetic traits, very similar upbringing... so why was Jayne Gault such an angel and Temple Gault such a demon? Should we start calling for father Merrin here? (OK, so he snorts about six lines of coke a day, but so did Drew Barrymore before her reinvention and never was she seen indulging in a killing spree.) Also, if it was so obvious from such an early age that Temple Gault had some serious problems, why didn't his parents commit him to an institution? Did they hope that he would grow out of it? In a word, Conrwell's tidbits concerning Gault are pure and simply bizarre. It's so ironic that I re-read the brilliant "The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith before I picked up "From Potter's Field" - what a glaring contrast. Gault the classical Anti-christ? Compared to the wonderfully textured Tom Ripley he is just a complete ninny. There were some other things that left some bitter aftertaste in my mouth, such as the ever-present pro-death penalty stance (alright, Patricia, we know what your opinion is... enough already, OK?) and characters being fans of Ayn Rand's books (eek!!!). But considering the former, doesn't Cornwell know that the US is the only industrialised Western country to still have the death penalty? (Here in Portugal we got rid of that *in the late 1800s*.) Doesn't she realise that her arguments either mean absolutely nothing to the other countries where this is being sold or simply irritate lots of people there (myself included)? Also, why does Cornwell insist in portraying Scarpetta & mates as defenders of a featureless society against criminals that are portrayed as "complete outsiders"? Is she afraid to face the real texture of a corrupt society, such as in "Seven", for instance, and deal with the underlying problems? Since crime has been a feature of almost all human societies from the dawn of time, how about devoting some pages to that issue, instead of brushing it under the carpet? But I see this is getting too long, and I believe that I have stated the reasons to why "From Potter's Field" was a complete waste of time and money. If you want to read an interesting crime novel - a *real* novel - from the female perspective, read "Smilla's Sense of Snow". If you insist in reading "From Potter's Field" go ahead, but don't say you haven't been warned. As for me, this was not the first Cornwell novel I read, but it will certainly be the last.
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Summary: Yet another great read!!!
Review: Yet another of Cornwells great reads!!! The story is non-stop, with twists here there and everywhere! A good ending......really keeps you guessing.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: This is a graet book! Intense, Thrilling, Shocking! It makes you want to read it over and over again!
Rating: 
Summary: She's Done Better
Review: Having read six of Cornwell's novels I have to say that this isn't presented with the momentum and irony that her other books had. The first fourth of the book is excellent, but then the ending is so disappointing that you wonder why she even bothered with the foreshadowing. I enjoyed this book, but it could have been better.
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Summary: This book actually made me scared to turn the pages.
Review: I think this is the best book from Patricia Cornwell ever. You start reading, and you can actually picture what's happening in the book. Every page is so heart-pounding, that it actually made me scared to turn the pages. I hear there's going to be a major motion picture on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent detail and entertainment
Review: So far I have liked From Potters Field the best. Definetly a spooky portrayal of the killer.
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