Rating: 
Summary: Not my favourite Kay Scarpetta.
Review: Although this book was not my favourite in this series, there is still a lot to recommend it. The forensic detail is wonderful, and written in a fashion that makes it easy to understand. My main complaint with this book is Kay's niece, Lucy. She is not a believable character, and I find her even more unbelievable in this book. My main reason for this is that I don't think an agency like the FBI would have an untrained, young agent like Lucy involved at the heart of their big cases. Yes, I realize she's supposed to be a genius, but seriously, please!! But other than Lucy, I like the other characters, and they are developing very nicely. My favourite is of course, Marino. In this book Kay and Marino are trying to determine the cause of death of a diver that is found dead in the water in an old ship graveyard. Everyone is trying to convince them that it was an accident or suicide, but Kay knows differently, and both her and Marino know that there is very real evil surrounding this death. As they dig deeper, the true extent of the evil is revealed to all, many lives are at stake. This book, like all the others in the series is chock-full of suspense from the opening paragraph right to the very end.
Rating: 
Summary: Cause of Death
Review: As far as this being one of Cornwell's best books, it would not qualify. The book started off too abruptly and didnt give as much detailed background as it should have. In the beginning it introduced us to a mysterious death. There was a peson killed on a dock. Dr Skarpetta was the person in charge of investigating this crime. It goes on and on about this, not really introducing any new material. This made the book less attention grabbing. The same happened over and over throughout the book, and really didnt feel like we were getting anywhere. The only thing that gave it a weird feeling was the fact that it took place on New Years Eve. Normally Cornwell keeps you wanting to read the next page, Cause of Death just didnt cut it. Dont take this, as if she writes bad books, since most of hers that I have read were excellent. I just wouldnt go out and get this one until you have read some of her others.
Rating:
Summary: Murder gets personal for Scarpetta
Review: Cornwell's seventh Kay Scarpetta novel opens with Virginia State Pathologist Scarpetta insisting on a New Year's Eve dive in a frigid murky river where a diver's body has been found caught on a decommissioned sub in an unused Navy Yard. An odd hostility from local police and Navy officials only makes her more assertive and determined.The diver is a journalist Scarpetta liked and the autopsy - colorfully described, as always - reveals murder. Scarpetta quickly finds herself and, inadvertently, her brilliant, difficult niece (a recent FBI graduate and computer wonder), in the center of a maelstrom of menace which soon includes her protective friend, police captain Pete Marino and her erstwhile, married lover, FBI brass Wesley Benton. Meanwhile the journalist's apartment turns up an arsenal and a book - the "bible" of a right wing cult, full of recipes for murder and terrorism. Then another murder occurs, even closer to Scarpetta, and conspiracy and intimidation loom larger. Cornwell's writing is vivid and Scarpetta is a prickly, sharp-edged heroine who exudes authority and keeps her private fears hidden. The story will keep you turning pages as Cornwell ratchets up the suspense but the explosive ending is jarringly sudden - never giving the reader much chance to put a human face on evil or comprehend its motives. Still, this is Cornwell in her prime.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but still good
Review: Enjoyable read although not the best of the Kay Scarpetta series. Still, if more of Kay is what you want, this will entertain you.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but still good
Review: Enjoyable read although not the best of the Kay Scarpetta series. Still, if more of Kay is what you want, this will entertain you.
Rating: 
Summary: What's all the hype?
Review: I don't know why everyone thinks that Patricia Cornwell is such a HOT writer! I find her books to be very poorly written with many inaccuracies. In this book Kay orders a "Palligrini water with Lemon" and then two pages later she calls the bartender back over to forget the "Chardonnay" and orders something stronger. What's that about? Doesn't anyone edit or proofread her books before they go to print? With the pre-publication money in her pocket; I guess they don't need to. Sloppy, slopply, sloppy. I think she would feel like she owes it to her fans and readers who keep putting up with this stuff just for a possible interesting story and plot line. Even if most of them are borrowed from the newspapers. This will be the last of her books that I will read.
Rating:
Summary: Not Cornwell's best, but still in there swinging.
Review: I have read all of Cornwell's books and can now honestly say I am deeply depressed by the author's galloping ego. Lucy irritates me endlessly. Her relationship with Kay bounces back and forth with remarkable clarity however. It's perhaps the most convincing relationship in the series. I hate Kay's affair with Benton Wesley with a passion. Not only is it contrived and embarrassing - how can he be so ethical and yet so base? It would have been far more interesting to team up Scarpetta and Marino. I love Marino. He's so real, I can practically see the egg stains on his tie. Benton, clearly modelled on John Douglas, the former charismatic head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, has lost something in the translation. He has become quite improbable since he took up with Kay. Why oh why did Cornwell bump off the boyfriend Mark? And this I think is the crux of the problem. Firstly, we are told of Mark's death in an earlier book - in the past tense! We are not allowed to really share her agony, even though we by now, care deeply about Kay Scarpetta. In Cause Of Death, Cornwell pulls the same stunt. We have to wait for nearly 100 pages to see Benton and Kay together - and we learn, they've been split up for months! Quite conveniently, Benton is getting a divorce - at his long suffering wife's request. I guess Cornwell got stung by so much criticism of the extra-marital affair. In the context of the books, it seems highly unlikely Connie Wesley would really run off with another man, but okay, I'll rent the idea for now. Still, the medical aspects of the books continue to inspire, in spite of the laughable, clunky final set pieces.. A nuclear power plant? Please! I miss the earlier Kay back in Richmond with her squirrel and no-life. This one is too Cosmo, too Rambo-lina. However, the earlier diving sequences are fun and the locations as usual, make me jealous as a writer. Cornwell has been there, done that. I can't wait for the next book
Rating:
Summary: boring, no real plot... one more book for the contract!
Review: I haven't read ALL of the books in the "Scarpetta" series, but I've gone through my fair share. This one ranks last in that list. The "book" is used more as a vehicle to develop the characters in the series, than as a story that can stand on its own. There seems to be no true plot, and it is almost predictable... a "typical" ending except in this case the "bad" guy is nowhere to be found throughout the whole book, so you end up with this totally off feeling that you've just wasted your time in trying to put some thought into figuring the "mystery" out. Aside from all of this, in this particular story Scarpetta is closer to the female version of James Bond than in any of her other stories... man this girl can do it all, knows it all and can take on a heard of rhinos all by her self.... too much. I like to be challenged by a story, not to be fed a pointless story because she had to write 'x' many books to fulfill a publisher's contract. This is what this book is, no less, no more.
Rating:
Summary: Slips Ahoy!
Review: I really liked "Cause of Death" by Patricia Cornwell until the climactic sequence. When she rolls out the big guns, so to speak, it seemed so ridiculous to me. I laughed out loud and finally quit reading.
Until then, I liked the central character, who is well educated and high strung and has trouble relating to people and is surrounded by conflict and troubles. I liked the forensic stuff and the who-dun-it structure.
(This is only the second Kay Scarpetta novel I've read.)
I liked Pete Marino and Lucy and the setting for the first killing and Roche and the way the mystery unfolds.
The best thing is that most of the time the setting and the characters mimic the real world in a good way. She is a very responsible person, who is both doctor/pathologist and a lawyer, and who is in conflict with people all around her, because she is a woman, because she does a good job, and because she uncovers crimes that other people would overlook.
I don't think the author needed all that elaborate hokum at the end. I like a smaller story, where evil is not about to destroy so much of the world but is about to destroy the life of one or two people.
This is still a decent crime novel and worth reading, but I'd give it a B minus. (Sorry, Ms. Cornwell. You are a heck of a writer.)
Rating: 
Summary: Never write about things you don't understand!
Review: I've yet to see a movie or read any fiction involving a nuclear power plant that was anything but silly. Writers: just don't go there if you don't know what you're talking about! Now, the forensic stuff in Patricia Cornwell's books is fascinating. She knows that field very well, but the power plant thing was an idea best forgotten. It shot the whole climax into total silliness for me. Granted, I have the advantage of having worked in a nuclear plant for 16 years and not everyone has that. The plot probably worked ok for most people, but for me, it was a serious blow to credibility.
|
