Rating: 
Summary: Too bad there's no zero-star rating......
Review: The skinny on Patricia Cornwell is that her first three Scarpetta novels were first rate and the rest aren't worth reading. Black Notice does nothing to alter this with it's poor plotting and characterization and emphasis on the characters' weepy angst. It's a shame, really. PC has so many loyal fans that anything she writes goes straight to the best-seller list and makes her another five million dollars, so why spend a lot of time on suspense, believable characters and tight plotting ?
Rating: 
Summary: Liked this book the best of all the Kay Scarpetta novels.
Review: Would LOVE to see this book made into a movie. Wouldn't John Goodman be a perfect Marino?
Rating:
Summary: Dr. Kay,sidekick Marino are parodies of their former selves
Review: After reading Point of Honor, I had vowed never to buy another Cornwell book. She'd lost it. The sublime had degenerated into the ridiculous almost overnight, making that book a point of dishonor to the fine work that had preceded it. But desperately searching for the always-elusive great read and noting all the gushing reviews about Black Notice, I thought that perhaps Cornwell had gotten over her personal problems and recovered her muse. I was mislead, and I wish I could get my money back on this gawd-awful book. There is no plot. Dr. Kay and her bloated sidekick Marino have become hysterical parodies of their former selves. Bray's plot to get rid of them both was well-founded. And I agreed with Marino that Benton didn't actually burn to death in a fire--this top-notch intuitive realized that he'd cast his lot with the wrong crowd in Kay, Marino, and Lucy, so he devised a plot to get himself the hell away from them! I used to trust book reviews--how times have changed!
Rating: 
Summary: Narrator makes Marino sound like Rocky looking for Adrian!
Review: After reading the book, I listened to the abridged version of the audio tape. I thought the book w as fine, but the audio tape was horrible. That narrator has got to go...she has one accent..and it isn't a very good southern one, and I was embarrassed for her by her portrayal of Marino. Don't bother...stick with the book.
Rating:
Summary: She might as well have aol disks inside the jacket cover...
Review: What is it that Cornwell has against any woman who could be written as strongly as she once wrote Kay? The point of Diane Bray is a mystery to me. (mayhap even the real mystery of this mess) I was only shocked that Dorothy didn't get killed by the werewolf - oh well, there is always the next book. And Anderson - is this some kind of bad lesbian cop - good lesbian cop (Lucy) thing she has going? If you are going to write what I assume she thinks are "avant garde" lesbian characters, at least have the decency to make them more than one dimensional throw aways.. and sadly this category includes Lucy. The decay of Kay is even more accentuated by the weak female characters that Cornwell continues to surround Kay with, even though I believe the author is trying to cloud her weak characterization of her main character by setting up these straw women.Where is Anna when you need her? Both Kay and Lucy could use some serious counselling since buying booze, cigarettes, and guns sure as heck isn't doing the job. Kay's new boy toy is just a joke - and her "wild sex scene" has to be one of the pathetic low points of book... nahh.. that would implicate that there was a high point somewhere. But my MAIN criticism of this book has to be the aol connection. AOL MUST have been the ones to pay for Cornwell to fly the Concorde, because the sheer ridiculousness of having state employees using aol as their network has got to be some kind of inside joke. Please Patsy.. share this with us? Otherwise it's just the high point of stupidity. Is Black Notice worth reading? Yes, since it is obviously setting up the next book. Is it worth buying? No way. The problem is that it is a connective bridge book with little to recomend it other than the fact that it will be a reference for what the readers hope will be a better book. I truly expect more of high profile authors. Unfortunately, this year has shown that for many authors commerce has overshadowed any obligation they had to provide their characters with a good plot and their readers with a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I wanted
Review: I love Patricia Cornwell. I've written in to loudly and clearly praise her Winter Table book when everyone else hated it. However, this book was terrible. I was so enthusiastic when I got it and couldn't wait to read it. But, it had no point...it just seemed to fly around from place to place and the so-called feelings were just dumb. She was up, she was down, she was all over the place and I was throughly disapointed. Please, Patricia, get back to your usual books. The great ones!
Rating:
Summary: COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!
Review: EACH TIME I READ ONE OF PATRICIA CORNWELLS NOVELS I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE. THIS ONE DID NOT DISAPPOINT ME ALTHOUGH IT JUST DOESN'T SEEM THE SAME WITHOUT BENTON IT WAS A GOOD READ. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE ALREADY!
Rating:
Summary: It was very disappointing.
Review: I was quite disappointed. This book doesn't come close to her earlier efforts. It was disjointed and there were sections that didn't make any sense at all. Perhaps she should start a new series with new characters. Enough of the old gang, especially LUCY.
Rating: 
Summary: True Scarpetta followers won't be disappointed...
Review: Cornwell satisfies me again with another addition to the Scarpetta series. I thoroughly enjoy her writing, detail, and characters, and was not let down with her latest. She leaves me yearning for the next Scarpetta novel. As far as Cornwell's non-Scarpetta books, I could do without them...to me they are a waste of her time...she could be writing another Scarpetta, not an off 'subject' I will not read.(after making the mistake of reading one). Overall, Black Notice sits you down and keeps you reading. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: this isn't writing, it's typing.
Review: This is as maudlin a book as can be. Most of the time the characters are weeping: Kay cries when she gets a love note from the grave, Marino cries when Kay abuses him, Lucy cries when Kay cries which makes Jo cry over Lucy which makes Jo's parents cry over sin. Kay's stud muffin cries when Kay tells him not to love her, which makes her misty, which enrages Marino to tears. Benton doesn't cry because he's dead. And the werewolf doesn't cry or speak, which is too bad because he's the only interesting figure in the book. Other than that the coincidences are cukoo, Ms. Cornwell promoted a nice expense-paid trip for herself to Paris on the Concorde out of this and we have the usual Tom Clancy imitation of arcania covering up that which is really dreary detail. As her last book suggested, Ms. Cornwell is out of gas.
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