Rating: 
Summary: Man, What's That Smell? Blow Fly
Review: As the latest in the series featuring Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta opens, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne who wreaked havoc in her life sits on death row in Texas. His brother known as Jay Talley is still pursuing his sadistic ways and for now remains free to torture and kill again and again wherever he is. For Scarpetta who is virtually oblivious to the world, all that really matters is that her love, FBI agent Benton Wesley is dead.Scarpetta has never recovered from the twin psychological traumas of the brutal attack by Jean-Baptiste Chandonne and the death of Benton. It all was too much for her and she has started running. She fled her meticulous home in Richmond Virginia where she nearly died. She fled the firestorm and media circus surrounding her former job in Virginia and now lives in a small rent house that she does not care for in Florida and does some consulting work. But she can't run from the sorrow and grief she feels over the death of Benton that haunts her every waking moment and many of her dreams as well. She goes through the motions but she isn't living and it is destroying those that care about her such as Rose, Pete, and Lucy. At the same time, a serial killer is working in Louisiana. A killer that may indirectly tie into a case from eight years ago as well as being currently active. At the request of the local coroner, Kay consults on the case from eight years ago as well as the current situation and unwittingly wanders into an elaborate puzzle of death where she is just a pawn in something much bigger and isn't in control. Unfortunately for the reader, author Patricia Cornwell isn't really in control of her novel either. As a fan, I was hugely disappointed in this read. Not only has her style continued to change, which I could live with, but the incredibly melancholy and depressing tone of her last several books continues. Not a single character is emotionally balanced or even happy on any level. Furthermore, the read itself is highly disjointed with constant pov shifts, short chapters of little or no substance, and extraneous writing that does nothing to advance the book. The first two hundred plus pages of this 465-page novel are incredibly slow moving and Cornwell subjects the reader to extensive wallowing in the futility of each character's life. This maybe to set the mood for what comes later but if so, by this point, the reader is drowning in mood. Then, there is the ending. Without blowing the book suffice it to say that the central issue, the point that the whole book revolves around, remains unsolved and left hanging wide open. Maybe this was done on purpose as Cornwell could be pursuing a story arc or trilogy of sorts within the confines of the existing series where she will resolve it in her next book. Or maybe it was just a sloppy and easy way out. I don't know, of course, which is the answer or if it is something in between. But after slogging through 465 pages I expect an actual ending that solves the central question the book is written around.
Rating:
Summary: This is a horrible book
Review: Could not even finish this book. Written in the 3rd person it is very hard to follow.I have waited for this book for several months.Patricia Cornwell is a much better writer than this book portrays. I wish I would have taken the time to read the online reviews before I spent my hard earned cash on this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the Kay I love?
Review: I was looking forward to meeting my old friend Kay Scarpetta again, but she was a shadow of herself in this latest book. All the characters lacked their unique personalities and depth, leaving the plot flat. All the members of the Scarpetta cast were depressed and lifeless and seemed to have little true interaction with each other. The ending was particularily disappointing--a slapdash conclusion that really isn't....there's another book out there in development waiting to finish off the Chandonne's--I hope. I've gotten very tired of this plot line that has been running through several Scarpetta books. The Wolfman was never Cornwell's best villian, but he's been around the longest.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing Ending
Review: I loved this book until the last 2 chapters. I do not feel that the story had a conclusion. It was all left hanging. It was like someone was in a hurry and just stopped. We have no idea what happened at the shack to Bev Kiffin, Benton just says that he killed everybody in the cave, no action there, and at the very end Scapetta just touches his face. What about Albert? I felt like this was the cliffhanger for the end of a season series and we just have to hang out until next season. I have read most of Cornwall books, and this is the first time that I felt like it just wasn't finished.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW!!! Blow Fly Blows Me Away!!!
Review: I can't believe some of the other reviews. It seems some people just like to nit-pic and grumble. This is a refreshingly new twist on the Scarpetta epic. Did you ever think that maybe PC gets tired of the same-old same old??? Give her credit for breathing new life into the series. These people are REAL - they hurt, they grieve. They don't always do what you expect them to do. I'm sorry they don't fit into the little square pegs you seem to have contrived for them. I quit reading my lifelong favorite, Stephen King, because his books became the "same story, different title" type of repetition. I think Cornwell is setting us up for a whale of a next book. I can't wait!!!
PS - I absolutely HATED Isle of Dogs! Natch?
Rating:
Summary: What does "Blow Fly" mean?
Review: In regards to a previous review, the title "Blow Fly" is a metaphor for the Chandonne family. A blow fly feeds off of the rotting flesh of dead bodies--here refering to the murderers, Jean-Baptiste, Jay Talley and Bev Kiffen. This isn't the best Scarpetta novel, but it is worth reading. If you are new to Cornwell, start at the beginning with "Postmortem" and read in chronological order. It is a lot of books, but they can be read in a few hours each. Skip the ones that are not about Scarpetta--they introduce a new character who really is not very interesting. After a 3 year hiatus from Scarpetta, this book reintroduces each character in detail, leaving not much room for plot development. The best part of the book is at the end, something I waited for for 6 years. I won't give it away, but it should give this series of characters a new breath of life. I can't wait for the continuation of this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Strange and somber Scarpetta novel.
Review: For those readers who know and love the brilliant forensic pathologist, Kay Scarpetta, "Blow Fly" will be a major disappointment. Scarpetta plays an insignificant role in the plot, which centers on the two murderous Chandonne brothers. These brothers belong to a family that runs a crime cartel, and we first encountered them in the Cornwell novel, "Black Notice." One of the brothers, Jean-Baptise, is on death row in Texas. The other, who goes by the name Jay Talley, is a serial killer who has been butchering women for years. Scarpetta is called in to consult on a cold case in Louisiana that may be related to the Chandonnes' crimes. Cornwell flits from place to place in this book, as she tries to cover too much ground. Kay Scarpetta is living a subdued life in Florida. She has never recovered from the loss of her job as Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia and the loss of her lover, FBI Profiler Benton Wesley. Another troubled soul is Pete Marino, Scarpetta's close friend. Marino is self-destructive in the extreme, although he has always been a great cop. He has issues of his own that make his life a living hell. Meanwhile, Kay's brilliant niece, Lucy, is busy with clandestine activities in Europe that could get her into very hot water. In one way or another, all of these characters get involved with the deadly Chandonnes. The problem with "Blow Fly" is that none of the plot elements coalesce. The narrative does not flow and the characters do not engage the reader. "Blow Fly" is little more than a dreary and depressing wallow in the misery that serial killers bring to the world. The early Scarpetta books were rich with meaning and excitement. How sad that Cornwell has to turn to old plot lines that no longer hold our interest when she could have shown Kay moving on with her life, meeting new people, and becoming engrossed in new and intriguing cases.
Rating:
Summary: Blown off by Blow Fly
Review: I thought Isle of Dogs was a dog, but this book really was a disappointment. I did not like the third person writing, and I missed the nerve-tingling excitement (frisson) that used to make me read a Cornwell novel in one sitting, even when my vision was very poor and reading was painful. Cornwell seems to be well motivated to contribute her resources to real world forensics;
maybe that is the best use of her talent.
Rating:
Summary: A Grave Disappointment
Review: Patricia Cornwell's newest Scarpetta novel has been long awaited and eagerly anticipated, at least by this reviewer and surely by many of her other fans. Unfortunately, Blow Fly does not deliver what most of us are expecting. Yes, the novel is written in an entirely different style from the other Scarpetta novels. Instead of first-person interaction, we receive third-person. There are no insights or glimpses of the old Scarpetta here. Kay is now regulated to being a fired, tired, wrinkled-clothed woman living in a rental home in Florida, all aspects of exciting scenes of forensic detail absent. Scarpetta is not even really the main focus of the book; we get lots of confusing stories revolving around past characters: Lucy, Marino, Benton, Jay Talley, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne, and many others. While the story starts out well enough and intriguing, with Chandonne sending letters from prison to those on the outside who helped put him there, it quickly loses its focus into a mess of plot that is hard to muddle through. I optimistically gave the book three stars, because I was so happy to see a new Scarpetta novel, but I'm not so sure it was worth the wait. While it is not a complete waste of time, reading this chapter in Kay Scarpetta's life will probably not whet the appetite of the constant fan.
Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected
Review: After reading the brutal reviews posted here, I expected much worse. What I like about this series is how the characters grow, both in age and emotion. Lucy started out as a computer geek little girl and now she's gone through the FBI, DEA, got promoted, got fired, and winds up the strongest characacter in this installment, teaming up with partner Rudy (interesting duo). Even Marino is on Lucy's payroll. This series so far, as in real life, has resulted in a weary and troubled Kay Scarpetta getting tossed out of Virginia and banashed to consulting work in Florida, Marino and Lucy sharing a deep, dark secret that can never be exposed to Kay, 'the wolfman' waiting to be executed on death row in Texas, and two seriously nasty serial killers. I won't give away any plot details - this is a very interesting read. If you've gotten this far in the series, this is just another good installment - the next one should shed light on the untied knots at the end.
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