Rating: 
Summary: Spoiled the fun
Review: I wanted to read this book, but the reviews here give so much away (Bentorn, etc..) that I have since lost interest. I will think twice before checking here again.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened here?
Review: I have to agree with what everyone else has said. After waiting not so patiently for the latest Scarpetta book, the anticipation was high when I sat down to read it. What a disappointment!The third person narrative was awful, it felt like I was stuck behind a screen the whole time watching what was going on, rather than feeling like I was in there part of the action. Its usually so easy to get hooked into a Scarpetta novel, especially when you are reading it from Kay's point of view, shes such a well fleshed out character, but this time around I found it a chore to pick the book up & read it. Also have to agree with the reintroduction of Benton, my first thought was "I really should have reread The Last Precinct because I can't for the life of me remember Benton coming back". He was such a central character in Kay's life and I can't believe he was brought back like that (Also can't believe that he is in the book more in the first 100 or so pages than Kay, in fact I think every other character is!). The Last Precinct left it open for so much more, especially with Kay moving on in her career. Heres hoping the next one is back to the Scarpetta we know & love.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed/bored are understatements
Review: I am in the process of deciding if I want to continue reading Blowfly. Being a loyal Scarpetta fan, I feel I should read it. But there is not any incentive to continue to read this book. I'm about 100 pages into it, and will put it down if it doesn't pick up. Unlike in the other books, I really could not care less about the people or happenings in this book. In fact, I don't think I'd be missing anything if I put the book down forever. So, don't waste your money on purchasing the book, if you really must read it, get it from the library.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment...
Review: After waiting two years for this sequel to The Last Precinct, I am both frustrated and disappointed with this book. As others have mentioned, use of the third person was very distracting. One of my personal joys in reading the Scarpetta series is the way I have felt drawn into the mind of the good doctor. I feel what she feels, experiences what she experiences. This book left me feeling...well, nothing. Just flat. Cold. Lifeless. Like one of the corpses on the examining table. Also, as others have mentioned, bringing back Benton in such an abrupt way was frustrating. For three years (since Black Notice), we emoted with Kay, Lucy and Pete as they struggled to deal with this tragedy. Now, not only do we find out that Benton never died, but that two of the three main characters were part of the conspiracy to keep that information from the third? I feel as though I wasted my time grieving for this loss and its effect on the players in this story. Everyone remember that infamous "Dallas" shower scene? I felt the same way then as I do now. Heck, maybe it would have been more interesting if Kay had awakened back in her beautiful Richmond home and found Benton in the shower, ready to console her after such a horrible nightmare. If Cornwell had kept us inside the mind of the good doctor by telling this story in the first person, the reintroduction of Benton would certainly have been more effective. And who are these other characters who have been suddenly thrust into the story? We've never heard of Rudy...but he apparently has a long-standing history with Lucy? Where is Teun--wasn't The Last Precinct supposed to be her collaboration with Lucy?? And as for the ending...well, that was just ridiculous. All of a sudden we're presented with 90% of the story line wrapped up in a nice neat package, with the requisite 10% left over to hopefully draw us back into buying the next book. When Temple Gault was killed in the subway and Carrie was hauled off to the mental hospital/prison, THAT was an ending that built up my anticipation for the next installment. The ending of this book only made me glad that it was over so I could find something better to do with the rest of my day. Here's hoping the next book in this series will return to the Dr. Scarpetta we all knew and admired. If it doesn't, then I'll just reread the other Scarpetta stories and forget about any after The Last Precinct. I'm only keeping Blow Fly on my shelf because it is part of the series...not because I'll ever pick it up again.
Rating: 
Summary: Far from her best effort
Review: The last Scarpetta installment is a weird one. Use of third person in discribing events gets old too quickly and really does not do much for the plot.
Speaking of the plot, the reintroduction of Benton was so flat and lifeless that you'd think he just came back from the short holiday! Also, the ending is pretty lame.
Having said that, Patricia Cornwell is still one of the masters and I sincerely do hope that, after the awkwardness of trying to tie up so many lose ends in a jiffy, the next Scarpetta novel is on the level we all come to expect.
Rating:
Summary: You disappoint me, Ms. Cornwell
Review: After having read all of Ms. Cornwell's books, buying the newest "Scarpetta"-novel was an absolute must. In the past I have immensely enjoyed her books, which were well written, had a taut storyline, and superb characterisation, paired with astute medical knowledge, all carefully researched. Finishing her newest book was, to say the least, an ordeal, and never have I come closer to throwing a book into the trash than with this sorry work of fiction. But where to begin with my criticism? In this book, it seems that Ms. Cornwell attempted a literary version of a "split screen" film as seen in the well known "24 Hrs." series. The third person narrative is akin to a video camera following the various characters in "real time", unfortunately Ms. Cornwell fails miserably in the depiction of character and emotionality, but rather turns the previously believable characters into card-board cut-outs of their former selves.
The plot goes from unbelievable to worse (and I have enjoyed some of Ms. Cornwell's previous "save the universe in one day" plots), suddenly W. Benton turns up out of nowhere, our favourite baddy, J.P. Chandonne, just walks out of Jail, and the culmination of the story lacks ALL of the tense excitement we have known in previous books, and is easily summarized with "Benton pulls out his gun and shoots Baddy #1 dead, Ruby pulls out his gun and shoots Baddy #2 dead". In fact Ms. Cornwell needs only a few sentences more to depict what I have just summarized.
The ethics involved in the story are questionable in the very least - entering a foreign country subversively, and executing a criminal, however evil he may be, is called murder in most law systems of this world, and terrorism in some.
And finally, the language: That Ms. Cornwell has superb command of the english language is undisputable, unfortunately, her power of language in this book gives rise to empty sentence bubbles - pretty to look at, but very often with no informational or emotional content, in fact there are whole chapters that serve no literary purpose at all (without taking into account all the various "techno-geek" explorations of modern technology). In short, never has a book written by Ms. Cornwell so thouroughly disappointed me, and made me so cross for having had an obvious "money-maker" foisted on me.
Rating:
Summary: Cornwell is not at her best
Review: I'd been looking so forward to this book. But when I got to the end of the novel, I wondered where the rest of the chapters were. I felt that as a reader, I was shorted. True, there were some great aspects of the book, in particular, bringing together older characters and introdcuing some new ones. But for the most part, the book left me hanging. Some pretty big events happen at the end of the book, but there were few explanations and no closure at all.
Rating: 
Summary: One of her best
Review: I had trouble reading in the third person. I believe that Patricia Cornwell had to get out of Kay's head and look objectively at what has happened to her.
I hope that the next book will be back inside Kay's head. I really enjoyed the book. I felt that loose ends had been tied up. I was disappointed in the J.B. character. I expected more from the tough New York prosecutor.
Rating:
Summary: What happened to Cornwell?
Review: I've been hooked on Cornwell's Scarpetta series since the first and have eagerly anticipated this latest. This book was a complete disappointment. The plot was excellent, I'd give it 5 stars for that, but her writing style has completely changed. Blow Fly is written in a very impersonal, formal, third person style that is not consistent with the rest of the Scarpetta novels. This left me cold. One of the draws of the rest of the series is the feeling of being able to be "inside Scarpetta's head" and follow the story from her point of view. There is none of that with this book. If there are any others in the future, I hope Cornwell goes back to her old style of writing. This was about as terrible as Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross.
Rating: 
Summary: Ms. Cornwell is at the top of her game with her latest novel
Review: Six years ago Benton Wesley was tortured and murdered. Since then life has become exceedingly difficult for Kay Scarpetta. Serial Killer Jean Baptiste Chardonne, the unwanted son of a crime cartel family, tried to make Kay one of his victims. When he was caught, he tried to turn the situation around and Kay was forced to go before a grand jury to defend her reputation and honor. Her one time lover Jay Talley, Jean-Baptist's fraternal twin, used her to find out if Benton told her anything about the Chardonne crime cartel. Unable to live in her precious Virginia home, Kay moved to Del Rey Beach, Florida working as a free lance consultant. Talley and his lover are fugitives living in the bayou near Baton Rouge where ten women in fourteen months have disappeared. Jean-Baptiste is days away from state execution and wants to see Scarpetta. Marino's son is a lawyer for the Chardonne family and is a threat to all of Kay's friends. All those people are being played by one of the world's most intelligent puppet masters. BLOW FLY brings the various players from the last three books together allowing the audience to see what is happening to each of them. Patricia Cornwell has written a brilliant crime thriller starring a vulnerable Scarpetta, a person who has endured heartache, legal troubles, a violent attack and near death by a violent sociopath. She is nowhere near healed and when she discovers the secret those closest to her have been keeping, she will feel betrayed and anger. Ms. Cornwell is at the top of her game with her latest novel. It keeps readers on the edge of their seats absorbing one shock after another. Harriet Klausner
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