Rating: 
Summary: A Grave Disappointment
Review: Sadly, the negative reviews are justified; Cornwell's latest in the Scarpetta series remains a grave disappointment. Essential scenes (which I cannot divulge here in repect to those who have not yet read this book) are given short shrift while less important scenes are highlighted. At times, Scarpetta appears as bloodless as the cadavers which she examines! Indeed, much of the novel does not ring true--it is as if those characters that we have come to know and enjoy reading about have de-evolved into caricatures. It is truly a shame because Cornwell is a first- rate writer. Perhaps her next book will help shed some light on the myriad of questions that Blow Fly leaves unanswered (along with this reader scratching her head in bewilderment).
Rating: 
Summary: Leaves a lot to be desired
Review: I have read all of Patricia Cornwells novels and I have never felt as if I desired anything more from them. They always hold my attention and interest. I find them facinating. As I started this book my usual mode of constant page turning quickly turned into looking for reason to put down the book...I just could not get into it. I was bored. Then ending just seemed abrupt and did not make any since to me. It was predictable and slow. I have the upmost faith that Cornwell will redeem herself in the next novel...I hope anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Blow Fly
Review: I too have been a fan of Patricia Cornwell's series featuring Kay Scarpetta. After reading The Last Precint, I could not wait to read her new novel, Blow Fly. I was extremely disappointed that Patricia Cornwell decided to write in 3rd person. It made the storyline, and the characters in the book not seem so real anymore. I always felt that the way Patricia Cornwell wrote her Scarpetta series, made you feel like you knew the characters, but she has definitely lost the plot with this new writing style. Usually it takes me 2 days to finish one of her books, this time it took 2 weeks. I loved the ending, but felt more needed to said to lead up to the reunion between Benton & Kay. Patricia - I hope your next book is a vast improvement, it seems like you have disappointed many fans.
Rating:
Summary: never again
Review: I have read all of the Scarpetta series.....loved them to start with....even stood in line 2 hours at a book signing. Then as they got grislier and gorier, I stopped buying and waited for the paper back, then used paper backs, and finally quit. I would not have this one, which is the worst, if it hadn't been given to me as a gift. I do not intend to buy another one........ever. Very disappointing to me, as they were great in the beginning.
Rating: 
Summary: Underrated
Review: I am surprised by the number of negative critiques of Cornwell's latest thriller. I've more or less enjoyed everything she's written and thought this novel was a strong entry in the Cornwell library. The quality of her writing is better than ever and based on prose alone she deserves higher marks than she's gotten for this thoughtfully written book. I love her use of the language, so easy, the eye just glides along the pages without any hitches in the form of bad dialogue or unclear meaning. Instead, her writing style is excellent.
Okay, the story is a little recycled, but the characters are so interesting that it doesn't matter that the reader already knows about almost all of them. Those characters that are new aren't terribly interesting (such as the insecure single mom slash cop).
My only gripe is that there are a lot of different plot threads going on at the same time and a huge cast of main characters to juggle. It takes them forever to get together with one another in the same scene and meanwhile, you've lost track of who's who.
Rating:
Summary: Fast read & a mover !
Review: I loved this novel - read in only 2 days- have to read previous Cornwall novels thought to really appreciate this one ! Can't wait for the next book, to continue the story !!
Rating:
Summary: This wasn't a "change" for Cornwell, it was a disaster.
Review: I was anticipating this book for years. I have enjoyed all the Scarpetta novels and couldn't wait for the newest installment. But, I was sorely disappointed after I sat down in comfy chair to start. Perhaps it was my inability to grasp why Cornwell chose to write in 3rd person omniscient... I'm not really sure. From the start, I couldn't prevent myself from noticing all the "he says, she says, he goes, he writes, she states," etc. A friend of mine said, "it sounds like she's trying to get the reader to grasp the point of view of a fly on a wall." Oh. Then it would make perfect sense. But, me being the Patricia Cornwell snob that I am, I wanted Kay Scarpetta to be her same, old self. I wanted Pete Marino to come in and be sweaty, out of breath, and just plain obnoxious. I wanted Cornwell to delve more deeply into the characters. Instead, I found that I was wallowing on the surface of nothing. Just a bunch of meandering nonsense. This may have been a new style of Cornwell and really, we should all embrace the new style, but it didn't come off that way for me. It just read like bad writing. I also couldn't get over the fact that there were over 50 chapters, some of which were barely a page long. What was the point? I felt Cornwell was trying out a new writing style. Either that, or she was trying to destroy Scarpetta's image forever by making the newest tale almost unreadable. I say almost because I did attempt to read it. I think I'll just pick up Postmortem and read that instead. I crave a good mystery, and this one really didn't make the cut.
Rating:
Summary: Patricia, you should be ashamed!
Review: That is if you really wrote this drivel. I received this book for Christmas and was excited to have another Kay Scarpetta novel from PC. It opened ok, I thought the introduction of Nic was intriguing, thought "the looks like Kay" dialog might actually lead somewhere....., like maybe having Nic be a "lamb" for Talley, duh! But no, we move on to UBER LUCY, boring Benton and predictable PETE, by the way, am I the only reader who wants Marino to clean up his act and at least make a play for Kay? Hey, it could happen. This book is dreadful, everything everyone else has written about the rehashing, the switch to third person, tying up the whole mess in about two paragraphs, is all true! DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! PC either needs to dump these characters, or figure out a way to get them grounded again. The logical thing to do would have Kay become a ME in FL and work on the relationship with her sister and Lucy, which I am sure is not what is planned given the oh so realistic escape of Hairy one and the return of Benton. Maybe PC will let me write the next one, I could probably do as well as she did with Blow Fly!
Rating:
Summary: You know it really wasn't that dreadfull
Review: I have enjoyed the Scapetta series.... It is clear by reading the other reviews ... some people don't take to change easily .. although at first i was displaced by the third person Cornwell was writing in ... The novel slowly became more appealling .... It was fun to see things through other beloved characters point of view ... After all that has happened to her ... You saw more vulernability in Cornwell's last 2 novels.... and I happy to say I'm eagerly awaiting a continuance to this story ... thank you for your time ... i hope i have helped.. :)
Rating:
Summary: What a bomb!
Review: Patricia, did someone hold a gun to your head forcing you to write this drivel? I've been a diehard fan since your very first book; but the last several Scarpetta novels have gone from bad to worst. When I saw that there were only a few pages left of Blow Fly, I assumed I'd gotten a defective copy since there was no way all the various story lines could be wrapped up satisfactorily. Well, they weren't. Bang, bang! Everyone's dead. Benton is alive again, and all is forgiven by Kay.
Please take your time and write a good book next time, or don't waste our time or dollars.
|
