Blow Fly: A Scarpetta Novel

Rating:
Summary: Dreadful, bizarre, awful
Review: This is the worst book I've read in recent memory. I would give it no stars if I could. Kay Scarpetta wanders around the landscape seemingly in a daze. It is as though she stumbled into the book by accident. The regular cast of characters is there as usual, but they are parodies of themselves. The plot is nil, the writing perfunctory, and the characterization laughable. Her books just keep getting weirder and weirder. I think the author needs to get back to the straightforward mystery plots and interesting and believable characters that made her earlier books, such as Postmortem, so enjoyable. If you must read it, get it from the library.

Rating:
Summary: The last Cornwell book I buy?
Review: It took me more than a month to finish this one and I didn't enjoy it at all! Her books have gotten too gory and the plot made almost no sense. The ending is puzzling . . . I'm not at all sure what happened. No more Cornwell books for me unless the reviews are really good!

Rating:
Summary: That's Enough
Review: Well this one did it for me. I've gone from "I can't wait for Cornwell's next book" to "never again wanting to read about characters like these." I can definitely do without any more reprise of the twin, sicko, Chandonne brothers who, among other things in this butchered novel, take pleasure in using a woman's severed arm for alligator bait. Worse yet they may may never actually die--Cornwell has one of her characters actually return from being convincingly killed in a previous novel! I think Cornwell's extensive research for her recent Jack the Ripper book has taken a toll on what used to be one of my favorite authors. She seems to want to depict men as capable of being even more hideous than ever rather than writing an entertaining thriller.

Rating:
Summary: Just a disappointment,,,
Review: I am such a Cornwell fan, reading all of her book, even the cook book! But this one is not her best work. Seems as though this book wasn't cared about. Took me forever to read it and I usually read them in days. The wittness protection card has been played so many times, it's just a tired story line. I found myself not caring about the characters like I have in other books. The ending was so weak I didn't realize it was the ending. How disappointed I am, perhaps next time Patricia.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre at Best
Review: It was a long awaited release of a new Scarpetta novel, but it was a short lived time of excitement. Moving the characters away from Richmond was bad enough, but moving them to ambiguous locations was even worse. And why the Chandonne's again. JB is on the loose?? You mean we have to endure about him in a future book (assuming we bother to read it)? Only one good thing came from this story line, and it had nothing to do with the villain, really. This was a scattered, uncohesive novel that basically went around in a vicious twister of lackluster vagueness. Bummer!

Rating:
Summary: I have to agree...
Review: I was really excited to read this book, but after reading it I'm afraid to say that it was pretty bad. It doesn't have the same focus as past books in the series - it seems at times that this book is not even about Scarpetta. It is much more of an ensemble cast, which is disappointing. Also, I agree with the reviewer who said that this book spent most of its time on descriptions and events that didn't really matter, and then wrapped up the climax and ending way way too fast. After finishing it, I thought "This is it?"
If you're going to read it, definitely check it out from the library - don't waste your money buying this book.

Rating:
Summary: Cornwell has lost it
Review: Patricia Cornwell's series has been patchy with some of the books gripping and others limp but this time she has really lost it. The plot has become totally unbelievable, reviving the lost lover a device that was stale long ago and doesn't work in this novel. Scarpetta has become merely a neurotic, ineffective cypher.
Give up the series Cornwell and try something else.
If there was a negative rating I would give it to this book.

Rating:
Summary: 465 Page A Waste of Good Paper
Review: I have read all of Patricia Cornwell's novels and this by far was the absolute worse I have ever read. 465 page of overly descriptive writing with and ending that took 10 pages to get through. It was a huge disappointment. To much time was given to the description of Jean Baptiste Chardonne. If you have read her previous novels where this character was included then you know the history behind who he is and what makes him tick. The need to rehash it and then describe wine and his disillusions in such great detail where more time could have been spent on the other characters and there frame of mind and motives would have made a lot more sense.

Rating:
Summary: Blow Fly Blows!
Review: So there I was, believing what everyone had told me: Cornwell's stuff is really cool. So I go off and pay freakin' full price at my local bookstore, eager to find a best-selling author who actually knows how to tell a g.d. story...and discover this laughable, excremental exercise in frustration. Cornwell couldn't get a passing grade in a high school composition class with this crap. The screwed-up use of tenses and awkward grammar nearly drove me nuts. Obviously, this author believes her own inflated press releases. Now, of course, she's becoming a TV crime-reporting pundit. That's like having Marcia Clark and Chris Darden tell the world how to convict slam-dunk guilty murderers. A very bad joke.

Rating:
Summary: Starts with a roar, ends with a whimper...
Review: I became addicted to the Scarpetta series and devoured every one. Sad to say, this one gave me a bit of indigestion. Ms. Cornwell, what have you done to our beloved characters? Marino was always an out of shape slob, but we knew he was the best at what he did. In this book, we only got the slob. And Lucy! There was finally a strong, beautiful character who happened to be a lesbian. What happened? Her sexuality was one of the things that seemed to make Lucy who she was. And remind me not to rob any banks with her; she spilled her guts within 24 hrs.
Bringing Benton back to life sucked the life out of Scarpetta...she was strong, intelligent, and in charge, it seems, till she met him. All of a sudden she was the damsel in distress needing to be saved by the all encompassing male hero. Rudy, the human Ken doll, deserves no mention. Never. Ever. Amen.