Rating: 
Summary: Okay But ended too fast
Review: I liked the book except the Poland thing that was not right. However I do know that a lot of people who are kind of sick in the head all want to live to New Orleans. So that part was right on. I do think the ending was really lame we get a huge buildup and then all the sudden Bev and Jay Talley are gone and it was rushed. Way too rushed. All the other Kay novels have been great and most of us all really knew Benton never died. I do think Jean Babtise needs to be a goner new charachters. The Last Precinct could be a great new direction for new things with everyone together and new characters. I read this book in one sitting and the only reason it gets 2 stars and not more is because the ending blows.
Rating:
Summary: What Happened?
Review: I have been a Kay Scarpetta fan since the inception of the series, but the past few books have left me disappointed and wondering where Patricia Cornwell had gone - they read like someone else wrote them. After reading "Blow Fly", I'm quitting the series. This book was so diappointing. I won't give a description since that has been done, but would like to know - what happened? Where are you, Ms. Cornwell?
Rating: 
Summary: Going from bad to worse
Review: I started reading Patrica Cornwells books just a couple weeks ago. My wife and I went on vacation and at the airport book store I bought three of her novels...Point of Origin, Isle of Dogs, Blow Fly, and her non fiction work on Jack-the Ripper, Portrait of a Killer. Having heard so much about her work I braced myself for a enjoyable experience reading through all of these on the beach. Now I'll admit not having read her books in sequence I feared getting to know the characters, their personalities, motiovations etc. would be a bit challenging. But with the first book I read Point of Origin, I got a pretty good feel for each of them. Kay Scarpetta is chief of forensics in Virgina, fighting the establishment, depressed, and overworked. Lucy is a former FBI agent who has been fired. She's also a misunderstood lesbian, computer genuis, helicopter pilot, and all around superwoman enduring a strained relationship with her aunt Kay. Marino on the other hand is smitten with Kay. He's also a over weight police detective, borderline alcoholic, chain smoking coronary waiting to happen. Then I read Isle of Dogs. Plots different (talking crabs too) but the characters and problems are the same. Hmmm. Finally I started Blow Fly. None of these characters seem to have grown in the least. Well thats not entirely true...Kay Scarpetta has lost her job somewhere in another book. So surprise! She's depressed. And tired too. Lucy is still the misunderstood wunderkind who can do everything in law enforcement but now in the private sector. Her company is so elite it seems to have a fake name and unlisted number. Oh yeah she's got her own helicopter too...Lord do we really need to know the inane details of her Bell 407. Marino is still overweight, angry at the world, and frustrated over his unrequited love for Kay. Sigh. To the book itself...as a bit of warning there are some plot details I'll discuss so if you are considering buying this book (a big mistake) then go no further. Clearly Patricia Cornwell is in her element when she wades into the forensic details of the crimes in this and all her books. That in and of itself is fascinating reading. But the biggest stylistic downside of this book (and a trait this book shares with the others of hers I've read) is the prolonged buildup to the inevitable confrontation with the bad guys only to have it abruptly and unsatisfactorily occur in the last couple pages. It all leaves you feeling rather cheated. For example, one of the main despicable characters, Jay Talley, who at various points in the book is letting loose his pyscopathic tendencies, is dispatched at the end of story along with another character with no further detail given than a "You killed him?", "I had no choice." What's up with that? We get more about the killing of the fat corrupt Baton Rouge Attorney General and who cares about him? By comparison we are treated to pages of lead in of Lucy and Rudy traveling to Poland to set up and kill Marinos smarmy son. After wading through all this (which in the context of this story seems hopelessly out of place ) we are given the plot detail that they are letting Blow Flies loose in the room presumably to accelerate decomposition and thus confuse the time of death. But then the bodys discovered early and Lucy confesses to Kay and a friend anyway. So why did we bother? To give the book a title? Wouldn't you think a Blow Fly would play some part in the main plot line which is taking place thousands of miles away in Louisiana? They have Blow Flies there don't they? But I digress Another big problem for me was the rather cavalier way Jay Talleys brother, Jean-Baptiste aka the Wolfman, escapes from death row. Again and again we are told about his horrific physical appearance."Soft downy hair" growing all all over his face and body (hence the term Wolfman), wandering lazy eye(s), his pointed teeth, etc. Yet he shaves himself, kills a couple guards, dons one of their uniforms and then manages to walk out of prison completely unmolested. I guess with a shave he looks pretty sharp in a uniform. C'mon! If were going to get such terrific and realistic forensic detail in these books why is it so hard to give equal measure to other aspects of the story. Lastly, when Jay Talleys significant other Bev Kiffin is tracked down deep in the Lousiana bayous, Lucy has to crash land her helicopter. Given the pains Cornwell goes to let us know its foggy and remote, and with Lucy and company without a way to get out, I'm expecting some page turning cat and mouse action. Instead Bev is summarily dispatched a page later with everyone getting rescued by the Coast Guard. Yawn! I remember feeling more or less the same way at the end of this book that I did when I finished reading Point of Origin. Pretty much that sentiment can be summarized with a "is that all there is?" Patricia Cornwell would have been more honest had she left out the last 15 pages of her book and retitled it, The Angst of Kay, Lucy, and Marino... a study in futility and law enforcement in Lousiana.
Rating: 
Summary: what kind of ending was that?
Review: i almost stopped listening to this book after the first tape. i thought it was just going to be pratuitous psychopathology from start to finish. i persevered and it was good to have some loose ends tied up. but what the hell kind of ending was that? after all of that everyone just gets blown off in 5 minutes? and clearly we are gearing up for the saga to continue....perversely, i will read the next book, but really i was very dissappointed by the end of this one.
Rating:
Summary: NOT AGAIN !!!!!!
Review: After reading 'Black Notice' I decided to remove Cornwell from my library. Weak as I am though, I read 'Blow Fly.' Another disappointment. Same old story. Cornwall needs a sabbatical to give us some fresh material.
Rating:
Summary: Very big let down
Review: I was hooked on Kay Scarpetta--everything she did was exciting and action packed---until this book. What a let down. I was hoping to see Kay and Marino get together, you know with the atkins diet so big, Marino could have slimmed down a little, retired, helped sell Kays house, and they could have started off somewhere new (due to the fact that Kay was jobless in Virginia).
I don't think the bringing back of Benton was a good idea. How could Lucy have kept Benton a secret from her Aunt Kay for 6 years, when she could not keep her 'secret' from this book from her Aunt Kay for 6 hours? The house Kay is renting, how can she live in a house (like the one described in ths book)it sounds more like Marino's pad, rather than a place Kay would live. The book jumped around way too much, and left an obvious start for the next book--can we move on from Jean-Baptiste, he needs to be burried. It seemd like ther was too much busy writing, and not enough plot. I will read the next one--but Kay needs to get back "on the job" and get her hands dirty again--good luck with the next book Patricia Cornwell.
Rating:
Summary: Cornwell must be getting tired...
Review: That is the only excuse I am come up to explain the total lack of effort put forth on this book. Having read all of her other books I was eager to get my hands on this one. Don't know now why I bothered. Boring!! If you must read it check it out from your local library don't waste the money buying it.
Rating:
Summary: What a huge disappointment...
Review: Huge disappointment in the Scarpetta series. The book seems to be loosely gathered ideas, the plot jumping all over the place. Jean-Baptiste Chardonne, on death row, suddenly contacts Scarpetta, Lucy, and Marino. He's planning some sort of show down, but what can it possibly be leading to, with him on death row? A side plot involves a chain of murders in Louisiana, which Scarpetta is called upon to assist in - but could this be some sort of manipulation, too, on Chardonne's part? Very little actual action in this book, and Scarpetta actually plays more of a supporting role than the lead. A different - but unsuccessful - venture for Cornwell. There is a huge surprise in this book, that I don't want to spoil - but I will say, that I can't understand why Scarpetta wasn't aware of it LONG before now. Extremely incredible, to me. Also, the cheap unfinished ending detracts from the book as a whole. Very dissatisfying read - sure hope the series can pick up soon.
Rating:
Summary: A depressing loss of direction and detail.
Review: I feel a little sorry for my wife. I bought 'Blowfly' as part of her Christmas present and after reading the book myself I can understand why she was disappointed.
In the past we have both been fans of Cornwell's Scarpetta books but 'Blowfly' was a big let-down. Ms Cornwell, from whom we have come to expect detail and well researched books, seems to have largely abandoned forensic science (a personal disappoint for me as I work in a closely related field) and instead she has taken up writing true fiction, pure fiction. Ms Cornwell, for example, has clearly never been to, nor done any solid research on the topic of, Poland which she paints as a nation full of money-hungry thieves who will do anything for American currency. In fact, at the time of writing, the American Dollar is worth only 3.87 Polish Zloty making the Zloty considerably stronger than a great many other currencies. I wonder how many others she would label "worthless". Also, considering that the book is set in the present day (post 9/11) it is a little puzzling as to why she describes columns of Russian tanks in the Polish streets. The Russian army left Poland many years ago since when Poland has become a member of NATO. Furthermore, Poland will join the European Union later this year which means that it's financial system, while not ideal, is sufficiently strong to enter a large market.
As I live in Poland with my Polish wife I take a rather personal view of Cornwell's lack of care. We have two cars and a nice house which, according to Cornwell's latest offering, means we must be connected with organised crime.... I suppose we'd better not buy more Scarpetta books (assuming Ms Cornwell dares to write another with rehased and rebuilt characters) because apparently - we can't afford them with our 'worthless' currency.
Rating:
Summary: Bring back Kay Scarpetta
Review: Just finished "Blowfly" after waiting 4 1/2 months to get it from the library. I read a lot about Lucy who almost seems not to be the same Lucy, and way too much about the character I didn't even like in the past novels, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne. Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino seemed to be incidential characters. The chapters seemed to "hop around" from one character to another and I got to the point where I didn't even bother to keep it all straight. I was able to put the book down 12 pages before the end to start dinner!
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