Rating: 
Summary: Interesting book to read during the holidays!
Review: This is only the second of the author's "Kay Scarpetta" novels that I've read, and I wasn't all that impressed with _Postmortem,_ so I approached this fourth book in the series with some scepticism, even though It seems to be one of the best reviewed. After a decade of appeals, Ronnie Joe Waddell is finally being executed and Scarpetta waits to perform the autopsy (though I'm not clear why that should be necessary). But that same evening, a young boy is ritually murdered in a manner very reminiscent of Waddell's style. That's followed by another murder -- and Waddell's fingerprints apparently are found on the scene. Was someone else executed in his place? The authorities involved, of course, don't even want to *think* about such an appalling possibility. More murders follow, including Scarpetta's own Morgue Attendant, and suddenly links seem to be turning up to tie the Chief Medical Examiner to the killings, as well as to corruption in her own office. All the action takes place in the few weeks preceding and following the Christmas-New Year's holidays, and the gray, cold winter adds greatly to the flavor of the narration.There's no question that this one is an improvement over the first one I read. Cornwell doesn't bring in a completely new character in the last chapter to be the villain, for one thing. And she has added considerable depth to the personalities of all the repeating characters, especially Lt. Pete Marino of Richmond Homicide and FBI Special Agent Benton Wesley. My favorite, though, is Lucy, Scarpetta's niece from Miami, who possesses what another character calls a "frightening intellect." But she's still seventeen years old, and her home life is, in many ways, not a happy one. Aunt Kay really does try to be the friend and confident to Lucy that she would like to be, but she has her own emotional problems -- not least among them the death of her lover in an IRA bombing in London less than a year before -- and her naturally reserved and somewhat stony personality is sometimes her own worst liability. There are problems, though. Cornwell has a rather pompous style, especially when she's describing the latest crime-fighting technological advances, or the ins and outs of UNIX. It's as if she enjoys saying "I know more about this than you do." She also indulges in irritating word-choices, such as not knowing the difference between "in" and "inside" (e.g., "I put my revolver inside my purse"), and she seems to be unaware of the use of contractions in ordinary speech. Still, the well thought out plot and the complications in possible motives and interpretations kept me reading. Many fans and reviewers take it as a given that Cornwell is the "best" mystery writer working, which I can't agree with at all. But she's not bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as Gruesome as the Last One.
Review: This book opens with the execution of rapist/murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell and the following autopsy. Not long after murder victims start showing up around Richmond that look like they were committed by Waddell. How can that be? He's dead. Then his prints show up at a crime scene and to top it off, Kay's assistant in murdered and the press blames Kay. As usual PC carries over characters from her previous novels that we've come to know. Any second we expect cop buddy Pete Marino to drop dead from his excesses and niece Lucy is still annoying (to me anyway). Thankfully, the descriptions of the murders and the autopsies don't seem as gruesome as the last one ("All that Remains) and like the last one, this thriller gets five stars, because I just couldn't put it down. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Rating:
Summary: Great page turner
Review: I really liked this book. It is a page turner for sure. I would read before I went to bed and have to force myself to find a stopping point. If the ending was written differently I would have given it 5 stars, but it was still fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Mystery
Review: Ever since I read "Postmortem," the first book in Cornwell's famous Kay Scarpetta series, I was hooked. Cornwell's characters are all so real and the plots, although obscure, are completely believable as you read them. Cornwell does an excellent job of putting the reader in the thick of Scarpetta's mind; you will feel her pain as well as her success. The Kay Scarpetta series is definitely one of the best collections of crime fiction books ever written, and I believe that "Cruel & Unusual" has been the best of the books that I've read so far. In her fourth adventure as the chief medical examiner of Virginia, Scarpetta must investigate a peculiar string of homicides. The book begins as, on the night of an execution, Scarpetta recollects the heinous sexual crime committed by the criminal that was just executed (Ronnie Joe Waddell). Later that night, after she performs Waddell's autopsy, Scarpetta is informed of another brutal homicide that was committed in the exact same fashion as Waddell's crime which occurred just minutes before Waddell's execution. This homicide, however, is only the first in a string of homicides that, in one way or another, are linked directly to Waddell even though he is now dead -- or so he seems to be. In the weeks following the execution, Waddell's fingerprints suddenly disappear from the FBI's computer, and since Scarpetta forgot to fingerprint Waddell during the autopsy, the police have no way of knowing whether or not it was Waddell that got executed. The reader is left to speculate about the source of these eerie murders as Scarpetta's credibility and reputation come under heavy fire for the mistakes associated with the missing fingerprints. As the reader impatiently waits for answers, both Scarpetta and homicide detective Pete Marino must work together to discover the startling connection between these recent deaths, which are (as the title suggests) all "cruel and unusual." As I said earlier, "Cruel & Unusual" has been the best book in the series so far. I felt that this book was the most suspenseful of the four that I've read -- I absolutely could not put this one down. Cornwell's penchant for realism combined with suspense dominate every page of "Cruel & Unusual." I highly recommend it to fans of Cornwell or of crime fiction in general. If this is the first Scarpetta book that you read, I guarantee that you'll want to read every book in the series -- it is fiction that is simply second to none.
Rating: 
Summary: Cliffhanger
Review: First of all, this book really should receive 3.5 stars, but due to the lack of "half-stars" in Amazon.com's rating system, a mere three will have to do. This is my fifth Patricia Cornwell book, but definitely is not my favorite. The plot was terrific--the idea of a death row inmate possibly escaping from prison is a frightening concept, especially since Cornwell is always right on the ball when it comes to accuracy of details. As always, the characters are so realistic that the reader often must test himself to remember that they are indeed fictional. This book got a five star rating from me until about halfway when political injustices against the main character intervened. Although this was a good idea for a plot twist, it seemed that Cornwell was digressing from the main idea of the story, taking the reader into another story completely separate from what we read in the beginning. The ending was a disappointment--throughout the story, Cornwell is setting the reader up for the usual great climax where the perpetrator is discovered and captured and all is well--and then, it doesn't happen. In my opinion, it seemed like the ending was written by not Cornwell, but another author who rushed to complete this chapter of Kay Scarpetta's adventures as soon as possible. Overall, Cruel and Unusual was a good book that unfortunately could have been a great book if the right elements had been present.
Rating:
Summary: Another awesome novel
Review: My mother and I are just hooked on reading Patricia Cornwell, we started somewhere in the middle with one book but since have gone back to the beginning. They are the only books I am currently seeking out to read.
Rating:
Summary: A good mystery
Review: This is a darn good mystery read that certainly keeps you up at night turning the pages. Isn't that what we all want here? More enjoyable Kay Scarpetta for fans of this series. Well worth staying up late to read!
Rating:
Summary: A Mystery Worth Investigating
Review: Kay Scarpetta is Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia. As such she has the nasty job of processing the remains of murderer Ronnie Waddell, electrocuted after ten years of incarceration. The next day she has another body on her hands, a young man, Eddie Heath, dumped in the street strangely mutiliated. The modus operandi of Heath's murder has some suggestive echoes of the killing for which Waddell is executed. And the plot thickens further when a middle-aged fortune-teller turns up dead in her car and a fingerprint found on her furniture is identified as one of Waddell's. Meanwhile all is not well is Dr Scarpetta's office. Someone has been mucking about with the files on her computer and her morgue supervisor, Susan Stevens, is acting very oddly... This is rather good fun, extremely readable stuff. It's the first of Cornwell's books I have read and it leaves me feeling pretty well-disposed to the prospect of reading one or two more. Scarpetta is an interesting heroine, likeable but complicated and Cornwell is an excellent plotter. If you like crime fiction and haven't tried any Cornwell before, you could do a lot worse than checking this out.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: In CRUEL & UNSUAL by super-writer, Patricia Cornwell, Kay finds herself the prime suspect as she tries to make a connection between three murders! Great characters and super plot! (Highly Recommended!)
Rating:
Summary: Good mystery
Review: If your looking for a suspensful thriller you'll find it with Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell. In it the main charicter, Dr. Kay Scarpetta a medical examiner, finds herself traped in a web of murders. Her investigations of them lead her back to a conspiracy which is being covered up in her own legal department. I found the book to be disturbing as well as compeling at the same time. The first of it was a little crowded and hard to follow but it improved as it went on. It was more then I expected it to be. The more I read, the more involved I became and I couldn't put it down. One of the best mystery books I've read.
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