Rating: 
Summary: Chilling
Review: Cruel and Unusual was a chilling story and I was sucked in from the very first page. I love the way characters from other books in the series keep turning up and we see that they are even more evil than we first imagined. The bit with the fingerprints was especially enthralling.Lori Enos
Author of The Portable Coach
Rating: 
Summary: One bad egg is forgiveable
Review: This is the worst of the Scarpetta series. which is quite an achievement seeing as all the others are brilliant. My favourites being the claustrophobic "The Body Farm", and the superbly dark "Point of Origin". I have loved all the Scarpetta's, and read them at least twice over, and i still think this is the worst. The plot was very complicated, and it all seemed a bit of a mess. The characters were nothing special, and i this is the only book in which Cornwell manage to bore me with her normally insightful computer terminology. It's too long, and basically i dont think it has any substance. There is a great potential. The idea for the plot is superb, and could well have been one of the best, but somewhere along the line it all slips. I cant put my finger on it, but i just didnt come away from this with the satisfaction i normally get out of a Kay Scarpetta book. Nevertheless this is still a necessary book to read if you intend to read the entire series. It is one of the major turning points. The first book to feature Temple Gault, who would later lead to Carrie Grethen, Newton Joyce, and all the other catastrophic events which culminate in the next turning point of "The Last Precint". each one has signalled a new era for Patricia Cornwell, and each one has not been quite as good as the others. But The Last Precint was still much better than this. It is, admittedly, very clever, but far too complicated, and im surprised it got the CWA's gold dagger. nevertheless, i have given it two stars purely because it is such a major point in Scarpetta's life. You must read it if you intend to read the entire series, but dont expect to enjoy it as much as you do the others.
Rating: 
Summary: My favorite Scarpetta
Review: This is the 4th book in Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels. I have read two others (Cause of Death and Black Notice) before this one, but this is my favorite of the three. Cruel and Unusual contains elements found in the other Scarpetta novels (difficult conversations with her mother and sister, major neuroses revolving around her niece, Lucy, internal plots hatched to ruin Scarpetta, and expecting Pete Marino to drop dead from his excesses at any second), but not to the point where I found the repetition annoying. If anything, I want to see more of these familiar characters. The autopsy details seemed less excessive and the pace was quicker. Cruel and Unusual begins with the execution of a rapist/murderer, and the following autopsy of the felon. Shortly thereafter, a string of seemingly unconnected murders erupt around Richmond. Scarpetta finds one common strand - all appear to be committed by the supposedly dead convict. As if this isn't bad enough, her assistant is murdered and the press indicts Scarpetta. As always, Cornwell's knowledge of forensic medicine and the law were put to good use. If you are unfamiliar with Scarpetta and the other familiar characters, don't worry. Although she doesn't bore with long recaps, she doesn't assume you know every prior detail either.
Rating:
Summary: Great Beginning...poor ending
Review: Parricia Corwell, Cruel & Unusual was breathtaking in the beginning! Her relation to her family, her dedication to her work exeptional. However, this story began to get boring towards the end...the ending, not too great.
Rating: 
Summary: Semi-Gory Crime Novel with Daring Lack of Love Interest
Review: This novel has both a good plot and some decent characterisation. It's gory, but not too gory, and the twists and the turns in the plot make it difficult to put down. In addition, the fact that there is no love interest makes it refreshingly different (the 'no' in 'no love interest' will be somewhat qualified by a reading of the novel), and the centrality of an aunt-niece relationship sub-plot just adds to the value, in my opinion. If you like crime fiction, and if a novel with a coroner as the main character/narrator would appeal to you - try this book.
Rating:
Summary: eh
Review: I'm sure fans of Kay Scarpetta and Patricia Cornwell love this; and I've enjoyed reading most of her books. My main criticism is while they hold up well for the first reading, I get bored when i re-read her books. Unlike other authors, I don't seem to find nuances I missed on the first reading. What I would call a great "airplane" book.
Rating:
Summary: Ronnie Joe Waddell meets the electric chair ... or does he?
Review: If you enjoy medical thrillers, you will enjoy this book. It is evident that Cornwell does her research on her subject & you gain useful information as you read.
Rating:
Summary: Really 3.5 stars...she has written better
Review: Although Ms. Cornwell is not my favorite forensic murder mystery author, I almost always find her stories entertaining and her books serve the necessary purpose of my being antisocial on the subway to and from work. Cruel and Unusual, however, was not her best piece by a longshot, but seemed to be more of a 'filler' segment in the ongoing saga of Kay Scarpetta, medical examiner extraordinaire. As a scientist and hopefully a doctor in the future, I find the tone of the author to be condescending to the average reader's knowledge of science and forensics in general, however. I think enough Discovery Channel crime shows would cover the same material she describes over and over again. In any case, it was an entertaining thriller, but I enjoyed Point of Origin and Black Notice more.
Rating:
Summary: Plot hole dampens...plot
Review: In this fourth installment of the Kay Scarpetta series, we find the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia chasing a most challenging miscreant - a murderer with no pattern to his destruction except the intent to play games with the authorities hunting him. The book is a must-read for those addicted to Cornwell's well-researched suspense novels, since it sets the stage for a showdown in From Potter's Field. But a major plot hole revealed in the first few pages leaves the reader feeling cheated for the remainder of the novel. We enter the story with Scarpetta recovering from the death of a close friend. While this development certainly bodes well for future plot twists, it leaves the reader frustrated with the current one. The few details of the death surface mostly at the end of the story and while we're told of Scarpetta's devastation, we really don't witness it. Seasoned Cornwell fans are accustomed to these shallow depths in characterization but it nonetheless puts a damper on an otherwise entertaining mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Just Plain Cruel Will Do
Review: I must say I was required to read this book for a class. If that had not been the case, I would have put the book down half way through it. I was put off by the excessive amounts of technical language and graphic descriptions of the state of murder victims. Quite frankly, I was very disappointed by this book.
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