The Last Precinct

Rating:
Summary: Scarpetta and Cornwell move on...
Review: From page 1 of The Last Precinct, this long-time Cornwell reader senses that great (and welcome) change is afoot. It opens with Dr. Kay Scarpetta, one of far too few literary heriones, trapped under the microscope of watchful law enforcement personnel as she packs up her belongings and what seems to be her life. Her home, her sanctuary has become the very crime scene she has investigated throughout her tenure as Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner.

Faithful friend and colleague, Police Captain Pete Marino, is present to protect Scarpetta from her own dark thoughts, as well as the chain of public fools who secretly are plotting her demise. Niece Lucy returns to offer her Aunt Kay protection. And her lover and best friend, Benton Wesley, returns from the dead to offer both Scarpetta and Marino clues that ultimately help save their lives.

If these names don't sound familiar, don't worry. It is not necessary to have read The Black Notice, the predecessor novel to The Last Precinct, or the many other Cornwell Scarpetta novels, to appreciate the book. It is recommended, however.

Scarpetta must she find the inner strength to survive the heinous attack on her own life by the grotesque serial killer, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne, aka the "werewolf." In the midst of dealing with this crisis, she must defend herself against a whole new set of would-be assasins. And do so alone since most of the people she has come to trust in her life prove untrustworthy. She faces an indictment for a crime that she did not commit. Trhoug all of her own personal and professional turmoil, she must muster the courage and will to investigate new crimes that appear connected to Chandonne, including the hanging death of an innocent young boy. And perhaps most difficult for Scarpetta, she must place her life in the hands of a top female prosecutor from New York, Jaime Berger, who has come to Richmond, ultimately to offer Scarpetta salvation.

Cornwell provides many glimpses into the mind of Scarpetta. Her thoughts, her feelings of despair, her questioning of everything known to her. This may bother some readers. But it adds a more human dimension to Scarpetta that the earlier novels lack.

In the end, Scarpetta is able to solve the new crimes by relying on the gut instincts and forensic expertise that has served her so well in the past. And she is able to let go of past demons and look forward to a new life.

Cornwell is smart to move her heroine onward in her career path. The Virginia Medical Examiner's Office was growing stale for material. With one foot still in the public sector -- Scarpetta returns the favor to prosecutor Berger by agreeing to participate in Chandonne's trial in New York -- and the other in the private sector, Cornwell will be able to introduce a whole new set of story lines and characters in future novels. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: Scarpetta is her own victim
Review: As a long time fan of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, it was almost refreshing to see Scarpetta in a new light.

When I finished reading BLACK NOTICE, I knew Scarpetta was in for a change because of the tragedies she'd encountered. Cornwell didn't leave me hanging -- changes and more changes for my favorite heroine, Kay Scarpetta.

Cornwell twisted this tough medical examiner inside out, upside down, and all around until she resembled a discarded latex glove. With THE LAST PRECINCT, we see all sides of Scarpetta, including a deeper look into what makes her tick and what ticks her off.

With the world against her, her job on the line, being framed for a vicious murder, and old memories getting in the way, Scarpetta must finally do what she's never been able to do before, lean on others and let them help her. Unfortunately, even those who only have good intentions for Scarpetta, end up hurting her -- friends, family, and even her co-workers all discover a newer, more vulnerable Kay.

I'm excited about this new direction for Kay Scarpetta and you will be too, when you read THE LAST PRECINCT.

Rating:
Summary: Tired & Angry
Review: Writing with golden handcuffs must be hard.

Long after the author has tired of the characters, the publisher demands more books featuring them.

Result: The bored writer's characters get edgier, angrier, more darkly introspective. And the plots get uglier, sillier, less well-crafted. And downright sloppy.

Examples:
• The protagonist, a lawyer, and the novel's thoughtful, first-person narrator, is suspected of a heinous murder. She believes she has been set-up by powerful forces. And never even thinks for one moment of consulting with or obtaining defense counsel.

• Another major character, a career government employee, mentions -- in an off-handed, "oh by the way" way, to her surrogate mother that she easily became a millionaire a while back. Must have slipped her mind.

• The dramatic climax is instantly and incredulously resolved. In an error worthy of a wannabe novelist, the reader is only *told* that the protagonists survived certain death. The miraculous, death-defying feat is accomplished through unseen heroics.

Worse, we're expected to believe it's via by a cop on administrative leave who is inexplicably wearing body armor, thus avoiding a fatal, point blank shotgun blast. The tremendous body blow aside, she manages to miraculously overpower her captor.

Then there's the uncharacteristic cowardly turn of tail by the strong, macho and sadistic villain who simply runs from the scene without even a little skirmish.

We learn the sketchiest of details about all this in a most unsatisfactory, quick and dirty, summary fashion. The FedEx guy must have been waiting at the door to pick up the overdue manuscript.

Once upon a time, Patricia Cornwell created a most likable and intriguing character in Dr. Kay Scarpetta. But, obviously tired and trapped, the talented Ms. Cornwell has turned on the good doctor.

Now we're all feeling her angst, frustration, and pain.

There are still hints of Cornwell's smart insights, her tight plotting, and inspired character development. But they're degraded because she's phoning it in.

One can only conclude that Cornwell can't or won't give Scarpetta the bullet. So she's setting the stage for her readers to do the dirty deed for her through a slow, agonizing demise.

Call that sad tale, Death by Disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Thou Shalt Not Kill
Review: I discovered Patricia Cornwell about five years ago, when I bought and read her exceptional first novel, Postmortem. As both a reader and a writer, I was deeply impressed with Postmortem. That book had an undeniable intensity that made it all but impossible to put down; the writing was very high-quality, the story itself was involving, and the central character -- Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia -- was a vivid and appealing creation, making her particularly enjoyable to read about. Put it this way, I devoured Postmortem, and soon after devoured the rest of the Kay Scarpetta books available in paperback at that time including: Body of Evidence, All That Remains, Cruel and Unusual, The Body Farm, From Potter's Field and Cause of Death. After that, it was hardcovers all the way, which meant year-long waits for Unnatural Exposure, Point of Origin, Black Notice, and now, The Last Precinct, the latest novel in this outstanding series. The Last Precinct begins shortly after the events that culminated last year's Black Notice; police are swarming all over Kay Scarpetta's beloved Richmond home in the wake of suspected serial killer Jean-Baptiste Chandonne's violent and unexpected attack on her life, and the injured Scarpetta is miserable enough to flee to her best friend's home to protect herself from the insanity of this invasion of her private life. Not long after, Scarpetta learns, to her utter disbelief, that she herself is the subject of a nasty criminal investigation. Understandably, she becomes paranoid and goes on the defensive. What follows is the riveting account of how she manages to deal with the sheer madness her life has become while at the same time doing what she can to help prove Jean-Baptiste Chandonne's guilt as a sadistic killer. One of Cornwell's most interesting achievements with The Last Precinct is that she manages to turn Scarpetta into a victim without actually killing her off; a victim whose life is dissected and subjected to as much intense scrutiny as one of the bodies the formidable Chief Medical Examiner would have no doubt posted/autopsied herself. Along the way we learn more about Scarpetta's past, her emotions and her true feelings than ever before. Lingering questions from past novels, most significantly about Scarpetta's long-time love, FBI profiler Benton Wesley, are also resolved in The Last Precinct in surprising, unexpected and satisfying ways. Scarpetta's co-hort, Officer Pete Marino, and her niece, Lucy, are larger than life in the story, too. To say, as some reviewers have, that The Last Precinct is no more than a rehash of events in Black Notice, is an unfair understatement. To me, The Last Precinct is a logical outgrowth and continuation of those events, and Cornwell not only deepens them, but makes them even more sinister and suspenseful than you can imagine. As always, Cornwell's attention to detail is impeccable in The Last Precinct, from the scenes of grisly autopsies to the dialogue that practically snaps right off the page; everything in the book seems authentic rather than fabricated or contrived, and that has been the case since Postmortem. By the end of The Last Precinct, it is clear how things will never, ever be the same for Dr. Kay Scarpetta. I, for one, look forward to the possibilities Cornwell leaves open and to wherever she decides to take her alter-ego in future books. If you have any interest in suspense novels involving crime, not very many authors write them as well as Cornwell. What shines like a welcoming beacon in all of her books is how passionately she hates the evil killers do and how just as passionately she cares about true justice. I highly recommend The Last Precinct as well as the five-star reads: Postmortem, Body of Evidence, All That Remains, Cruel and Unusual, The Body Farm, From Potter's Field, Cause of Death, Unnatural Exposure, Point of Origin and Black Notice.

Rating:
Summary: ENOUGH OF THE "WEREWOLF" ALREADY
Review: It is with mixed feelings that I write a review of a Patricia Cornwell book and give it less than a stellar rating. Unfortunately, in good conscience, I can't give this more than 3 stars. I even feel I'm being generous with that. The only reason it rates the 3 stars is that I'm giving a star to each of the main characters -- Kay, Lucy and Marino -- for showing up on these pages.

This is the 11th book in the Kay Scarpetta series and, as an avid fan, I wait patiently for the newest arrival (which I have already preordered at Amazon of course). The day it is delivered, I put everything aside and delve right in. So, when I say I'm disappointed, this is truly coming from the heart.

This is an absolute sequel to Black Notice and thus continues the storyline of Jean-Baptiste Chandonne, better known as Le Loup-Garou -- the "werewolf". In order to make this a stand alone book and for the benefit of those readers who haven't read Black Notice, Cornwell repeats everything we've already read in the previous book. This is fine and necessary for those who haven't read Black Notice. For those true fans who have already read this book, these constant reminders become redundant. I didn't like the werewolf storyline in Black Notice so I liked it even less as it continued in The Last Precinct. This book finds Kay recovering from wounds she suffered at the hands of Le Loup Garou, being analyzed to death by her friend and psychoanalyst Anna (150 pages of this), being accused of a crime that she didn't commit and spending the entire book being paranoid as to whom she can really trust. While I enjoy getting to understand Kay's inner psyche a little better, enough was enough after 75 pages of it.

I made the mistake of reading this book one morning while eating breakfast. It didn't make for a great meal to be reading about the werewolf shedding all his fine blonde hairs all over the place while I was eating my bagel. YUK. I, for one, have had enough of Le Loup Garou but, unfortunately, it is evident in the end of this book that this story will be continuing in Cornwell's next book.

I won't give up on my three favorite characters yet but I implore Cornwell to give her true fans a break and get back to the stories that made these books become bestsellers in the first place. By the time I read the last page, I was ready to head for The Last Precinct -- the place Cornwell describes as where you go when there is nowhere else to go -- or my own description -- where you go when you want to get away from this book.

Rating:
Summary: Much to do about nothing
Review: After Listening to Black Notice and then The Last Precinct, I just feel like this author needs to take an anti-depressant or something. What she does to her characters is just simply abuse. I dare you to find anyone in these books who laugh or tell jokes or anything. Everything, all the time is just so serious. Not to mention there is NO suspense what so ever in these two books. NONE. A lot of scenes are just a waste of time. We find out too much information on unimportant characters. Yes, she knows her stuff about forensic pathology but you need more than that for a SUSPENSE story. Mainly, you need to feel your main character is danger--and I don't mean just the last two pages of the book. Once upon a time, Kay may have been cutting edge...now, she's too much of a victim. Everything happens to her. She doesn't come off as in control of anything. From her ex-lover to her job--she's a victim. That goes for her neice to. She's trigger happy but somehow it's some kind of conspiracy theory of why ATF wants to get rid of her. And that whole-by the way, I'm a millionaire bit is just hogwash. The moment she filed her taxes ATF would have know about her "extra income." Chapters on her just watching a video. Long sessions just talking about herself to her friend/ phychiatrist...it's just boring.
Plus, there is just too many characters and too many balls in the air. Maybe Lucy needs her own series. That way we can deal with her trouble family life, lesbian lovers, problematic career, and questionable monies there and not clog up this series.
Can Cornwell write--yes. Can she tell a good story...I'm not too sure. But hey, she's not the first to make Bestseller status on mediocre books and I doubt that she'll be the last.

Rating:
Summary: The darkest Kay Scarpetta yet.
Review: This book is the darkest Kay Scarpetta book yet, and although it is not one of my favourites in the series, it is a very important one for all Kay Scarpetta fans. Not only are unresolved issues from the previous book brought to conclusion, it is also the book where Kay has to face her enemies on all fronts, and in her most vulnerable state. Not only that it's the book where Kay has to face the death of her lover Benton. Why was Benton killed, and why does it seem to be linked with the latest grizzly murders commited by the French "werewolf"? We also see character development in Kay's supporting cast. Marino, Lucy and Kay's friend Anna. Kay has powerful enemies, and they almost succeed in getting her discredited and charged with the murder of the woman that was killed in the previous book - the beautiful, haughty and crooked Dianne Bray. But Kay also has loyal and inteligent friends and they, along with a brillian District Attorney, help her overcome this conspiracy. No one can do a full scale conspiracy like Patricia Cornwell.

Rating:
Summary: The beginning of the end?
Review: I waited for a while to say this. Every author can have a bad book or two. The transitional focus change from what might be seen as a bit more action to a reflective deeper character frankly flopped. I don't care not because the character isn't worth it but because the author doesn't carry it off.

After reading the following books I wondered if this wasn't the first attempt to save something the author had grown bored with and serial characters can become boring. Other authors have started this transition leading to Best Sellers with only a few grunts of "no" from a few die hard fans of the other version of the writing. Branching off into other works is also a trait. The following books were way below standard for her. So far below I don't bother to even look to see if anything new is coming out nor do I buy them used when they do.

Read this? Yes. It might be Kay's real farewell to us all.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting!
Review: In Patricia Daniels Cornwell's, THE LAST PRECINCT, Scarpetta puts a killer behind bars, but subsequent murders link him to the crimes!

Exciting from page one on! The characters are exciting and the plot to die for!

(Must Read Thriller!)

Rating:
Summary: Cornwell resurrects her career?
Review: I've had a complicated relationship with Cornwell. I think her first four or five novels are just great suspense thrillers. But her Scarpetta series became increasingly bleak and tortured and I gave up on them after Point of Origin, which seemed to be chock-full of obtrusive personal mannerisms, and didn't even bother to read Black Notice. Someone gave me The Last Precinct and I only started reading it because I was bored -- and almost put it down after the dreary first 100 pages.

But around 125 pages in, Cornwell stops concentrating on Scarpetta's damaged psyche -- some of the criticisms here of the psychologizing are valid -- and resumes doing what she does best, deftly-plotted forensic mysteries. The book came alive and was incredily suspensful after that point. I made the mistake of reading it when I was alone at home and was often so afraid I couldn't move. Cornwell has the unique ability to absolutely jolt one upright with surprising plot developments. Last Precinct has several such moments and the plot hangs together in a very believable, if dark way. This is a superb thriller and I heartily recommend it. It's also clearly part of a series - Blowfly, her next book, continues the story.

So I highly recommend this book. One piece of advice: Cornwell more than any other suspense writer needs to be read in sequence. If you are thinking of reading a Cornwell, start with her excellent first novel Postmortem and read them in order of publication. Last Precinct is not comprehensible to those who don't know Point of Origin, although I didn't read Black Notice (Last Precinct starts minutes after the dramatic conclusion of Black Notice).