Rating: 
Summary: Black Notice Faded Gray
Review: The tenth Kay Scarpetta novel by Patricia Cornwell was entitled Black Notice. The eleventh, The Last Precinct picks up in the daylight following the night of terror that ended Black Notice. As with all of the Scarpetta novels, Cornwell presents a well-told story, filled with suspense and surprises. This reader's primary criticism of the second half of the Scarpetta saga has been two-fold. First, Cornwell has tended to the soap opera, with Kay's unfortunate love affairs, colleague Pete Marino's bitterness, and niece Lucy's lesbianism and career problems sometimes seeming to be more important than the story line. Second, Cornwell has by choice or inability tended to make each novel depend heavily on its predecessor. Unless the reader has a very good memory or has read the earlier novel(s) recently, there is a lot in each subsequent book that is unexplained. The result is more of a serial-multiple episodes in one continuing story-than a series of independent stories about the same character. The Last Precinct is actually the second half of the Black Notice story. It is almost like the old TV series "Arrest and Trial" or its modern counterpart "Law and Order." In the first half the police investigate and make the arrest; and the second half is the trial. In the "Law and Order" model, there is just not as much action in the trial phase compared to the investigation phase. This is the case in The Last Precinct. Cornwell does attempt to rectify this, and there is an ongoing investigation with some real surprises. There is also a lot of retrospection by Kay about the past, which helps fill in gaps the current story leaves about significant events in earlier ones. The novel does leave the reader with some unanswered questions. Is Cornwell about to remove Kay Scarpetta from being Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonweath of Virginia? Is a change of venue from Richmond to New York coming soon? The ending of The Last Precinct has definitely set up the possibility for a part three of this story (or is it part twelve?) in New York. Will that be a one-time shot, or the start of a new direction for the series? If Kay moves to New York, what will happen to Pete Marino? Tune in next year.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW
Review: I loved it. Couldn't put it down. It really went into Kay Scarpetta's history. It was nice to finally have insight to how she ticks. I cannot wait for Patricia's next book! Wonder if (when) "Jay" and "Bev" will return in the future??? GREAT JOB, Patricia! Was also great to hear you on the radio (WXKS - Kiss108) during your recent visit to Boston.
Rating: 
Summary: More Scarpetta Please!
Review: This book is just another one in a long line of extremely good reads from Patricia Cornwell. It returns to discuss some old favorites but it continues to move the story of this woman's life forward. Her world is changing swiftly and coping with it may be the one thing that Scarpetta is not strong enough to handle. A very good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Silence would be golden
Review: The generally lackluster writing and a dreadful reading make the abridged audio casette version of The Last Precinct scarely worth even one star. I could have dealt with the moping around and lack of interesting plot much better if I hadn't been unintentionally amused by the reading. The attempt to give Kay Scarpetta a mid-South accent is a dismal failure -- first, of course, because she is a native of Miami, not Richmond, and secondly because it is so poorly done as to be ludicrous. Couple that with the annoying decision give all the characters accents of some sort and the result is laughable at best. Cornwell's work should be read straight, no frills, just the way her stories used to be.
Rating: 
Summary: VERY Disappointed - made me sleepy
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. I found it boring, very long with little action, and not at all typical of Patricia Cornwell books I have read in the past. Her writing has become more psychological than action-based. So, if you like to read about thoughts and feelings and are not into much action and excitement this is a good book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Death by coincidence
Review: What a marvel it would be if this were indeed Patricia Cornwell's Last Precinct, the one where the Scarpetta and all allied sagas stop and she either packs it in, for lack of broader ideas, or resumes where she left off being a top-class writer, with forensic crime. Since the start disbelief has had to be suspended to a degree: why would every USA-wide serial killer venture into Richmond, knowing only too well that he would there meet his nemesis? And why would every serial killer target specifically, as the apotheosis of his crimes, the forensic examiner most closely connected with those crimes? That said, here coincidence has stretched beyond the various pits into which Cornwell has almost fallen in her last four Scarpetta novels and has tumbled right over into the abyss. Who can read on Page 208 of the forgotten son of Marino and not shudder at the sheer implausibility of it all? What it does is to emphasise, as if it were necessary, that without forensic crime, out-of-the-blue serial killings and the accoutrements of the laboratory, Kay Scarpetta is nothing but a shadow surrounded by characters of dubious credibility: Marino, her niece, a succession of invaders such as Wesley, Bray and the rest of the barely comprehending rat-pack of Virginia and Quantico investigation. The Last Precinct is surely a watershed, and one can but hope that this talented writer will not take any further risks.
Rating:
Summary: Better than her last two
Review: This is the follow up to Black Notice, so if you haven't read Black Notice, you might find it difficult to understand what's going on. The first 100 pages of this book feels padded with too much back story and talking. There's almost an entire chapter with Kay (the main character) talking to a counsellor. If you can sustain past that stage, then it picks up nicely, like other good Cornwell books. Unlike her other works, this one has a satisfying ending - however, some of the storyline is a little unbelievable and contrived. It feels as if the only people in this world (good and bad) have something to do with the main character. Other than that, the prose is better than her last two books and the forensic details make a good read. Worth it if you liked the early Cornwells.
Rating:
Summary: thoughtful and exhilerating
Review: I loved this book. I have read all the Cornwell novels and found this one refreshingly different. She finally was able to give Kay Scarpetta a human face and not just a driven scientist. Her attention to the smallest detail is amazing and, though I have always been fascinated by her forensic knowledge, I especially enjoyed her emotional side in this book. It incorporated so many details from her previous novels and wove them very nicely into the steppingstone of her next book and her new life. I am especially glad that she has finally met a woman (Jaime) that she respects and who equals her own work ethics and expertise. I can't wait to see where the next book takes her as she expands on her old and new relationships in a new venue. Can't wait for the next installment!!!
Rating:
Summary: Once again, committed reading
Review: Ms. Corwell has delivered another outstanding book that further develops the reader's understanding and relationship with her ongoing main characters. It builds to a peak that won't allow the most experienced Cornwell reader to put the book down. The only sad thing is I have to wait another year for another in the series!
Rating:
Summary: Continuing decline
Review: This book appears to be yet the next installment of Cornwell's decline from the quality of her first novel. This disappointing book left far too many loose ends in its wrap-up, though the core story was not bad and was concluded appropriately. Each time I read another Cornwell novel, I swear it will be the last. This time I may take myself at my word.
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