Rating: 
Summary: her best work to date. Defines the meaning of crime fiction
Review: Immediately following the events of BLACK NOTICE, Kay Scarpetta has left the hospital with her elbow in a cast. Kay's niece Lucy has not broken any laws. Finally, Jean-Baptiste Chardonne remains in the hospital blinded by the acid Kay threw into the "Wolfman's" face to protect herself. The time to celebrate the victory over evil is now for the wary wounded winners.The ATF consider Lucy a loose cannon forcing her to resign in lieu of firing. She joins her former boss' new team, THE LAST PRECINCT. Meanwhile, Chardonne, a serial killer from a powerful crime family, pretends to be the victim of Kay's aggression. Evidence backs him up completely. A special prosecutor from New York visits Virginia, trying to link the Wolfman to a case in her state. She actually looks to see if Kay killed one of the victims instead of the Wolfman. As the truth begins to surface, a person formerly close to Kay threatens her life. Within a few hours of release, this novel will attain Numero Uno status on the New York Times best-selling list. Talk about pressure on an author to produce. However, Patricia Cornwell lives up to the hype with a powerful drama filled with action and events that will shock the audience. THE LAST PRECINCT is another great entry in a par excellence series that have few rivals. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Subtract A Star If You Are Not A Fan Of The Series
Review: Lately Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series has lost some of it's luster. Her last effort Black Notice, was without question the worst entry in the series. This book is a nice bounce back, but it doesn't quite live up to the potential it shows at first. After the first few chapters of The Last Precinct, I was convinced that Cornwell was going to reinvent Kay and take a new and fresh approach to the series. Unfortunatley, the soul searching that Scarpetta goes through in the first few chapters does not lead to the resounding change I was hoping for. Yes, it does seem that Cornwell is going to shake things up a bit just not as much as I hoped. The plot of this book picks up right were Black Notice left off. Somehow, the plot that seemed unrealistic and contrived in the previous book actually picks up some life. It almost feels like Cornwell recognizes how badly conceived Black Notice's plot was and is using this book to flesh it out. Being a fan of Cornwell's work, I really wanted to like this book, and I have to say that I did. It is an improvement over the last couple of efforts. However, it is still not as good as the earliest entries in this series and if this plot was connected with a book that was not part of a series that I liked, I'm not so sure that I would have enjoyed it as much as I did. If you have never read a Kay Scarpetta book before, do not start with this one. If you are a Cornwell fan that vowed you would never read her again after Black Notice, give her another try. The Last Precinct could be a fresh start for Kay Scarpetta, let's hope it continues.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Cornwell's best
Review: This is a direct continuation of BLACK NOTICE. Entire time period covered by both books is only about six weeks. After all the media hype about the relationship between LAST PRECINCT and the Jamestown Excavation, I was a bit dissapointed that the historical excavation played only a minor part in the story. Am already looking forward to the next book with Scarpetta in her new career and would enjoy another book in Cornwell's other series as well.
Rating:
Summary: Cornwell returns to bestselling form
Review: "The Last Precinct" is a return to form of the Kay Scarpetta that her fans know and love. This is definitely Patricia Cornwell's best book since "Cruel and Unusual", my favorite in the Kay Scarpetta series. The only thing that prevents a five star rating is that the first third of the book is bogged down in Kay's introspection. Granted, Kay was nearly murdered by a serial killer, and is having trouble coming to grips with the fact that she is a victim herself instead of tending to them, but a depressed and paranoid Kay is not a pleasant one to read about. Judging from the other reviews of Cornwell's books, other readers have shared my frustration as Cornwell has strayed from the series' strengths, tight plotting, spooky atmosphere, unbelievable suspense, and concentrated on Kay's and Lucy's personal lives instead. The beginning of the book starts out that way, with Kay staying at Anna's, her psychiatrist friend's, house and reflecting on her past. The action gets bogged down as Anna questions Kay about her relationship with Benton, her feelings about sex, and her inability to deal truthfully with her emotions. Once the reader gets past all of that, she is rewarded with an unparalleled suspense tale whose chilling effects will linger long after the book is finished. Many questions are satisfyingly resolved in "The Last Precinct." Many loose ends regarding Benton and Diane Bray are explained. Unlike some of her other recent books that were a chore to finish, this one keeps the reader hooked right up until the very end. This book may be a frustrating one for a first time reader, but followers of the series should be immensely pleased. The best part of the book was Kay was caught in a house of mirrors, and had no idea who to trust, not even her longtime sidekick Marino. There are some lingering questions at the end of the book, the usual way that Cornwell segues into the sequel. Hopefully, the next Scarpetta book will be as entertaining as "The Last Precinct" was. This is definitely the kind of writing that made Cornwell a best selling author in the first place.
Rating: 
Summary: More of the same.
Review: This is just really more of the same..lots of extremely gruesome details from post mortems, and going over and rehashing old bits from past books featuring Dr.Kay Scarpetta and The Werewolf. It really got rather tedious towards the end, and as the book finished with The Werewolf and the two main baddies from this story, Jay Talley and Bev Kippen, alive and at large, the inference can only be that the author intends to drag out the story in more books..don't think I'll bother !
Rating:
Summary: The seven degrees of Scarpetta
Review: This book is well paced and Cornwell brings back the suspense. I am an avid reader of Cornwell, or I guess I should say was. I only recently started reading her again. I was just bored with Cornwell's Scarpetta series after Black Notice, I mean a Werewolf!!!!, but this book is better, actually quite good. Of her last three novels this is the strongest and Trace the weakest, which is most regrettable sence it is her most recent. I do get tired of the seven degrees of Scarpetta, I mean is everyone she ever meets interconnected somehow, some of it is believeable, but much is just plain ridiculous. Having said that I still consider the Scarpetta series to be one of the best and encourage anyone who loves thrillers to read it from start to finish or at least to Point of Origin. If you are bored with Cornwell, try David Lindsey, now he IS the best.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it
Review: I thought this was a well written tale. I enjoy reading all of Patricia Cornwell's work. If you are a fan, or a new reader of her stories you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Probably one of the best ones
Review: I need to stop reading these amazon reviews before I read the actual book. I was skeptical about this one. Especially with all of the medicore to poor reviews. I really liked this one. As a matter of fact, I think it is one of my favorites. I think Cornwell did an excellent job in the suspense department. I was riveted. It did take a while to get into this book. That is the only reason I rated this a 4.
I foresee a change in Scarpetta's life after this book. I think it is a good transition.
Nothing wrong with this one. I highly recommend...
Rating: 
Summary: Big let down
Review: I am glad that I had read Patricia Cornwell's mysteries from the first one on through, if I had begun with "The Last Precinct" I don't believe I would ever have picked up another Cornwell mystery. I am going to give her another try with Trace, looking forward to seeing some of her old style of writing -keeping my fingers crossed!
Rating:
Summary: The Last Precinct is Only the Beginning
Review: Endless law enforcement personnel are invading the home of Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, when THE LAST PRECINCT opens just a few short hours from where the previous novel ended. Dr. Scarpetta is back from the hospital, wearing a cast. She is valiantly trying to pack a suitcase, embarrassed by the presence of her friend and fellow investigator, Capt. Pete Marino. She is packing because the police have asked her to leave, an event that launches Kay on a journey unlike any she has ever experienced.
Eleventh in author Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, THE LAST PRECINCT captured me immediately and never let up, thrilling me with 450 pages of sharp and gritty Cornwell style.
Without spilling the beans, readers will be drawn into these key plot elements: Kay is betrayed. Marino's vulnerability is shown. Lucy is hiding something. And Kay investigates Diane Bray's murder with Jaime Berger, a New York prosecuting attorney. But Berger thinks Kay might be the killer.
Guaranteed to keep you up all night and write these characters upon your heart forever.
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