Unnatural Exposure

Rating:
Summary: Spoilers from the spoiled.
Review: If you're still determined to read the book.. Don't read this review. ................................................. I just recently finished the book, and would have to say I was a little shocked at the ending too. When I read who the killer was I was like."Huh?" Like some other people who've read and reviewed the book, I spent almost a half hour leafing back through the book trying to find the person's earlier refrence. If you're interested in knowing, it's around page 110 of the hardcover edition. The plot was great, but I'd have to agree with some other people who thought that Kay has started to stray too much from her Medical Examiner duties and gotten too much into the FBI. She can't be like Dana Scully, and have it both ways. "Cruel and Unusual" was the first of her novels that I read, and I hoped that Unnatural Exposure would be as nail biting and as gruesome, but nope it wasn't. Besides it was too short. It was almost like she was lost on a plausible ending and just stuck a weird one in to finish the book. Besides if she'd had "that" killer in mind from the beginning, then the story would have been much shorter anyway. She traveled all over the country looking for answers, and then it seems like she all of a sudden just stumbled over the truth in her own back yard. I found it quite a stretch of the imagination to pair the eventual killer with the evidence she'd compiled. Sub plots were left hanging, or they were started, and then ignored before being absurdly cut off such as in the case of Wingo. Patricia Cornwell and Kay have both gone soft. She needs to find a way to attack this story line anew and make it fresh, or just cut the ties and start a new character.

Rating:
Summary: The Best book so far featuring K. Scarpetta
Review: Thanks to my fren who started reading these books first, i've read all of em now. i think this is the best so far. i like scarpetta's attitude but she was too mellow bout that she might of been infeated with the diease. i think in the next book or so ( i hope there'll be another book to continue the series with scarpetta) that she will finally setlle with Benton and have kids. But that'll ruin the story line but i think that P. Cornwell should do that one day!!!

Rating:
Summary: 1st and last Scarpetta book I will ever read.
Review: Never read any of P Cornwell's books before. Since I like mysteries with tidbits about some interesting hobby, avocation, or profession, the Scarpetta seemed like a good idea. I was totally turned off. what intelligient person would be so mellow about exposure to smallpox? scarpetta's character makes a big deal about an assistant's hiv status, then when the caca hits the fan, the potboiler approach to the assistant's status is turned way down. his part in the outcome is dismissed in a few short sentences. plot twist at the end stretches even the most ignorant person's credibility. from now on i'm sticking with kinsey milhone and holly winter.

Rating:
Summary: Page turner beginning, disappointed in the end
Review: I have read almost all of PC's novels and I loved them (didn't bother with Cause of Death thanks to this website, I hear I didn't miss much). This book really had me interested in the beginning and mid-way through, but I was very disappointed with the ending. I found it to be very anti-climatic and a bit far fetched. Scarpetta needs to concentrate a little more on her position as ME instead of FBI "wanna-be".

Rating:
Summary: One of Cornwell's Best!
Review: I have read every one of Cornwell's works and so far, from the Scarpetta series, Unnatural Exposure is high on my list! Congratulations!

Rating:
Summary: You have to be smart enough to read it.
Review: I have read numerous reviews of this book and in doing so, have come to this conclusion: some of the people who have reviewed it just are not smart enough to read it. Or, they aren't taking their time and enjoying the plotline. (One such person, referring to the killer, used the wrong sex in which to discribe them!) Relax, and not rush to the end. Reading is simular to eating; while some dine, others swine. Slow down and enjoy the time away from the real world. Patricia Cornwell has created a stimulating, and real character in Kay Scarpetta. It's nice to read about an intelligent woman who doesn't conform to others standards. As for Scarpetta's neice, Lucy, she needs a little polishing. Cornwell seems a little skiddish on thoroughly developing this character, and at this point, she is merely a two demensional character. Ease up Patricia, go with your gut feelings on this one and let everyone else be damned. Back to the book itself... I've read almost all of the Scarpetta novels and find this to be one of the best, thus far. A twisting rollercoaster of murder and intrigue. That's why Cornwell gets the big bucks.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: "Unnatural Exposure" is a page-turning read. The use of e-mail in the narrative is an interesting device for anyone like me who is e-mail crazy. "Unnatural Exposure" is one of the best thriller novels I've read since Craig Furnas's "The Shape: A Novel of International Suspense." (Although I'd rate that one even higher: a 10+. You can get that one on Amazon.com). And the setting of "Unnatural Exposure" was particularly welcomed since I'm a fan of Ireland and things Irish. It's a setting not often used in thrillers. For a good read, try "Unnatural Exposure."

Rating:
Summary: Now just killing trees-Scarpetta should retire
Review: Not as bad as "Cause of Death" but that's not saying much. Perhaps it is time for Dr. Kay Scarpetta to hang up her bread knife. As her stories seemed to take a progressively quick decent into mass market appeal, Cornwell was at least able to maintain the reader's interest with her fine attention to pathological detail. But now, not even those intricacies can save her absurdist plot decvices. Over the last decade, Scarpetta has developed into some ridiculous caricature of herself; a superhuman one woman army. I'm not even sure why the FBI is even bothered with. And just as a sidebar--why hasn't the Commonwealth fired Scarpetta yet? With all the time that she spends volunteering for the FBI, does she even have time for her real job? I have only read of her performing her duties as ME on a handful of occassions. Also, where does she get all her money from? Expensive house, expensive car, and no financial cares in the world. Wise investments? Indeed. I know ME's in major cities and they don't make that kind of money.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligently written, well researched, back on form
Review: I am a Patricia Cornwell fan, but I found Cause of Death too silly to be read again unlike the other Scarpetta novels. Unnatural exposure is far superior. The microbiology is accurate, it is a suspenseful and entertaining book. Scarpetta is human again after Cause of Death as she was in danger of becoming superwoman. This book was very difficult to put down and reflects Patricia Cornwell's true talent for writing informative fiction that leaves the reader with something to think about. This is not the best novel ever written, but it is conceivable that these events could take place. Not to be read by potential murderous maniacs!!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good quick read. PC's been better and worse.
Review: Up until Unnatural Exposure, there has been a trend towards the unblelievable in PC's Kay Scarpetta books. Early on, her books were straight whodunnit -- in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes. Kay is at her best when she's picking apart fibers, doing autopsies, and doing straight forensic work. And when she's in a good mood. In Unnatural Exposure, Kay was in a bad mood the whole time. She did, however, manage to get back to a bit of what she does best -- being the Medical Examiner. All in all, I was pleased that Unnatural Exposure was better than Cause of Death -- which reeked. But it's still not her best. Before writing her next book, I hope PC goes back and reads Postmortem, Cruel & Unusual, All That Remains, and From Potter's Field. They're vintage Kay Scarpetta and Patricia Cornwell. One last note: I agree. Chuck the Lucy storyline. She's obnoxious.