Unnatural Exposure

Rating:
Summary: Suspect??
Review: This is the first Particia Cornwell book Ive read, and I think that this might be my last. Her attention to detail was spectacular but that was about all that enchanted me.

Kay, the famous detective finds a body, but just the torso in a landfill. Later, she recieves anonymous e-mail with pictures of cut-up woman, and finally... a strange virus...?

This book is rather grotesque, and is dark. Its not a book to read by the beach, and its not heartwarming nor heartbreaking.

As a mystery novel, I felt that Cornwell just needed the suspect. There is not the "oh my god, who is doing this killing?!?" kind of excitement nor can one do the usual "guessing" of the suspect as in many detective novels.

Perhaps for those reading Cornwell for the first time, this is not the perfect book.

Rating:
Summary: A great enthralling mystery
Review: Unnatural Exposure was the first book by Patricia Cornwell that I read. I loved it. It grabbed my attention from beginng to end and I had trouble putting it down. Pete and Kay's relationship is that of a sparring brother and sister and I found their interchanges quite amusing. Kay is a wonderful lead for a book because she's tough and gusty but is not abover feeling strongly for victims and other people. Ms.Cornwell writes morgue scenes so vividly and that is really her trademark. My only slight compliant is that it end abruptly and kind of anti-climiatic. Still a fast-paced harrowing thriller.

Rating:
Summary: Misses the mark
Review: I've been a fan of Patricia' Cornwell's books for some time, and this one just not up to her usual level of quality.

The book has a wonderfully interesting idea regarding the MO of the killer, but dissapointingly, this idea along with the character of the killer, is not really developed to the extent that you expect from earlier Cornwell novels.

Most of the book revolves around sub-plots of the relationships between the many characters that have become part of Kay Scarpett's life over the series of Novels. Unfortunately this comes at the expense of the story about the villain and the crimes.

My preference is for the earlier, leaner, Kay Scarpetta books that concentrate on the murder mystery, the science of forensics, and the interplay between Marino and Kay.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Lame On The Ending!
Review: I was hoping this would be a good mystery. I would love to tell you why this isn't a good mystery, but that would spoil it for anyone who may want to read this. Let's just say the ending and the delivery of the ending leave a lot to be desired - For example - wait until you see what the killer's motive is for everything that happened in this book. I am fighting the urge to discuss this! However, the technical detail is well-done (except, at times, I found the endless descriptions of the various labs and procedures somewhat boring). I will try her other books - hopefully they will be less disappointing. This one robbed me of about 10-15 hours of my life! If you read this book and want to complain about the ending - feel free to email me at: [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: One of her best
Review: This is an excellent book for a weekend by the fire read. Especcially if you enjoy murder and viruses. This is a different turn for Cornwell. In other books she usually deals with villains who are suffering from APD. However, a realistic, and frighteningly NORMAL bad guy is a good choice for a novel. I heartily recommend this book for anoyone who like trying to solve a crime along with that main character.

Rating:
Summary: ho-hum
Review: Ho-Hum. I picked this book up on a whim. I was looking for a new author to read, something different from the ones I have been reading lately. Serves me right. I should have read the reviews first! When reading this, it really had possibilities, but so many things were introduced to build on the lead character, yet they were never carried on. Many sub-plots were started, yet never built upon, or even finished! I was reading this over the coarse of a few days (very slow going for me) and one evening I put the book down and the next day I picked it up and I honestly thought I picked up a different book! The whole plot changed like a light switch. It went from a murder-ish mystery to a biological warfare mystery. In fact, several chapters were confusing when sub-characters suddenly were very important and I had to scan back and figure out when they had been introduced. Like I said, ho-hum, it had way to much technical and not enough character. Maybe a complete re-write might make it a whole book, but right now I'd have to say it was like reading a partially put together puzzle. It had too many holes to be satisfying.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: Reminding this book is suppossed to be a forensics thriller, I liked it. I mean, I wasn't expecting car chases or a M.E. turned cop carrying a gun or wrestling someone into the ground. The descriptions of virus, methods, and so on are good for me. This is not suppossed to be Tom Clancy or Fredric Forsyth. If you're interested in forensics this is a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Not Even Worth One star
Review: A big headache,this book has no plausible plot,no story and the way the theme is handled is really pathetic.Patricia tries to do ala Robin cook but she is not even 1% successful.Avoid this book at any cost, or read it at your own headache.

Rating:
Summary: Patricia Cornwell's Best Work
Review: This is the first novel I read by Patricia Cornwell. It is my favourite of all her novels. This book deals with Wesley's and Scarpetta's on/off relationship. The plot revolves around a dismembered body found in a dump, but expands in many directions with lots of action with Scarpetta getting inadvertantly caught up in a dangerous situation. This book is definitely a good read as it never goes through a slow or boring patch. I recommend that if you're going to try reading a Patricia Cornwell novel you should read this one first.

Rating:
Summary: This book leads to nothing
Review: The first part of the book had me interested. I was starting to wonder what was going to happen and thought that the plot was pretty good. That did not last long. It seems like the author either ran out of ideas or did not care enough to continue the book properly. Huge plot holes and a lot left unsaid. How can you drop a character that seemed to be rather important in the middle of the novel like that? That was weird. I will not read any of her books again, that was a huge disappointement. Too bad because the idea was really good, but poorly explored and the characters were not well developped.