Rating: Summary: Excellent combination of fiction with everyday office life Review: Even more interesting than huntig the Loup I found the way Scarpetta had to cope with personal problems (loss of Benton, the relation to Lucy, her sister and her mother), with competition (Bray) and her staff. Further I like this kind of books where you get the direct dialogs, even if the number of invectives is beyond my personal demand. Finally I appreciate the detailed descriptions of interpersonal behaviour and thoughts (e.g. they looked deep into each others eyes ... and Kay admits that Bray is extremely attractive but hates her). As in Hornet's Nets, and later novels Scarpetta involved modern media (internet, TV, radio, press). I'm sure that each european Cornwell fan enjoyed Kay and Marino's trip to Paris. So her affair could not have been predicted and wasn't really what I expected.
Rating: Summary: Yes! Review: I have been a faithfull reader of Ms. Cornwell's for years. I have read all the books in the series. After Benton's death I was certain that because of that shocking death of a old friend I would never read another book of hers again. I know you are thinking I need help, but once you begin to read her books you will be hooked! This was one book I put off for about one month. (Okay so I am not that strong of a person.) It was worth the wait. The twist and turns keep you guessing all through out and the additional characters add so much to the familiar favorites.
Rating: Summary: Great! Review: I just finished reading Black Notice, and I thought it was one of Patricia Cornwell's best books yet. I can't wait to read The Last Precinct.
Rating: Summary: Not her best Review: Patricia seems bored with local Richmond. Although Kay mentions several times there are lots of bodies constantly comming into morgue, she gets possessed with solving 1. Flying her (and drunk Marino) to Europe on Concord seems like Patricia needs recognition by more prominent digitaries. In all, this book confused me since I got distracted many times with these inconsistencies. Kay is best at autopsies and solving complicated deaths local to her terf. That is what captured my very strong interest in prior books.
Rating: Summary: an intriguing start, but... Review: Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell has an intriguing start, with Kay Scarpetta trying to come to grips with her grief a year after Benton's death. As she comes out of her fog Kay realizes that she and those she holds dear, Marino and her niece Lucy are contending with some serious problems. That story is interesting and entertaining, but then that plot line is suddenly ended in a rather startling and bizarre fashion.We are transported to Edgar Allen Poe land and the Murders of Rue Morgue. The books ends with more loose ends than tied ones and its no mystery in the traditional sense, because the killer appeared very late in the game. The killer is pesented it such a way that you feel sorry for this pathetic creature rather than being repulsed by his heinous crimes. I personally want to know why all the hairs appeared to be cut and none came out with their follicles intact. And really how could Kay be so stupid to open the door? Having said that, it was an entertaining read and I intend to read Cornwell's books again. I have enjoyed many in the past.
Rating: Summary: Black Angst Review: As a long-time mystery and Scarpetta/Cornwell fan, I bought Black Notice for entertainment. I wasn't prepared to be a captive voyeur to Scarpetta's angst and to wonder between the lines how much was projected from Cornwell's own psyche. The axiom is that successful writers write about what they know best. I wish she had stayed with fiction
Rating: Summary: Strange story Review: What a strange plot. Scarpetta and Marino are ordered by ATF and a Senator to go to Paris. "Go and go right away. We need your help." When they arrive at Paris Interpol, Kay is told, "You may be our only hope.... Police can't go inside the Paris morgue and start asking questions." So Kay is told SHE needs to contact the chief French medical examiner, on the pretext she's just looking her up because they were on a symposium panel together once, and "she's agreed to talk with you," and, by the way, how's your drug case investigation going? But when she gets together with the French medical examiner, the French doctor says, "when you called, I knew what it was about because I'm the one who asked you here." So the French medical examiner needed to ask Interpol to fly an American medical examiner (with her police buddy for company) to France on the Concorde in order to relay a message to Interpol in Paris?! Is Cornwell the only person alive who doesn't know how AOL works? We read in the book, "I brought up the menu on my computer and looked at the icon for AOL. I logged on without a problem, meaning no one else had done so first.... Ruth called back minutes later and sounded excited. 'He bought a computer and printer last month,' she reported. 'For about six hundred dollars. And the computer came with a modem.' "'And we have AOL software here.' 'Tons of it. If he didn't buy his own, he certainly could have gotten his hands on it.'" Of course, the killer, having shipped one of his victim's bodies across the Atlantic, decides to follow the body and stalk everyone investigating the crime in the US?! There are better books out there. Skip this one.
Rating: Summary: Coroner, my life in print. Review: Very disappointing, unlike her other books, we spend the whole book in Kay's mind, who is the Diva here? I'm not interested in finding out that Kay is beautiful or has beautiful breasts, it's the autopsys and the mystery I miss. Plus, several unanswered questions, Why was the body put in the container? among others.
Rating: Summary: Did Everyone Else Read the Same Book I Did? Review: I thought this was her best work! I couldn't put it down. I love this author and LOVED this book!
Rating: Summary: Excellently written--could not put down Review: I disagree with the reviewers who are rather harsh in their opinions about this novel. It has all of the key ingredients to make it an excellent example of the best of its genre. As usual, Cornwell's writing is superb--the suspense is gripping, the action flows throughout the book, her descriptions are vivid, and her characters are real and complex. Unlike some of the reviewers, I find her well-fleshed out characters to be one of the strongest aspects of her writing. I enjoy seeing the continuing story of Kay Scarpetta's world come to life, and I enjoy seeing her interact with the characters that we have come to know through Cornwell's previous Scarpetta novels. I say Bravo to Cornwell, and I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an excellently-written murder/crime mystery!
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