Rating: 
Summary: Cornwell at her best!
Review: I think it is Patricias best book and I'm looking forward to read the rest of the stories about Kay S. If you got sad after Point of Origin you will really work through the feelings with Kay, and I think Patricia does this really well. I cried a lot with the character, but at the other hand it was also very revealing, she gets deeper into the Kay character. The nice turn in the end helped it up to a clear five star.
Rating: 
Summary: Kay's back and she's going strong !
Review: We loved it especially when Kay goes international.We hope that Patricia keeps Kay 'alive' .As a medical person myself I can visualize what is happening .I love the intruge.
Rating: 
Summary: Great characters, good science, but no clue on plot
Review: Scarpetta is a detail freak in her work but has no concept of follow-through in her life. Things happen that are just ignored, it seems like the plots are a pastiche of paragraphs about Scarpetta which are forced into a chronology by her editor. The woman can write; I wish she'd take a story idea, outline it to figure out what she wants to say and where she wants to go, then go there. There's brilliance, and great sentences, solid characters, good science. But what holds them all together? The binding.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark, brooding, and dull.
Review: The majority of the book is spent tangling and untangling relationsips that have little bearing on the plot. And speaking of plot...where was it. The book drags on forever only to have everything wrapped up in less than 20 pages. This book has no relation to the earlier solid writings in the other Scarpetta novels. Though not a total waste of time this is one book better left on the shelf or at least wait for the Cliff notes to come out.
Rating:
Summary: Distracting and Disappointing Read
Review: Cornwell presents a crime and then goes way out into left field with distractions, sub-plots and too much anger. She should have kept with the forensics that she does well.
Rating:
Summary: She's back
Review: After struggling through her past three or so novels, Patricia Cornwell and Kay Scarpetta are back. The story takes place just a scant year after Benton is killed at the hands of Lucy's first lover, Carie Grenthorn, and Kay is still reeling from the horrific loss of her true soulmate. Out pops an unidentified, putrifying body from a shipping container that originated in Europe. To add to the already captivating story, Marino develops his own problems with a female boss who seems determined to rid him of his job and his sanity. Towards the end, the reader is tempted to forsake everything just to find out what is going to happen. I found myself warning Kay out loud in a room full of children as I supervised a lunch detention. In my opnion, this is one of Ms. Cornwell's very best efforts, and I have read them all.
Rating:
Summary: Yikes - Sadly, this was a terrible book
Review: It's pretty easy to describe my feelings about this book:"It's terrible - don't bother - I will never buy another book from this book series - the end has come." I used to love reading Patricia Cornwell's books. Oh well, it must be hard to keep the characters and plot lines fresh for such a long time. I'll have to find another author to replace this one.
Rating: 
Summary: One-dimensional characters mar Black Notice
Review: I agree with what some other on-line reviewers have opined: most elements of this Scarpetta novel are not too bad, but the character development is non-existent. Scarpetta, Marino, and Lucy have turned into one-dimensional stereotypes. No subtlety of characterization; no surprises in the way they act and react. Readers who didn't like this one should try an earlier book in the series, e.g. Post-Mortem or All That Remains.
Rating:
Summary: Lackluster effort with a trite ending
Review: This latest book in the Scarpetta series was a big disappointment. Was this a forensic medicine story or the next plotline for Days of Our Lives? Too much emotional baggage and way too little forensics and prodedural, clever details. The plot was plodding, and when it did start to build an interesting political intrigue subplot that would take a brilliant coup for Scarpetta to emerge victorious, the author copped out with a cheap, ridiculous Hollywood ending.
Rating:
Summary: BLACK NOTICE blackly noticed
Review: Any book with 275 reviews doesn't need another but--being from Richmond and all (note to author: VA State employees do not have access to AOL. Note to Readers: any comparison between Marino and an actual Richmond police captain is insulting.) Gave this two stars because the first 1/3 is paced briskly; a few new characters are introduced (non-serial killing non-monsters). Things are looking good. Then Kay goes to Paris, and it's all over. Her monster is laughable, it drags, you don't care, and your spirits lift at the end because you know it's almost over. You heard it here first. She's going to kill off the obnoxious Lucy. We'll have to suffer through Kay's spasms & histrionics of grief, but it will be well worth it to never be confronted by that wretched girl again.
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