Rating: 
Summary: How To Do An Autopsy
Review: I have read 9 of P. Cornwell's books and enjoyed them. This is the WORSE one. I can't believe she wrote it. BORING I read to page 349 of 415 and at that point did not care who the killer was.
Rating: 
Summary: There is No Hope
Review: Unfortunately I gave Cornwell yet another chance to return to the form that made her early books gripping and a worthy read. This one is filled with the now trite themes we've seen before: power brokers plotting against Kay to remove her from her job, internal suspicions at the office, the angst of her personal life, the sniveling and relationships of niece Lucy, and what appears to be the ever increasing stupidity of Marino. The only refreshing thing in this book is that the villian is not apprehended in the bedroom of her home. Thank you Kay for running outside. Sorry Patricia, no more for me.
Rating:
Summary: Hooray, Benton is Dead!
Review: Ordinarily, I don't cheer the demise of characters in a book, but I thought that this first Kay Scarpetta novel in the "post-Benton Wesley" era would be a throwback to Patricia Cornwell's first novels in this series. The premise was excellent: a body is discovered in the bowels of a cargo ship with the words "loup garou". Any baby boomer who ever watched Zacherley on "Shock Theater" or any generation X-er who ever saw "Elvira" could tell you that "loup garou" means werewolf. A case involving a serial killer that takes our heroine Kay to the shores of Europe and the office of interpol. Our intrigue-juices were just salivating. Save your appetite, my friend, there's no meal here.I did not like this book because the plot line that I mentioned only accounts for about 1/4 of the book. The remainder of it depicts the deterioration and assasination (almost) of the characters that aided Kay Scarpetta so well throughout this series. This is done through a weak and stereotypical subplot involving new deputy chief Diane Bray. Kay Scarpetta is no longer the extremely intelligent, razor sharp medical examiner who finds the narrowest thread of a clue that helps catch the bad guy. She is now a shell of what she once was. It started a few novels ago, but she hits rock bottom in this one. Benton Wesley was a sharp, intelligent, well educated, well dressed, FBI guru. Think Efrem Zimbalist on the inside, maybe Harrison Ford on the outside. Yet when he and Kay became lovers their characters became completely unbelievable. "Oh, Kay, we shouldn't do this" "Oh Benton, I know we shouldn't". Then they promptly jump in the sack like two alley cats. They're both too smart for this. So, I thought with Benton out of the picture (hence my title), things might go back to the way they were. No such luck. Pete Marino used to be the street smart cop whose blue collar, Bogart-like personality, used to play beautifully with the clean, well educated Scarpetta. Not anymore. Marino is now an overweight, stagnant, cardiological time bomb. He has no creativity and his character is falling onto the junk pile of life. Lucy, Kay's niece, has been reduced as well. While struggling with her own sexual identifiaction, Lucy has turned from an intelligent young woman into a gal who would "out-macho" any guy this side of John Wayne. She is a helicopter pilot, computer jock, ammunitions expert, and she packs a revolver in her shoe. Come on. Still, Ms. Cornwell has an intriguing character in Lucy, but she insists on hitting the reader over the head with a "lesbianism is ok" mallet as Lucy wrestles with her sexual orientation. I want to say, ok, already, I agree with you. Everytime this happens, I can hear Jerry Seinfeld saying, ".......not that there's anything wrong with that." If you're new to Kay Scarpetta, skip this one. Go to Patrica Cornwell's first novels in this series. Meet the Kay Scarpetta of "Postmortem" and "All That Remains". I liked her (and those novels) a lot better. If your library is short on those books then try an author named Kathy Reichs, who will introduce you to the "Canadian Kay Scarpetta", Tempe Brennan. Take this review as black notice on "Black Notice"
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks earlier Scarpetta's elements
Review: My first book in the Scarpetta's series is Cruel and Usual. It was far more gory, scary and dark. "Black Notice" is gripping as all the other Scarpetta stories. However, the villain in this book is not so scary. The story moves mostly around Scarpetta's office politics. The subplot is actually the main plot of the story. After I read her latest book, "The Last Precinct", I feel that "Black Notice" seems to be the book that Ms. Cornwell wrote to give us background information on the "Loup Garou". The other element that almost disappears in this novel is the forensic part. I wish Ms. Cornwell writes more "scientific investigation" in her future novels. It is what makes her and Scarpetta different from other authors and detectives.
Rating:
Summary: Good story soap opera dialogue
Review: The private life of Kay Scarpeta is becoming something of a soap opera. She is always troubled, angry, depressed, and fearful. This deepening examination of her life and the lives of those around her are now, in this book, and also in THE LAST PRECINCT, beginning to detract from the story. And the story is really quite good. If you like a lot of "over-reaction" to almost every mundane event of life then this is the book for you. However if you expect cool judgement and calculated response to the puzzles faced by a person with a scientific mind prepare to be somewhat disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Where does the author want to go?
Review: I don't know why the author created another new man for Kay. Her life is stressful, so she needs a help. Yes, I agree. But there are a few people who want to help her, but can't because she doesn't want them to help her. To avoid them, Kay falled in love with another man. I don't like such a way to solve the problem with people who love me and whom I love.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping but tired formula
Review: This author's story telling skills make any new installment in the Kay Scarpetta series difficult to resist. However, while the usual good plotting is in evidence here, the turgid interpersonal relationships between Kay and Marino and Kay and Lucy are becoming tiresome. Also, Kay is becoming a little self-indulgent and egotistical. A little more plot and less of the interpersonal stuff would be good.
Rating:
Summary: Dreck.
Review: Kay Scarpetta was self-absorbed and irritating. Lucy was equally self-absorbed and just plain stupid. The serial killer was an overwrought caricature that seemed taken from an Ed Wood movie. Yuck.
Rating:
Summary: Ms Cornwell, you've forgotten to finish this...
Review: A prize is surely required for the most abrupt ending! The book itself was fine - it kept me turning until 2.00am, but the end was unbelievable, with no expansion or elaboration of the plot details. Like a bad TV movie in this regard. An acceptable book with a completely unacceptable end.
Rating:
Summary: Lousy. And, oh, the angst
Review: The angst and psycho babble are much too much and too Hollywoody adolescent. This seems to be less a novel by itself and more her editor's strikeouts from Point of Origin - like the cuttings on a film editor's floor. The book drags and the emotional pain -- oh the pain, oh the pining, oh the melodrama, oh the psychological analysis -- pleeeze. Sophomoric. Reeks of being put together hastily for a deadline. Having read similar readers' comments about her newest novel, it sounds as if her good books are sadly all in the past. They were great while they lasted.
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