Rating: 
Summary: 0 for two
Review: I read one other Cornwell book, Point of Origin, and I thought it was bad. But this one really reeks. There is no real plot at all, and her flip-flopping focus makes it hard to figure out what (if anything) is going on. I kept waiting to see which of the "elegant, beautiful, older, intelligent" women, one the Chief of police & the other head of investigations, the 22 year old blonde adonis would end up with. What a waste of time. The characters were unrealistic, the situations implausible, and the plot(?) boring. I find it amazing that Ms. Cornwell continues to be a "popular" artist. Frankly, I think I'd rather have a stick in the eye than have to suffer through another of her "novels". I got nothing from this book. I learned nothing new factually, I gained no insights into people, I got NOTHING. What a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: I am torn between the words insipid, trite and banal.
Review: This could possibly be the worst book I have ever read. I was an early fan of Patricia Cornwell's but feel her recent works are sub-par. If she spent more than an afternoon writing "Hornet's Nest", she wasted her time! What an ordinary, unbelievable tale!
Rating: 
Summary: Hornet's Nest
Review: I truly enjoyed this book. While it is in no way an edge of your seat thriller, it made for excellent and fun reading. It was easy to read and definitely kept me entertained. I hope Cornwell writes more about these characters.
Rating:
Summary: Who wrote this??????
Review: As a faithful follower of Patricia Cornwell's work, I was not only surprised, but utterly disappointed with this novel. Who really wrote this is what I want to know. Cornwell's Scarpetta novels had me up all hours of the night. I finished all of the books in this wonderful series within one week. It took me a total of five weeks to choke down Hornest's Nest. Cornwell cruises through hyper-space with her lights off. The serial murder plot was there, but so distracted by Brazil, West, and Hammer's off beat problems that never really did tie into the story line. Each paragraph was never over 15 lines long, and each one contained a different story it seemed. Needless to say, this novel was very UN-Cornwell like. I highly doubt that I will even attempt to swallow Southern Cross. I'll just sit back and wait for The Last Precint, which I know will once again put Cornwell on top of the readers lists.
Rating:
Summary: How did the cat know?
Review: I enjoyed this departure from the Scarpetta stories. The theme that persisted through this book was the inability of any of the characters to say what they were thinking. They were all so obsessed with their own feelings and images that they missed important clues as to what was going on around them. Even the most honest and sensitive person, Andy Brazil, seemed to be lost at times in his own miserable world and incapable of admitting his feelings. The serial killer/murder mystery was of secondary importance in this story. The real tragedy was the way intelligent, reasonably likeable people completely misread each other's needs and feelings. I actually was hoping to see more of Hammer and West in future stories; as improbable as it might seem to have women in a major city occupying such authoritative positions, it was refreshing to see police work done with a degree of sensitivity. There were some plot holes, I thought, but I cared for the characters and was left wanting to know more about them.
Rating: 
Summary: Kind of an Odd Book
Review: While this was an enjoyable read (a most important criteria for me), I finished the book and wanted to say: "Whatever"! The characters were interesting, but mostly unbelievable in most ways. Also, the plot was unusual - for instance, a crime that no one knows about is solved as the perpetrator of the unknown crime is murdered as part of a set of serial killings. I guess that could happen. Anyway, I did find myself rooting for Andy and West to get together, even though they had a love/hate relationship that did not bode well for their future.
Rating:
Summary: Experiment gone awry
Review: I've enjoyed several of the Kay Scarpetta books, but was open to reading about new characters too. And there are some interesting characters in this book. Unfortunately, not the main characters who are all garden variety supermen/women. Borrrrring. (And if they're all so brilliant, why is a cat the one to figure out the mystery, such as it is?) The style of getting into the consciousness of all of the characters was kind of interesting, but not enough so to make up for the lack of plot. Or was the plot supposed to be the interpersonal stuff between the characters? I couldn't figure out what was going on there, or maybe I just didn't care enough about the characters to try. I wish I could take back the hours I wasted reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Truly awful
Review: I am a big fan of Patricia Cromwell, and I found it hard to believe that this book was written by the same person. It was so tedious and poorly written that I didn't even finish it. I kept debating whether it may have been her very first attempt at writing that she published now or one written by someone else. Even the sale price is too much to waste on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Could not finish this plotless book
Review: There comes a time, when an author is popular, that whatever he or she writes will sell and the pressure to produce new novels causes a marked degradation in quality. Even though I find the plots and characters of the KS series somewhat streched at times, I usually enjoy her books (Body Farm is my favorite). This one was a COMPLETE turn-off. PC has written one too-many books with this one. Had she written it under a pseudonym, this book would never had sold. The plot is more suitable for a Danielle Steele novel (I like her/she hates me, I like him/he hates me, how did our marriage end up this way?) than an author known for crime novels. The writing is also terribly clumsy: it would not pass an introductory writing class. Voices and points of view change in the middle of paragraphs. Too many changes between paragraphs. Arbitrary chapter delineation. Pointless flashbacks and points of view from minor characters. Stereotyped characters (the jewish banker, the beautiful gay men, the sleazy reporter, the god-like never-needs-sleep-and-runs-8-miles-a-day hero with a drunken mother, unmarried childless beautiful strong woman). The characters are static and only evolve/grow/progress slowly and in minor ways. I hope the same thing won't happen to K.J. Reich.
Rating:
Summary: Disjointed almost to the level of unreadable
Review: I've read a couple of Cornwell's 'Scarpetta' novels but not enough to make me either an expert or a fan. Indeed if Hornet's Nest had been the first Patricia Cornwell novel I'd happened to come across there is no doubt that I wouldn't have gone out of my way to pick up any of her other work. Considering the quality of the other Cornwell novels I've read, I'm glad Hornet's Nest has come someway down the line! Hornet's Nest has a cliched, badly written plot that borders on unrealistic. It is disjointed almost to the level of unreadable with a lack consistency throughout. I didn't care about any of the characters within the book, I had no empathy or investment in them and on concluding Hornet's Nest there is no desire for me to continue my relationship with them. You've probably come to the conclusion that I didn't enjoy Hornet's Nest. You'd be right. My sister is a big Kay Scarpetta fan, I don't think she has read Hornet's Nest - I won't be encouraging her to do so!
| 
