Isle of Dogs

Rating:
Summary: Isle of Dogs
Review: Like others, I wish I had read the reader reviews before buying this book! The reviews were better reading. As a loyal Cornwell reader, I managed to finish the book, but I still wonder why I did it. Please, Patricia, stay with what you do best next time. As for me, next time I intend to read the reviews first before I invest in another Cornwell book.

Rating:
Summary: Isle of Dogs
Review: This book is a real DOG! Patricia Cromwell has tried to impress
her readers with her diverse talents and she has succeeded.
After writing a number of great and good books, she has
convincingly shown us that she can write a very bad book. It
reminds this reader of another disastrous attempt at satire by
a great writer--Robert Ludlum's The Road to Omaha. Isle of Dogs
is not a page turner and it takes forever to get through this
boring and unfunny book. The only benefit of the book I have

received is that I fall asleep quickly when reading in bed and
am assured of many nights of good sleep and limited reading until
this dog is mercifully put to sleep itself.

Rating:
Summary: Ummmmmm
Review: I wonder if anyone actually bothers to take notice of any of these reviews. As i write, the sale tally for this book is 1921. And yet the star rating is 1.4. On amazon.co.uk the sale tally is 155 (much smaller population, so this is in fact quite a large number for a newly released hardback novel) and the star rating 1.6.

And nearly all the reviews are bad. And several claim it to be the worst book. So does anyone actually bother to read the reviews, or take any notice of what they say? Why do they buy the book, almost knowing that they wont like it? they can't explain it away by claiming they didn't read the reviews. So what? Even if you don't read the reviews, you can't miss the pathetically low rating it's been given.

To some extent i do agree with the average rater here, this is definitely not Cornwell's best work. But i also don't think it's as bad as some people are claiming it to be. Okay...it's not exactly a "serious" book, and it's nothing like her usual style, but i did definitely enjoy reading it. I completed it in three days, and i wasn't bored once. And i did laugh several times. I actually enjoyed the essays by "Trooper Truth" (in spite of the ridiculous name) They were interesting.

She has done her research well, and if this is a book only used as a device to show people that, then she has suceeded. But in many other ways, she has failed. The public hate it. And i can see where they're coming from. the plot is somewhat lacluster and ridiculous, and the characters are hardly likeable. Scarpetta, in her woefully inadequate incarnation, is just wooden. If this were a book being submitted for publication, it would definitely not be accepted, even as a history textbook.

Her writing style though, is what redeems it. It is nonetheless a fun book to read (despite your protestations to the contrary) it is light, vaguely amusing, interesting, and a good enjoyable book.

Some of the characters and things they do are just stupid, yes. (i.e the governor) but it didn't really matter. Not if you weren't expecting a serious read. Which i long ago gave up hope of with these Andy Brazil novels. It seems other people haven't learnt what to expect. The Hammer/Brazil novels are NOT designed as serious crime novels, they are designed as fun enjoyable books, and i personally think she has suceeded.

You can tell from reading it that it must have been quite fun to write. I don't think she took it too seriously, which is sometimes a good thing.

One quibble, "Unique First". Ms Cornwell, a characters name should not be a shortcut to their characterisation. It's lazy writing and bad technique.

Sadly, your public are disappointed. Which probably disappoints Ms Cornwell too, as i suspect that if someone asked her which of her books she preferred, she would say the Brazil ones. It can't be a nice experience knowing that her public hate the thing she most likes writing.

Anyway, i shall give this book four stars even though it probably doesn't deserve them. but hey, people don't seem to take much notice of the reviews, so it doesn't really matter.

Rating:
Summary: 3 Times a Loser
Review: Ms Cornwell's latest offering, Isle of Dogs, is perhaps the very worst of her forays outside of her Kay Scarpetta novels. "Hornets Nest" was a let down, "Southern Cross" even more poorly written. However, for the first time I could not read past page 64 of "Isle of Dogs". Characters are really bad. The character names are trite and absurd. One gets the feelings that these books are dashed off in a matter of days with no real thought or substance. I am a huge Kay Scarpetta fan and have all I can do to put them down once I start. These other offerings can scarcely hold my interest. Ms. Cornwell has also returned to her compulsion of extensive discriptives of colon disorders, which is pretty distasteful. If you truly want a good book pick up any of the Kay Scarpetta novels but avoid spending your money on these other offerings, you will be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Move over Carl Hiaasen? No Way!
Review: I took the audio version of Isle of Dogs out of the library solely because several reviewers ... used expressions like "comic romp", "pitch perfect" and "Swiftian eye for the absurd", but most of all they had suggested that it bore similarities to the works of Carl Hiaasen. Oops!
Whereas Mr. Hiassen's books are always tightly plotted and unrelentingly funny, Ms. Cromwell's latest is meandering, forced and lacking even a hint of humor - in a word, dreck. After the third or fourth inane toll booth dialogue, I tossed in the towel.
Mr. Hiaasen (and the Commonwealth of Virginia) should sue for defamation and, although everyone is entitled to their own opinion, we need to get some new reviewers to replace those who thought this book (did they even read it?) had any redeeming qualities.
For those in search of genuinely good black humor, I highly recommend Hiaasen (Sick Puppy, Lucky You, Skin Tight, etc.), Tom Sharpe (Wilt, The Throwback, Blott on the Landscape, etc.) and the wonderful artwork of Bruce McCall (Zany Afternoons). For Cromwell, it's back to the morgue.

Rating:
Summary: Where in the world is Patricia Campbell?
Review: What happened? I couldn't wait to read her next book...the truth is: I can't read her next book...it's TERRIBLE, BORING AND SENSELESS. Where in the world did Campbell go? This book is NOT Patricia Campbell.

Rating:
Summary: Worst book I've read in a long time
Review: I've always been a Patricia Cornwell fan, and bought this book the day it came out, anticipating another great read. I just got the book finished...what a disappointment! The stories were confusing, there were too many characters, the ending was awful, the history was boring, and nothing was funny about any part of the book. I won't be excited about the next Cornwell book!

I wanted to give it zero stars, but the program won't allow it.

Rating:
Summary: A waste of time
Review: Probably the worst book I ever completely read. I only finished it because I've read and enjoyed Cornwell's books in the past. How it got published, I can't imagine. The publisher should be ashamed and refund everyones money.

Save your money and time.

Rating:
Summary: Isle of Dogs
Review: If I could have rated this book lower, I would have. This is Cornwell's worst work to date. I continue to read her because of her past history, but I think my purchases have come to a halt. I miss the intrigue of her earlier works.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Having looked forward to reading another Patrica Cornwell novel, I was very disappointed with this one and almost didn't get through it all. The characters were unappealing and the premise was a little too loony. Fans of Patricia Cornwell will be disappointed.