Rating: 
Summary: A Huge Disappointment
Review: I have read and thoroughly enjoyed Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta books, but this book is unbelievably awful. It doesn't qualify as a mystery or thriller. Maybe it's supposed to be an attempt at humor, but it fails miserably. The main cast of characters are base, incompetent and repulsive, including a governor whose world revolves around his bowel problems. The scenario is predictable and trite, with no surprises and no depth. I kept reading only because I thought I must be missing something somewhere, but whatever it was, I never found it. I'm sorry there isn't a zero-star option, because that's what I would rank this book.
Rating: 
Summary: It's Not Scarpetta - Get Over It!!
Review: A lot of people seem to be disappointed in this book because it isn't a Kay Scarpetta, bite-your-nails and say "Eeew" novel. No nasty autopsy scenes, no serial killing sickos... What it is --is fun. I enjoyed reading it. It wasn't the most intellectually challenging book I've ever read, but I had a great time reading it!! So what if there are talking animals, and outrageous characters. Lighten up, settle in under a comfy blanket and prepare to laugh out loud - it's good for you!! I love my thrillers, but I always enjoy a good laugh, too - and the chuckles I got from Isle of Dogs made it well worth reading!
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps "Dog of Dogs" would be more apt
Review: "Madcap" can only be used as a description of this mess if you throw an "r" in between the c and the a. Literally. For...what's that sound? Ah, the scraping of the bottom of the barrel, herein represented by the author's continual use of bowel humor.I'm an avid Cornwell reader who feels ripped off by this throw away effort. Even if you totally unhook your reality tethers, this book is STILL moronic. The premise is lame, the characters unbelievable and annoying at best, but more often teeth-grindingly obnoxious. If any reader can honestly say that even one snippet of this book works for them, I've got a bridge available to sell you. From the supposed governor of Virginia, on down through various political figures and appointees, right through to the heroine (who acts like she's ON heroin) and the namby-pamby twirp Andy AKA Trooper Truth -- ack! I'm just riling myself up for no good reason. If you must have this, wait a month and snag it out of the bargin bin. Not to rant, but I'm noticing a disturbing theme of brand-name authors crossing genre to rake in the big bucks at the expense of their loyal book buying public - Patterson, Grisham, Baldacci, et al. Nope, I certainly don't mind change, and appreciate how difficult it must be for an author to keep going back to the well for fresh ideas. Isle of Dogs, however, feels as though Cornwell picked "screwball comedy" out of a grab bag of plot ideas at the best-selling-author Christmas party last year. What's next? Lou Boldt's Favorite Recipes by Ridley Pearson? Sue Grafton shoving Kinsey Milhone into a rousing pirate-infested romance novel? (Q is for Quartermaine?) Ack...I digress. Plain and simple. Want a funny detective book? Buy anything by Janet Evanovich. Want suspense? Try Linda Fairstein's The Dead House. Want to feel like you wasted your money? Buy this.
Rating: 
Summary: What is she doing?
Review: I have all of Patricia Cornwell's books and wait with baited breath for the next release. I'm always wary when she steps away from Kay Scarpetta. This one was another disappointment. I thought Southern Cross was outside her element, but she seems to have gotten a better grasp of things with Isle of Dogs. Unfortunately, it is one of the most ethnically insulting books I've read in a long time! It takes us immediately back to Amos and Andy and Stepin Fechit. If this is an example of her only exposure to African Americans, then she might want to get out more because it is extremely stereotypical and casts all African Americans in this book in a bad light! The result is really insulting.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult, disappointing and dull.
Review: I tried to get enthused by this book. I failed. So, I tried again; and, yes, I failed again. I knew from the Kirkus review that this was not the usual accomplished Scarpetta novel, but I was prepared to give it a go. I found the plot(?) ludicrous, the characters so flimsy that they didn't last the length of the novel and ... Well, I guess you can say that one of my favourite authors let me down. The writing was difficult to follow at times and the story seemed to lurch from scene to scene. Often, when an author tries to capture dialect you can see failure laid before you on the page (the most notable for me is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte), and Cornwell's attempt to capture the inbred, closed dialect of the inhabitants of Tangier Island left me bemused, not amused. That being said, there were a patches of truly well observed behaviour that presented true farce: regrettably they were too few.
Rating:
Summary: Too Far out there
Review: I have never been one to dislike the non Scarpetta books but this one was way too far out there. More stupid than funny. The characters seemed to be so slow to catch on to obvious plot (I use that term loosly in connection with this book) twists that I had to fource myself to keep reading it. The talking fish and crabs were just more than I could stand.
Rating:
Summary: what a mess
Review: I eagerly awaited new characters as I grew tired of Dr. Scarpetta in the last book. That book was all about feeling sorry for oneself and reviewing everything that happened in earlier books. What a waste.
However, Isle of Dogs is so boring. I read about a third, then decided to check Amazon to see if I was missing something. Seems about everyone agrees with me. Some of the humor is interesting. Especially since it is new for Cornwell. The plot is so silly. Cornwell's first four books were great. After that, beats me what happened.
Rating:
Summary: Isle of the Dogs
Review: Ms Cornwell would do better going back to her original best sellers and following their lead. I found this book boring, dumb and definately not what I expect when I read a Cornwell novel.
Rating:
Summary: Cornwell's abusing her readers
Review: Isle of Dogs is yet another Hammer-Andy Brazil episode valued only as proof that Cornwell is a bored author writing for her own amusement instead of her readers'. This alternate series of books is a bad as the Scarpetta series is good -- and Isle of Dogs is the mutt of this litter. The plot is asinine, the writing infantile and the intended satire woefully un-Swiftian. I suspect this manuscript would have netted quite a collection of publishing house rejection slips had it not been from a prize-winning author with a ready-made readership to fleece. Frankly, I feel abused -- if Cornwell no longer finds Scarpetta entertaining, she should just be honest and quit writing instead of resting on past laurels. As for me, I won't be paying hardcover full prices again for another of Cornwell's non-Scarpetta efforts. I'll either await the paperback, or skip it entirely.
Rating:
Summary: Isle of Dogs - Bad Book
Review: This is the last ime I buy a Patricia Cornwall book that is not a Scarpetta novel. No plot, no rhyme, no reason. Her attempts at humor are [bad]. It was just plain awful!!
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