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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
This is the first serial killer since Gault and at least Cornwell introduces us to a different kind and takes a microbiology plot. This one is better than the last but it does feel like the series is going down hill from here. It comes down to the trio - Kay, Lucy, and Marino and with each book I like Kay less and less - I never have a problem with disliking the main character, that can make for an interesting series, the thing is the reader is suppose to like Kay, and I did at the beginning but as the series goes on - you lose that for Kay. And then there's Lucy, why does she have to be crazier and crazier as each book goes on - In the end what saves this book is the serial killer disease plot and trying to ignore the obnoxiousness of the character.
Dr Kay Scarpetta once again saves the day. As I was reading this title in the series, I realized that although I can be annoyed by the formulaic plots, the insistence that in every book, the plot must revolve around the pathologist personally, and even the fact that Scarpetta seems to work in a perpetual late fall/ winter where extreme weather is constant, I am totally engaged by these tales.
It's Cornwell's writing that grabs me and holds me even more than the fast moving plot lines. It's not the characters as much as it is the words used to describe them. Cornwell's protagonist is nearly always troubled, worried, put upon, and impossibly busy. In the series so far, she's flown in practically every flavor of aircraft short of the Space Shuttle, met and worked with a huge variety of higher ups in a bewildering array of government agencies (having been friends with and/or colleagues with most of them), and has been the most hands on Chief Medical Examiner of an entire state that ever existed. She's scuba dived into a freezing cold, muddy river, to retrieve a body.
In this story she discovers a deadly pox that has been unleashed by a terrorist - spoiler alert the terrorist is a lone wolf colleague and friend of hers who has been saving the virus for decades, waiting for just this moment to exact her revenge. Scarpetta, typically, blames herself for not having figured it all out sooner, but we know that the damage done would have been much, much greater without her on the case. She finally realizes who it is when she as at the woman's home, helping her recover from the flu with a container of her homemade stew, which she conveniently cooks in bulk and keeps in her freezer. She's a world class cook too, of course.
This is all related in great and distinct detail (Cornwell took Hemingway's advice to heart). There is poetry in these words, images striking and vivid and new. She stays true to the long plot, of her and Mark and Lucy and Benton and perhaps most of all, Marino, who's been on the edge of stroking out for as long as we have known him. He of course is also in love with Scarpetta - she also has that certain something that nearly every man within pole vaulting distance wants to be near, and with. She's powerful, cranky, neurotic to a fault, incredibly well educated, with an unerring instinct for the truth. It's all in retrospect not believable. But as I race through each book I find I cannot wait to get to the next page and the one after that. I am fully committed, and all I can say now is that I hope the rest of the series maintains this standard of good.
It's Cornwell's writing that grabs me and holds me even more than the fast moving plot lines. It's not the characters as much as it is the words used to describe them. Cornwell's protagonist is nearly always troubled, worried, put upon, and impossibly busy. In the series so far, she's flown in practically every flavor of aircraft short of the Space Shuttle, met and worked with a huge variety of higher ups in a bewildering array of government agencies (having been friends with and/or colleagues with most of them), and has been the most hands on Chief Medical Examiner of an entire state that ever existed. She's scuba dived into a freezing cold, muddy river, to retrieve a body.
In this story she discovers a deadly pox that has been unleashed by a terrorist - spoiler alert the terrorist is a lone wolf colleague and friend of hers who has been saving the virus for decades, waiting for just this moment to exact her revenge. Scarpetta, typically, blames herself for not having figured it all out sooner, but we know that the damage done would have been much, much greater without her on the case. She finally realizes who it is when she as at the woman's home, helping her recover from the flu with a container of her homemade stew, which she conveniently cooks in bulk and keeps in her freezer. She's a world class cook too, of course.
This is all related in great and distinct detail (Cornwell took Hemingway's advice to heart). There is poetry in these words, images striking and vivid and new. She stays true to the long plot, of her and Mark and Lucy and Benton and perhaps most of all, Marino, who's been on the edge of stroking out for as long as we have known him. He of course is also in love with Scarpetta - she also has that certain something that nearly every man within pole vaulting distance wants to be near, and with. She's powerful, cranky, neurotic to a fault, incredibly well educated, with an unerring instinct for the truth. It's all in retrospect not believable. But as I race through each book I find I cannot wait to get to the next page and the one after that. I am fully committed, and all I can say now is that I hope the rest of the series maintains this standard of good.
I’m honestly not sure where this book came from. It just showed up on my shelf and now I’ve read it
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I would have rated it higher but I really don't like coincidences in mystery/procedural books
I do not know why I keep reading these books - they suck me in but Kay can be so insufferable that it physically pains me
I love Kay Scarpetta and this installment into the series easily just what I needed—murder, biological crimes, and more of my favorite ME.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Le roman était intéressant et plein de vocabulaire nouveau que j'ai apprécié apprendre. Cela dit, l'identité du coupable m'a paru sortir de nulle part, et n'a pas eu beaucoup d'impact. J'imagine qu'il y en aurait eu si j'avais lu tous les livres de Kay Scarpetta dans l'ordre.... donc, ne pas commencer par là, je pense.