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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Cornwell's books are strange experiences for me. Her writing gets in my head. She creates very distinct characters that don't change but always develop. She has a fine balance between the case and the interpersonal relationships, yet they always intermingle. She expresses the heaviness of the politics and the squabbling, yet it doesn't weigh down the book. As much as I like these characters, the books exhaust me.
The most affecting scene is Marino and Scarpetta after Marino's rape. His agony of indecision is haunting--his physical pain v his painful fears of her reaction and the loss of his dream. Shame from a whole different angle.
Nice balancing act in this as well, although it is difficult to wait for Rudy to connect the dots between cases. The politics, which seem prominent at one point, are dropped. I don't remember it they are resolved in the next book.
I read Livid and realized I had missed a few. No way do I want to deal with my grief over Kay and Benton's "separation." I wanted to start from their reunion--this is the book after their reunion. I remember thinking the first time I read it that Kay wasn't pissed enough or long enough. I still stand by that. But I want them to reunite, so I'm glad Cornwell didn't drag it out.
The most affecting scene is Marino and Scarpetta after Marino's rape. His agony of indecision is haunting--his physical pain v his painful fears of her reaction and the loss of his dream. Shame from a whole different angle.
Nice balancing act in this as well, although it is difficult to wait for Rudy to connect the dots between cases. The politics, which seem prominent at one point, are dropped. I don't remember it they are resolved in the next book.
I read Livid and realized I had missed a few. No way do I want to deal with my grief over Kay and Benton's "separation." I wanted to start from their reunion--this is the book after their reunion. I remember thinking the first time I read it that Kay wasn't pissed enough or long enough. I still stand by that. But I want them to reunite, so I'm glad Cornwell didn't drag it out.
I came back to this series after ~10 years. I don’t remember it the author having such a choppy story line and using so many redundant phrases and words. “Ring” was used five times in the same sentence. She was at the doorbell. Got it.
“I don’t want to talk about this.” Also repeated five times. Really too bad.
“I don’t want to talk about this.” Also repeated five times. Really too bad.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not her best work. Took a really long time to get to the conflict and it just fell flat. The resolution wrapped up in two pages.
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
In this book, Scarpetta returns to Virginia to help with a case, though she should not have due to the shenanagins that occurred in a couple of books previous. She does not get along with the medical examiner in this book, nor with the FBI agent she has to work with. Lucy is still annoying and is now being stalked. Benton is still being mute about things. Marino is still being Marino. They eventually uncover a plot, however. Her former office is in the process of being demolished and is in a state of disarray, complicating matters. This wasn't a terrible book, but probably was my least favorite to date.
In the next adventure of the now freelance medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta is now being summoned back to Virginia. The new Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Joel Marcus, requested her assistance on a case involving a 14-year old girl who has no apparent cause of death. When Scarpetta shows up to her old haunt, she is appalled by the conditions she finds there. Marcus is incredibly inept and loathed, her old collegues are miserable, and the system she set up has fallen apart. On top of that, this case is not as neat and clean as she'd hoped it would be.
While this is going on, Scarpetta's niece Lucy has gotten herself into trouble. A stalker is after her and making her life a living hell after a friend of hers was attacked by him.
OK, so this book was better than her previous book Blow Fly, but it was still a huge disappointment compared to her earlier works. The whole story involving Lucy seems added in to make the book thicker and the ending was just very lame. There was no excitement to the final capture of the bad guys and I was left feeling incredibly unsatisfied. It's like Cornwell is just writing to sell books instead of telling good stories.
While this is going on, Scarpetta's niece Lucy has gotten herself into trouble. A stalker is after her and making her life a living hell after a friend of hers was attacked by him.
OK, so this book was better than her previous book Blow Fly, but it was still a huge disappointment compared to her earlier works. The whole story involving Lucy seems added in to make the book thicker and the ending was just very lame. There was no excitement to the final capture of the bad guys and I was left feeling incredibly unsatisfied. It's like Cornwell is just writing to sell books instead of telling good stories.
This series has gotten so bonkers and I could list a thousand reasons why but I'll just list one: the villain in this one is named Edgar Allen Pogue.