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A review by jimbowen0306
The Last Precinct by Patricia Cornwell
1.0
This is probably the point I should have decided "No more", when it comes to Kay Scarpetta books, because this book is irritating. Really, really irritating. More than that. Phenomenally irritating.
First the dedication to Linda Fairstein. I always... feel a little queasy about dedications to famous people in books, because they seem a little like they're tempting fate? If Joe Blow from a dedication tarnishes their reputation, we'll never know. If someone famous does the same, then it raises questions. If an author introduces a new character who echoes the dedicatee is introduced and that character becomes incongruous to said dedicatee, I start thinking "that really didn't age well".
The book is a continuation of book 10 in the series. In that book a crazed Frenchman goes on a killing spree in the US, culminating in an "unexpected home attack" on Kay Scarpetta. Setting aside that the home attack is now a regular thing in this series, we get the attack on Scarpetta's professionalism lifted to another level too in this book, because Cornwell wanted to echo what was happening to her best friend (Fairstein) too maybe? The result is that the esteemed Chief Medical Examiner is accused of murder, and taken to a Special Grand Jury, by the Virginia Attorney-General because that makes complete sense.
At the same time, Scarpetta investigates the death of two men in Richmond VA, and deals with the continuing fallout from the events in book 10. She's allowed to do these things, despite being a murder suspect, because without it there'd be no story. Forget about realism. Forget about having a book series that makes sense. Let's stretch credibility to the point where people who enjoy stupid ideas think "Oh my gosh that is SO dumb I can't believe it."
The sad thing is even Cornwell knows that things are getting daft, with Marino (one of her characters) raising issues that the reader will be thinking on occasion. When that starts happening I honestly think authors should asking "Is this credible?" about their books.
In short, this book could have been better written if this book had been better written if it had been merged into book 10, heavily edited, and had the legal proceedings about Scarpetta removed.
First the dedication to Linda Fairstein. I always... feel a little queasy about dedications to famous people in books, because they seem a little like they're tempting fate? If Joe Blow from a dedication tarnishes their reputation, we'll never know. If someone famous does the same, then it raises questions. If an author introduces a new character who echoes the dedicatee is introduced and that character becomes incongruous to said dedicatee, I start thinking "that really didn't age well".
The book is a continuation of book 10 in the series. In that book a crazed Frenchman goes on a killing spree in the US, culminating in an "unexpected home attack" on Kay Scarpetta. Setting aside that the home attack is now a regular thing in this series, we get the attack on Scarpetta's professionalism lifted to another level too in this book, because Cornwell wanted to echo what was happening to her best friend (Fairstein) too maybe? The result is that the esteemed Chief Medical Examiner is accused of murder, and taken to a Special Grand Jury, by the Virginia Attorney-General because that makes complete sense.
At the same time, Scarpetta investigates the death of two men in Richmond VA, and deals with the continuing fallout from the events in book 10. She's allowed to do these things, despite being a murder suspect, because without it there'd be no story. Forget about realism. Forget about having a book series that makes sense. Let's stretch credibility to the point where people who enjoy stupid ideas think "Oh my gosh that is SO dumb I can't believe it."
The sad thing is even Cornwell knows that things are getting daft, with Marino (one of her characters) raising issues that the reader will be thinking on occasion. When that starts happening I honestly think authors should asking "Is this credible?" about their books.
In short, this book could have been better written if this book had been better written if it had been merged into book 10, heavily edited, and had the legal proceedings about Scarpetta removed.