I know I need to stop reading these, but after you have invested so much in a relationship, it is hard to walk away. I could whine about the specifics of my disappointment, but I will spare you. But you can always message me if you wish to commiserate! Edit: I forgot to mention that the references to the tragedy in Connecticut were cheap. Do I get that the real Kay might very well have been called there? Yup I do, but this is fiction...Kay is not real, and real tragedy has no place here.

I wanted to like this book. I was excited about this book. Within the first few chapters I felt bogged down in the inner dialogues and emotional histories of the characters and could not keep reading long enough to get to the heart of this story. *sigh*

This has all the traditional weaknesses of a Cornwell novel - over-focus on the EMOTIONAL TURMOIL of the characters, strong set-up with a hugely disappointing resolution, telling about action after the fact rather than showing - but what took it to one star for me was using fleeting references to the Sandy Hook shooting as set dressing to give Kay Scarpetta, who conveniently autopsied children's bodies there the week before this novel begins, a few more opportunities to deliver internal monologues on darkness. Jesus christ.

I was extremely disappointed in this Scarpetta book. I picked it up expecting the usual Cornwell--engrossing story, good storytelling, and a quick intriguing read. Instead, I slogged my way through this bland tale until it was no longer renewable from the library; in fact, I skipped the last 1/8 of it and skimmed until I found the mystery's solution. The writing is so forced and stilted that I started to wonder if it was ghostwritten. There is more detail about the cars people drive than character development, with an overly-obvious attempt to bring in recent terrible newsworthy events. I can't say I won't ever read another Cornwell, but I do hope she is able to find her former voice in future writing efforts.

God I love this series

I enjoyed the story/mystery, but I agree with some of the other reviews I have read that there is simply too much backstory and rehashing of Marino and his issues. It was distracting for a reader such as myself who has read all of Cornwell's books and knows the characters and their issues and quirks.

This is my first time reading a novel my Patricia Cornwell and I was excited because I’d heard great things about the Kay Scarpetta series. Unfortunately, this book was a let down for me.
The characters are all well established, have a history with each other, and a pattern of behaviour, which is fine. Old tensions and rivalries are brought in quite a bit.
This novel takes place over the course of one day and yet there is very little actual action. Scarpetta spends a lot of time going over things in her head, so much time that things get very repetitive. And I mean really repetitive. I almost didn’t make it through the book. She explains old rivalries between the characters several times, she looks at the evidence, figures it out, talks about it, explains it, then thinks about it again.
And, I have to say, that it bugged me that Scarpetta was hungry all the time but barely ever ate. And that they were sometimes in a hurry, but it would take two chapters of thoughts and contemplation before they actually left the room.
Right from the start, Scarpetta’s husband and FBI profiler, Benton, seems to know there’s a cover up and who’s doing it and much of the rest of the book is finding ways to use the evidence against him.
It is obvious that the author knows a lot about forensic science and all of the techniques and gadgets and that was interesting, however, the story was so slow and repetitive that author knowledge couldn’t compensate.

I love Scarpetta et al. Though there have been a few books in the series I felt I had to suffer through the last dew have found their rhythm again. The ending did feel a bit rushed, but the build up the time spent reinvesting in the characters does feel as though it is setting the stage for more amazing novels to come.

Why is Scarpetta so angry in her books lately?

Not a bad thriller, but in my opinion P. Cornwell is bored of her own charachters.

Non male come giallo, ma credo che l'autrice sia stufa dei suoi stessi personaggi.