I love the Scarpetta novels and found this one very interesting. It had its own level of disturbing mystery, included all of our favorite characters, Marino, Lucy, Benton, and Scarpetta. We got to see into the past and understand what Kay went through to make her the person she is today. It was almost like a biography of an old friend, with some awesome story attached. I definately recommend this book, but I think if you haven't read a Scarpetta book yet you should start with a different one first as this one talks about so many characters and behaviours that may confuse the first time Scarpetta reader. This book is number 18 in the series.

The last several chapters were hard to follow, and I would like to see Scarpetta’s team actually function as a team for a change. Kind of a let down.

1/2 star.

Dosta zbrkano i nepovezano 🤔🤔

I liked the book but I didn't find it as engaging as some of her others.

Another good book by Cornwell. This time she goes back to her original model of using a first person narrative. It is good to hear form her again!

As a big fan of Cornwell's earlier books in this series, I am sad to say that I really, really disliked this book. It is hard to even give it a rating of one star. I thought the overly long book spent way too much time on Kay's paranoid thoughts about everyone (including her husband and niece) and boring, boring minutiae of conversations with her husband. When this series started, the books were stories that were interesting and I would fly through them. Unfortunately, with this and the few prior, I have found myself having a hard time getting through them, falling asleep while reading, and although not dreading the book, certainly not looking forward to curling up with it as I did at the beginning of the series.

After discovering and devouring Patricia Cornwell's "Postmortem" (now 20 years ago), my family and I have been huge fans of the Kay Scarpetta novels. Over the years, we eagerly awaited the release of Ms. Cornwell's next novel, always confident that it would surpass her last. Until something changed and Ms. Cornwell forgot how to tell an interesting story. Instead of flying effortlessly through her books, I now find myself slogging through them, falling asleep over them, yawning through endless pages of dreary detail and introspective angst. I keep hoping that the books will get better, but they don't. I gave up halfway through "The Scarpetta Factor" (2009), but actually read all of "Port Mortuary" (2010). Like "The Scarpetta Factor," Ms. Cornwell's latest offering is a self-indulgent bore. This book features mysteries within mysteries that are not revealed until the bitter end. By then, I didn't care. There's no suspense, no thrill, no passion. The characters that formerly had been drawn with such precision and care are now lackluster at best. Throughout the book, Kay can't figure out how to ask a direct question nor get a direct answer from anyone, including but not limited to Benton (her husband) and Lucy (her niece). That Kay seemingly has so little self-esteem that she would accept everyone's lack of forthright responses is completely contrary to her former strong, confident and capable self. After finally (FINALLY!) reaching the end of "Port Mortuary," I was disconcerted by the complete change of voice in the last few pages of the book. It's almost as though Ms. Cornwell's editor compelled her to tack on a page or two to make it appear that Kay has a soul after all. Ms. Cornwell, please bring back the Kay Scarpetta we used to know and love!