Patricia Cornwall has given herself a formidable task: how to get her readers to like Pete Marino again, and how to make Kay Scarpetta someone we want to read about when she can't keep herself together anymore. I don't mind my heroines being real people, but I love her earlier books much better (and the old Scarpetta). Frankly, I wouldn't want her working for me with all of her current issues and insecurities, and I don't like it that they take over the plot.