Book of the Dead (Kay Scarpetta, No 15) by Patricia Cornwell
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Book Reviews of Book of the Dead (Kay Scarpetta, No 15)
Book Review: Completing my collection
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this book to fill in a gap in my collection of the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell. As it happens, I'm re-reading the entire series in chronological order, so I have not yet been able to begin reading my latest acquisition. However, I anticipate it will be as intriguing to me as all of its predecessors have been.Book Review: Book of the Dead
Summary: 4 Stars
good book but not the best to come from Patricia Cornwell. It seems to be gettin a little off the track of the Scarpetta stories.Book Review: A Flawed Forensic Fable
Summary: 3 Stars
As a reader, I'm very fond of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, and glad to see that she's getting her new practice going in Charleston, and that she and her long-time love, forensic psychiatrist Benton Wesley, are getting at least a baby step closer to actually being together.
However, I find the writing style less appealing than in earlier books, and both the plot and the characterizations have some weaknesses. I found the use of present tense narration to be obtrusive and grating. I didn't recall experiencing this with Cornwell's earlier books, so I had to go back and look at them to see whether this was just an artifact of my faulty memory - but, no, it's not. The earlier books dip in and out of first-person narration - which was fine, as it gave us glimpses into Scarpetta's feelings and thought processes - but they were written in a much less obtrusive past tense. I recommend to Cornwell that she return to that style of writing.
The plot to this one is interesting, overall, but there are some loose ends and a few other weaknesses. I agree with reviewer frumiousb that the character Dr. Self is irritating and not very believable. As a former practicing clinical psychologist, myself, I have very strong doubts that such an obvious psychopath, with such a strong habit of manipulating her patients to their disadvantage, and even to their death, would be allowed to continue practicing, let alone become a TV pop psych star! The rest of the profession would be down on her like maggots on a rotten corpse! I don't believe that such a person could have continued to get away with such seriously anti-social, even criminal, behavior. That definitely strains credulity.
There were some tantalizing hints that were never really followed up on. For instance, one of the psychiatrists (I think it was Dr. Maroni) says that the killer very likely experienced an early trauma, long before what he thinks is the traumatic experience driving his criminal behavior. Yet, while the book repeatedly shows us the killer harking back to the death of his comrade in Iraq, this is never really linked to an early traumatic event. Somehow, a general history of being an unwanted and neglected child does not fill the bill of being an early traumatic event. I think Cornwell is better at interpreting the tale told by a corpse than the internal motivations of the living.
It's also not satisfying to have the fate of longtime character Pete Marino left completely in limbo at the end of the book. Yes, that obviously leaves an opening for the next book, but it cheats the reader of this book.
In sum, while the plot is interesting, the style of writing is more intrusive than in previous books, and the characters and plot points have some serious weaknesses.
Book Review: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE "MIDDLE OF THE ROAD" CROWD?
Summary: 3 Stars
Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has embarked upon a new career in this book--starting over in the city of Charleston, South Carolina with a unique private practice. There are many bizarre scenes, not the least of them involving a pompous radio psychologist and gruesome murders. I've been a fan of this series for quite a while, and although I don't always like lots of gory detail, this author knows her way around the morgue. This time, maybe a little too much detail.
For followers of the series, there is a point where her boyfriend, Wesley Benton, and the sometimes emotionless doctor seriously consider what the future holds for them as a couple. Sometimes Kay Scarpetta reminds me of Bones--surrounded by so much death that her own emotions are hard to get in touch with. Her niece Lucy is involved in a series of somewhat unbelievable incidents and her old standby Pete Moreno appears to be headed into a complete meltdown. I had somewhat mixed emotions, so I decided to check out the Amazon reviews on this book, and in the process post this one. What I found was very interesting. Either you loved it or you hated it. Relatively little in-between.
When I looked at and read many of the reviews I was surprised to find that there were 300 five stars and 216 one stars with a minor amount of 2, 3, and 4. Generally the ratings are weighted in the middle, so that tells me that while there were more favorable than hate it reviews, the middle of the road crowd appeared to strongly take one side or the other. It was an interesting read, certainly not her best and several things did bother me, but it's still a decent read.
Book Review: The more I read about Kay Scarpetta...
Summary: 3 Stars
The more it seems as if the author has some hidden agenda in writing her stories. Granted, I'm still entertained by them, and have been reading them since I was 17 or so. However, certain things as time has gone by have struck me. One: Nobody can ever do as good of a job as Scarpetta, and even those she has trained lose their abilities and skills when her presence is no longer around. This is carried past the point of absurdity. Two: Other characters are always obsessed with Scarpetta- women, men, it does not matter. They want to kill her, be her, be better than her, and stop at nothing in this single-minded obsession. My question is, why??? I can only think that Ms. Cornwell has some deep-seated narcissism wherein she'd like to be Scarpetta, or has created this alter ego to fulfill these desires of being on top of everbody else, all of the time. Perhaps she's trying to get back at somebody through her books- just a feeling.
Third: I do not see any growth in the characters- they may find themselves in different situations or in new relationships, but their fundamental personalities and ways of reacting never change. I used to like Lucy, but now she's just an angry, unhappy woman. Marino has gone downhill, and it seems it's because he can never have Scarpetta (again, back to everyone being obsessed with her).
This book in particular has shown me how far the books have both progressed and not progressed over the years. It was hard to take the book seriously, although I did enjoy it in parts. Ms. Cornwell has a fine writing style but she's using her stories as a vehicle for something else.