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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
"Please don't go there. The past is the past," sighs New York Assistant District Attorney Jaime Berger, who herself was introduced in Cornwell's last Kay Scarpetta novel, The Last Precinct (2000). Alas, many of Cornwell's fans are bound to agree. One fascinating nonfiction bestseller (Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed) later, Cornwell now returns to Scarpetta, formerly Virginia's chief medical examiner. From the start, however, the formidable author is up against the equally formidable task of getting her charismatic main character off ice and back in action. We encounter Scarpetta languishing in a crumbling little rental house in Florida. She has taken refuge there and become a private forensic consultant after she was driven from her job for her alleged involvement in the murder of a deputy police chief. The violent death of her lover, Benton Wesley, the brilliant FBI psychological profiler, has left her filled with an unappeasable grief. When the coroner in Baton Rouge asks her advice on a cold case concerning an affluent woman found dead of a drug overdose in a seedy hotel, it seems little more than a diversion. Yet it becomes clear that the overdose may be related to a fresh string of serial killings. Also disturbing Scarpetta's somber peace is a troubling letter from someone out to kill her, the sick and obsessed death-row inmate Jean-Baptiste. When Scarpetta is at last allowed to get back to business, she is a feisty, independent powerhouse whose capacity to concentrate and observe rivals Sherlock Holmes's. But too much of this book is bound up in retrospective musings about events in previous books. The great Scarpetta, her fiery crime-busting niece, Lucy, and a colorful supporting cast deserve better.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Kay Scarpetta fans will miss their favorite forensic pathologist in this new thriller, as Cornwell cedes much of the spotlight to other characters in the long-running series. Lucy, Kay's defiant niece, and Marino, the bad-tempered, opinionated cop, are here, as are several familiar depraved psychopaths--among them, "Wolfman" Jean-Baptiste Chandonne and his twin brother, who first surfaced in Black Notice (2000). It appears that Chandonne, whose execution date is drawing near, wants to see Kay, ostensibly to reveal information about his family that will ensure the collapse of their Mob cartel and to have her administer the drug that will end his life. But, as usual in Cornwell's more recent books, absolutely nothing is what it seems. Granted, there are some compelling (and gruesome) moments, and a few loose ends from previous books are finally taken care of... Otherwise, though, this is a murky stew, indeed, with action careening in way too many directions. Oh, for a return to the Cornwell who created the tough but vulnerable Scarpetta, who, at center stage, used her intellect and forensic training to solve a more straightforward mystery. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
DR. KAY SCARPETTA moves the tiny glass vial close to candlelight, illuminating a maggot drifting in a poisonous bath of ethanol. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
DR. KAY SCARPETTA moves the tiny glass vial close to candlelight, illuminating a maggot drifting in a poisonous bath of ethanol. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horribly dark and gruesome,
By
This review is from: Blow Fly (Mass Market Paperback)
This was the first time reading this author, and I did not enjoy it one bit. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities, and I could not sympathise to any degree with any of them. I did not finish the novel, as it just seemed like a neverending stream of dark and grotesque characters, with not a glimmer of light. No real plot line, no interesting twists, just bleak and depressing throughout. Never again.
4.0 out of 5 stars
I guess I'm one of the few,
By "r_scott_lewis" (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Blow Fly (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this novel very much. I enjoyed the different writing style she utilized in this book, the simultaneous time lines and different perspectives. It was an interesting departure from her normal style. I also liked that a number of long arching story lines were tied in and explained better. My only complaint is the ending, I wanted to keep going and read more, find out more, but the book ended like hitting a wall at high speed. And unfortunately, I'm very impatient and hate to wait for the next installment. I want to know what happens to Kay, Benton, Lucy, Nic...I don't like "To be continued."
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Waste of paper,
By
This review is from: Blow Fly (Mass Market Paperback)
The early Scarpetta novels were ground breaking. Since the appaearance of the WolfMan and his jolly family, this series has gone down hill and beyond. It is doubtful that had this been an unknown author's work, any publisher would have picked it up.The plot, such as it is, is nonsensical. We are supposed to believe that Benton Wesley's death was faked, for the benefit of Scarpetta, with the long term aim of using Kay to bring about the demise of the Chardonneau family by means of convoluted false messages, red herrings etc. At the end of the day, Welsey simpy goes to their home in Baton Rouge and kills some of them - why did he need to forge various pretexts to get Kay there etc, when all he had to do was burst in a la Rambo and shoot 'em up? Underneath this slapdash writing lurks some dodgy political views, namely that good people are justified in doing bad things to bad people if it removes the bad guys (the references to Iraq and 9/11 telegraph this unsavoury viewpoint several times). Clearly Cornwall has nothing more to say about Scarpetta, Marino, Lucy et al and should stop this series now. Sadly, the ludicrously unlikely escape of the Wolf Man means that more yawn inducing antics involving Wolfie going after Kay will ensue..
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