Customer Reviews

Body of Evidence: A Scarpetta Novel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an interesting, if flawed, novel of suspense. A budding writer is found stabbed to death in her home. The 27 cuts were done in a frenzy of hatred, or by a crazed madman. But how did he enter the home of a frightened woman? [Readers of G. K. Chesterton's "The Invisible Man" can guess.] Soon afterwards a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, who had befriended Beryl years earlier, is also found murdered outside his home. His sister, who lived with him, soon died afterwards under questionable circumstances. A strange NY lawyer seeks the missing manuscript of Beryl. Medical Examiner Scarpetta begins to investigate the background of Beryl. This takes up most of the book until the killer is caught.

Cornwell describes various scenes within official agencies; she had been a police reporter, employee of the Medical Examiner office, and a volunteer police officer. She uses this experience to provide background facts for her story. My opinion is that Cornwell spent a lot of words describing Dr. Scarpetta. Cornwell describes her heroine as amoral in an amoral world (is she headed for a nervous breakdown?). The motive of the killer seems contrived, almost as an afterthought. It could have happened that way, but it seems like a deus ex machina ending. Would a real ME spend all that time to investigate Beryl's murder? There are many gay characters in this book as background. Is this some sort of message?

This book, really went into nice character development. By the middle of it, I felt like Beryl Madison, the first victim, was a real person, and I too wanted to know how she died, why and who did it.

I had a very hard time putting it down, when it was 4am, its a page turner. The evidence and clues are amazing, and they really make u think.

Overall, an excellnt medical thriller mystery....And despite what anyone says, I like Scarpetta, shes not harsh or feministic. She's just perfect.

Kay Scarpetta fans will thoroughly enjoy this one. In looking for a good mystery this book will satisfy that desire. A page-turner that doesn't dissappoint. Good reading!

After reading the first book in Patricia Cornwell's series Postmortem, I knew that I was going to want to read the next book. I really enjoyed the first book and knew that this one would be even better. This book kept me so interested and I never wanted to put it down. In each chapter something else exciting happened that made me want to keep reading. I really loved this book and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in forensic science and who loves a great mystery.

I didn't think I'd ever be saying this about a police procedural with a female protagonist, but I actually enjoy the romance between Kay Scarpetta and Mark James. Cornwell is the absolute best at making her characters real.

When a reclusive writer is brutally stabbed to death after being denied police protection, Dr. Scarpetta gets on the case. However is she on the trail of the killer or is the killer of the killer or is the killer on her trail?

There is tension galore in this book, however, I was a little disappointed in the ending, because I didn't think we were given enough clues to figure out who the killer was. I sort of felt, you know, cheated, as I'd spent so much time thinking about the clues that didn't point to the bad guy at all, so overall I guess I have to give this book four stars.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

This mystery involves a series of deaths that somehow all tie together -- yet it is far from clear how, as there are no clear suspects. After the first 50 pages or so, this turned into a real page-turner for me.

The plot involves a young female writer who is being stalked and, at the very beginning of the story, stabbed to death in her own home. Who has been stalking her, why, and is that the killer? The writer may have been writing her autobiography, which would include things someone didn't want written. This could be a motive -- but it could be something else entirely. Eventually Scarpetta (the medical examiner/detective in Cornwell's mysteries) is herself being stalked, apparently by the same killer -- whoever that is. A missing manuscript may hold the key clue to the identity of the killer, but where is the manuscript? And why has a an old lover suddenly reappeared in Scarpetta's life and then just as suddenly disappeared? There's a lot of questions to be asked and the pace of the book is pretty quick.

Now the down side: I find the editorial voice in Cornwell's mysteries annoying, and it's a shame, because the books are so well researched and plotted. But Scarpetta isn't very likable, and Cornwell clearly places great priority on physical beauty. Good people are generally attractive and thin, unattractive people are either comic, annoying, or evil. The narcissism of the author also seems to come through in her character Scarpetta, who is supposed to be wonderful and admirable, but just isn't. Scarpetta comes across as self-absorbed, arrogant, and shallow.

Otherwise, this is a very well-written book.

Although I didn't find this book as compelling as Postmortem, I still enjoyed the book. Ms. Cornwell really knows how to build up suspense in a story. This book is compelling because of the affinity that Kay feels for the first victim. She feels that she must find the killer, and sure enough she gets drawn into the web that caught the first victim. There were a couple of things that I really noticed though. First, there were lots of twists and turns in the plot, and two strands of story. Unfortunately, the two strands don't seem to relate and the one that is not to do with the murders gets lost in the plot. Secondly, does Kay ever have a sense of humour? I certainly haven't seen it yet. Still, the forensics are great, and the psychological thriller part is good.

To be honest, I feel Patricia Cornwell has a true knack for Mystery writing. After all, she was everything this character is in true life. I must admit she is very detailed and leaves no stone unturned. But I do feel as in the suspense department is lacking a little bit, other than that, she is a great writer. I feel if your someone into forensic this is truely the book for you. Someone (my girlfriend) recommended this book and I think it really great.

This is my second in the series and I can't wait to begin #3, All That Remains. I really enjoy them and highly recommend the series!!

I am a big Patricia Cornwell fan and an even bigger fan of murder mysteries on tape or CD. What I've found in all my listening is that the ability of the reader to act out the various voices - to act and not just read, period - is as critical to the listeners' enjoyment as a good plot. I don't know who made the poor decision to enlist Lindsay Crouse as the "reader" of this book, but it was a very bad decision. In the couple hundred audio books I've listed to, she is the third worst - only Jack Welch and the Rich Dad Poor Dad author reading their own books are worse. (Seriously, hire an actor - spend the money and don't do it yourself, particularly if you are a monotone reader or have speech problems like Jack admits he does.) Lindsay has one tone and one voice she uses for all characters, making it both excruciatingly boring and impossible to tell which character is talking at any point. Further, she sounds like she has a cold and talks painfully slowly, I had to keep stopping the tape and backing it up because I kept zoning her out. I have yet to finish the tapes. Do any of you remember the Visine ad guy? She sounds exactly like him but female. I am very frustrated that I paid good money for tapes too boring to get through and I just can't believe any agent or producer (author, for that matter) heard these tapes before they went to distribution and thought, "YES! Yes! That's the voice we're looking for!" I gave it one star only because Patricia Cornwell wrote it.