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Jan 04, 2008

Heidi rated it:

This book was terrible! What a waste of time! Last winter I got turned onto Cornwell and I read all of her books in order. The first few were SO incredibly riveting and I really enjoyed them. This book however showed a complete melt down of all the characters. Kay has been completely shrunk down and doesn't seem like the same person she was in the beginning. The switch to third person was a terrible move. I liked it better when it was just the body and the evidence and they had to go from More...

7 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2007

Debi added it

Dissapointed. PC had the perfect chance with this book, this storyline to bring the characters full circle. The team of Scarpetta, Marino, Lucy and Wesley is coming apart at the seams. Using Dr Self and the animous she has for Kay (kept waiting for that to blow...never happened), and manipulating Marino.....Rose being so prominent. What's with Scarpetta crying for the bird that flys into the window but lets her longtime friend and partner sink. Then he goes over the edge damn near to the point More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2008

Lain rated it:

Ugh.

Why is it that when an author becomes as famous as Patricia C. that suddenly the editors are afraid to say when something is awful???

Even if they didn't love the book and thought the plot was ridiculous and the characters unbelievable, you'd think at LEAST they'd make the author eliminate some of the repetitive comments (if all the repetition in this book were eliminated, it would be cut by at least a third. A third. I mean, a third.)

And WHY is everyone so More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2007

Tulara rated it:

Patricia Cornwell's newest book opens with a graphic chapter on a woman who is being tortured. It's spine-chilling and disturbing. It does, however, open the door to an interesting track to find out who the killer is. It almost seemed obligatory to add aspects of the Iraq war into the story, but I realize that the war had/is having an effect on our soldiers who are on the front lines. No one can do what they do and remain who they were when they left.
I was a little annoyed with the mis More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2007

Vivienne rated it:

I have loved the Kay Scarpetta series since its inception but have been disappointed in the last three and this one I am adding to that list. Her change in narrative style that began at that point in 'Blow Fly' seems to have been the down-turning point.

Despite a strong start, tracking down the murderer seemed to take a back seat to the constant misery of the main characters. I never warmed to the brattish Lucy who is now even more insufferable given her extreme wealth. Pete Marino h More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2008

Amanda rated it:

This book gets a three because I like the series as a whole, will probably always like it, and will keep reading until she either dies or ends the series. I liked the fact that there was new Kay Scarpetta material, I guess. I also like that she has her own office and facility again - that whole Florida episode was just odd.

What I don't like is the fact that Cornwell insists on making every single major character completely miserable all the time. Can't someone be at least reasonab More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2008

Rose added it

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1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2007

Danielle rated it:

So, technically I didn't finish it. But I read 200 pages of it, so I feel somewhat qualified to say that this book fails in many ways.

I love old-school Patricia Cornwell. I have read The Body Farm numerous times. I love From Potter's Field, All that Remains, etc. She's what got me hooked on Forensic Files, American Justice, and later CSI:. She writes wonderfully, her stories were vivid and terrifying - or at least they used to be.

Her last few books, beginning with the bo More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 24, 2008

Lori rated it:

I just love revisiting Patricia Cornwell's characters that I have gotten to know over the past 15 years. I don't necessarily like where she's taking them, but I still like to read about them. Her books are always very engrossing and I hate to put them down. This one got me through two stomach viruses in one week! I came to the conclusion that Kay, Benton, Lucy, and in his own way, Marino, are all highly intelligent people that lack emotional and social smarts. I want Kay and Marino to resum More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Nov 07, 2007

The Listmaker rated it:

I looked forward to this book and wanted to completely enjoy it. Sadly, I was disappointed with what I found. Patricia Cornwell has always been able to tell a good story. One filled with suspense and mystery to go along with the forensic aspect of solving the crimes. But she also managed to flesh out the four main characters with each successive novel until you came to care about those characters.

With this book, Ms. Cornwell has written a mystery that is convoluted to say the least a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 25, 2009

Linda rated it:

Personal disasters are given equal prominence with the horrific serial murder case that Kay and company are attacking, a complex, multi-tentacled situation that involves celebrities, the military, and long-buried family secrets. Cornwell made the choice to emphasize character over plot, and while her characters are indeed vivid, the plot suffers from fragmentation and reliance upon a set of implausible linkages. Still, the murders are compelling, and this is a story worth finishing.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2008

Edie rated it:

OK for putting you to sleep or to read when you don't really want to think. Ms Cornwell's books becme more and more like sci fi as she continues to add to her list. I really loved her earlier books, but her plots become more and more far out. It did put me to sleep though- that's why it took me so long to read it.

1 comment like

Nov 25, 2007

Robin rated it:

Cornwell's last three books have deviated so much from her regular characters that she lost me as a dedicated reader. However, I am a glutton for punishment and thus picked up this title. I was mildly surprised that I actually didn't loathe this book though I believe that is because I had such a low expectation. Cornwell has strayed from her original brilliance of her characters and tales once again but seems to be at least attempting to get them back on track with this edition. If you can st More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2008

Joanie rated it:

I read this book because I've read the whole Kay Scarpetta series, but I'm a little dismayed. I dunno if Cornwell is tired of these characters or is having a hard time in her own life, but she's turned these characters into such bitter, screwed up freaks that the books are getting depressing. If I hadn't invested myself in these people several books ago, there's no way I would've bothered to finish this, I think. The murder mystery part of it was interesting, but it wasn't enough to distract More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2009

Johanna rated it:

I fear even an autopsy would struggle to uncover anything new here.

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 14, 2009

Christine rated it:

This is one of the worst books I've ever suffered through. Rich finally asked me why I was still reading it after i exclaimed aloud for the umpteenth time about how awful it was, and all I could do to explain was talk about how much I enjoyed the early books she wrote and how I couldn't believe how it kept getting worse and I had to see how it panned out. Awful. The early ones really were fun, technically interesting, interesting characters, decently written (never anything amazing), thrilling a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

Amy Wilder rated it:

We listened to this as a book on tape in the car.
I really admire Cornwell's writing. She pulled me right into the details of the story, gave me a sense of the characters even though I'd never read any of her other books, and got me up on the action quickly, so we could get down to business.
The problem?
Kay is supposed to be like the best forensics expert ever, but there are a lot of things that she never figures out or they are never explained. There are fingerprints discovere More...

0 comments like

Jan 09, 2009

Athena rated it:

No More Cornwell.

In my opinion this has got to be one of the worst books Cornwell has written.
Ok, I understand that the story have to do with people who have serious psychological problems but it seems that Cornwell decided to make all the characters ……. really mad.
Kay Scarpetta is an unhappy and boring woman. She does not have a life and even the relationship with her fiancée seems to be “strictly” professional. It is a mystery to me why men fall in love with her. She sh More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Donna rated it:

In her Kay Scarpetta series, Patricia Cornwell has a knack for bypassing the rational intellect of her readers and going right for the old brain.

It doesn’t matter that in each book of the series—including Book of the Dead—the civilized world seems to be composed of about twenty-five people, almost all of whom are somehow implicated in the plot. Despite living in different states or on different continents, they trip over each other constantly, like people in a crowded room when the More...

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Dec 29, 2008

Rod rated it:

I don’t usually read crime books, so when I bought this one I didn’t realise it was the latest in a series involving the main characters. Had I known this I would have started with the first. It is, however, a good read in its own right.

Ms Cornwell excels both in plot construction and character. The plot of this book is every bit as complicated as that of Dan Brown’s book, the Da Vinci Code, but where the Brown book is tedious this one holds the interest. Brown’s plot is involved and More...

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Jan 28, 2012

J rated it:

I just went on a Cornwell binge. In series over the course of a week or so, I read "Book of the Dead" followed by "Blowfly," "Black Notice" and "Body Farm." (Way prior, I'd read "Scarpetta." A month ago, I read "All that Remains," which propelled me into my binge.)

I don't recommend this reading strategy, though I do like Cornwell's forensic-crime mysteries.

The problem is, Scarpetta is a very intense character. And it More...

0 comments like

Jan 28, 2012

Felicia rated it:

Review: I really don't want to review this book. I used to love Patricia Cornwell-Kay Scarpetta books. I mean, I would devour them the second they were released and find myself counting down to the next one. They held very interesting cases and the characters were intriguing. The last few book and this one included have gotten less about the cases and more about the melodramatic life of Kay Scarpetta. I did enjoy the case parts of the story but even those were bogged down with 15 conversations a More...

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Dec 01, 2011

Susan rated it:

The six-page prologue in Book of the Dead is one of the most chilling scenes I've ever read. A man tortures a young woman by placing her in a bathtub full of icy water. Cornwell knows how to evoke terror and does it superbly here.

Cut to Scarpetta and her lover Benton Wesley who are, predictably, in crisis mode. They're investigating the murder of a young woman in Rome, but the tension in the first few chapters escalates not because of the murder case but because they're at odds with More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 03, 2011

Shelley rated it:

oh dear. I gave up on Ms Scarpetta's adventures a while ago because I found Kathy Reichs to be more readable, the female character flawed but gutsy. Then I came across this one in a charity shop. Thought it wouldn't hurt to give her another go. Unfortunately, I should have stayed with my original decision that Ms Scarpetta is one of the most miserable, wretched and passionless women I have ever read about.
Considering she is described as an intelligent, beautiful, highly respected woman work More...

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Mar 12, 2011

Mari rated it:

Crime-fighters are amongst those fictional characters most likely to get multiple outings. After all, their task is theoretically almost infinite: until someone finds a way to remove criminal instincts from the human mind, crime will continue. Besides, detectives often claim a particular place in the reading public's affections, which was why a reluctant Conan Doyle had to famously resurrect Sherlock Holmes after his apparently fatal encounter with Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls.

More...

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Oct 22, 2010

Piglet rated it:

Not my favourite among the Scarpetta books. Definitely not. On the other hand, they seem to grow worse with every book now. I, for one, am getting tired of the stories being so centrated to miss Scarpetta herself, the murders and mysteries always involving her somehow. And I thought that in this book pretty much all of the characters were annoying. I find books about murdering psychopaths interesting, I admit that, but in this case it felt like the murder story was hidden way too far behind the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 08, 2010

Ginny rated it:

I love Patricia Cornwell's writing--she never insults the intelligence of the reader!
'The Book of the Dead' is a reference to the morgue log, the ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a well known and respected Forensic Pathologist, is called to Rome to consult on a puzzling case, where the body of a 16 year old tennis star from the US has been found severely mutilated. Returning home to her newly set up private practice in Charlestown, SC, she has another case More...

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Jan 30, 2009

Diane rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 12, 2010

Stacey rated it:

3 1/2 stars. I really enjoyed this story, but it was not a good place to start reading this series. This is probably the only thing that kept me from giving this book a higher rating. It was hard for me to understand the connections between the characters that resulted from interactions they had in previous books. This kept me from connecting with the characters and feeling empathy. This, of course, is no fault of the author whose intentions are for the books to be read in order or at least are More...

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Oct 25, 2011

Ann rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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