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102nd out of 290 books
—
965 voters
Port Mortuary (Kay Scarpetta #18)
by
Patricia Cornwell (Goodreads Author)
The new Kay Scarpetta novel from the world's #1 bestselling crime writer.
"When it comes to the forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell."
-The New York Times Book Review Port Mortuary, the title of Patricia Cornwell's eighteenth Scarpetta novel, is literally a port for the dead. In this fast-paced story, a treacherous path from Scarpetta's past merges with the high- t...more
"When it comes to the forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell."
-The New York Times Book Review Port Mortuary, the title of Patricia Cornwell's eighteenth Scarpetta novel, is literally a port for the dead. In this fast-paced story, a treacherous path from Scarpetta's past merges with the high- t...more
Hardcover, 496 pages
Published
November 30th 2010
by Putnam Adult
(first published 2010)
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Every time I finish a Kay Scarpetta mystery, I tell myself I'm done with the series, and then the next book comes out and I have to read it. This book is really no exception to the disappointment I've felt with every one of her books since "Point of Origin." I was glad to see Cornwell had returned to first person narrative, which gave the books much of their original appeal.
But what originally made the character unique and compelling....all of it is gone. The series has become about how everyth...more
But what originally made the character unique and compelling....all of it is gone. The series has become about how everyth...more
What happened? Patricia Cornwall seemed to have rebounded with most recent Kay Scarpetta books, after a few misfires but she proves her inconsistency again with Port Mortuary. Is it that she is using a ghostwriter? A different ghostwriter? No ghostwriter? Whatever the reason, the usually exciting adventures of Kay, Benton, Lucy and Marino hit a brick wall with Port Mortuary. I rarely bail out on a book yet half way through I couldn't bear to be bored to tears any longer.
Everything in Port Mortu...more
Everything in Port Mortu...more
15 likes · like · see review
She's another thriller-crime-mystery writer on my junk reads list, but I don't knock myself out seeking her books. If I see one at the library, I'll usually get around to reading it. Here's my question. Cornwell has created this highly successful forensics expert, married to an equally successful man, with an equally successful niece, and they ARE ALL FULL OF PISS AND VINEGAR AND UNHAPPY. In this book, Scarpissah gets angry if someone is at her desk, leaves scalpels in disarray, starts working a...more
10 likes · like · see review
I listened to this book on CD. 11 disks, and it took 7 before the story got anywhere. This is the second Cornwell book I've listened to, and the first (Scarpetta) I was pretty impressed with. Port Mortuary, however, repeated itself constantly, used excessively flowery language, and mentioned details so small and mundane they only slowed the story. The only thing that kept me from throwing the disks out the window was the fact that the book was a gift from my mother.
It is clear that Cornwell is...more
It is clear that Cornwell is...more
My advice to Patricia Cornwell: Less is more.
I could not get past page 235 in this book. I skipped ahead and read the end, because I wanted to find out what happened to the dog. I figured it out, not because I'm brilliant or anything, far from it, but this book was too predictable and WAY too long.
Honestly, if I had to read another page of Kay Scarpetta droning on and and about how she was gone too long from her lab and now it's all going to hell and she's sorry as all get out that she's let eve...more
I could not get past page 235 in this book. I skipped ahead and read the end, because I wanted to find out what happened to the dog. I figured it out, not because I'm brilliant or anything, far from it, but this book was too predictable and WAY too long.
Honestly, if I had to read another page of Kay Scarpetta droning on and and about how she was gone too long from her lab and now it's all going to hell and she's sorry as all get out that she's let eve...more
14 likes · like · see review
I can't even finish this. I'm officially done with the series. This current batch of books I thought I could get past, but this latest one is just too much. We have:
Characters' character assassination -
Marino's just an idiot, no redeemable qualities.
Scarpetta's a whiner, NOT the awesome smart doctor from the beginning of the series.
Lucy's just a bitch, NEVER happy. At some point, you gotta get over your mom treating you like shit as a child and find your own happiness.
Benton's just an after-thou...more
Characters' character assassination -
Marino's just an idiot, no redeemable qualities.
Scarpetta's a whiner, NOT the awesome smart doctor from the beginning of the series.
Lucy's just a bitch, NEVER happy. At some point, you gotta get over your mom treating you like shit as a child and find your own happiness.
Benton's just an after-thou...more
13 likes · like · see review
The latest in quite a long series of Kay Scarpetta books. For me Patricia Cornwell has lost her way with the series. There seems to be much more concentration on the relationships of the characters than in the plot, although this one is certainly better then the previous two so maybe she's finding her touch again.
It was still an enjoyable read but I would certainly recommend some of the early books to get a real flavour of what Scarpetts is about.
This one sees her returning to Richmond from Port...more
It was still an enjoyable read but I would certainly recommend some of the early books to get a real flavour of what Scarpetts is about.
This one sees her returning to Richmond from Port...more
didnt even finish it.
way way too technical.
I thought her last book "Scarpetta" was the same way and this one was even worse.
It took away from the story and it was hard to keep interest reading all the techie stuff that I didnt understand.
And the stories are not even believable anymore.
No one can have done and seen what these characters have or gotten into ALL those situations.
I prefer to read about KAY SCARPETTA, like the earlier books. Where the story was actually believable.
I am real disappoi...more
way way too technical.
I thought her last book "Scarpetta" was the same way and this one was even worse.
It took away from the story and it was hard to keep interest reading all the techie stuff that I didnt understand.
And the stories are not even believable anymore.
No one can have done and seen what these characters have or gotten into ALL those situations.
I prefer to read about KAY SCARPETTA, like the earlier books. Where the story was actually believable.
I am real disappoi...more
Aug 06, 2011
Jim Thornton
added it
This was truly awful. It is certainly the last book I will read by Patricia Corwell. Sad as I used to like these stories but this was a complete failure. If this woman was real she certainly needs professional help. Unfit to run any establishment, unfit to be an employer, unfit to be in a relationship. A thoroughly depressing and inconsistent character. Just how many questions did she ask herself in the book? None of which mattered of course.... how often did she demonstrate paranoid delusions a...more
Well, that was 5 hours of my life I'll never get back...I've read all the Scarpetta books, and sadly, like Fonzie, she finally jumped the shark. this one has "imposter" written all over it ( or, if not "imposter", definitely "corporate sponsor". I mean, we GET it, already...Scarpetta loves her some Apple products-if you read it in e-format, go ahead and do a search for the number of times the terms iPhone or iPad are used.) Overall, a really bad book, with absolutely no redeeming value at all. O...more
I’d read a Patricia Cornwell book about Kay Scarpetta years ago and I’m sure I enjoyed it. Cornwell is such a popular and praised writer that I thought I couldn’t go wrong in reading Port Mortuary. How mistaken I was.
This is such a drag of a book. The first half seemed to follow about twelve hours of mysterious and confusing dialogue between Kay, Marino, Lucy and Benton, discussing various topics such as robot bugs and robots on the battlefield. The second half finally got down to the ‘whodunnit...more
This is such a drag of a book. The first half seemed to follow about twelve hours of mysterious and confusing dialogue between Kay, Marino, Lucy and Benton, discussing various topics such as robot bugs and robots on the battlefield. The second half finally got down to the ‘whodunnit...more
‘Port Mortuary’ by Patricia Cornwall
Published by Sphere, 28 April 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7515-4392-6
It several years since I have read a Kay Scarpetta adventure. It appears that in the intervening period she has married Benton Wesley – a man who has been declared dead, been in witness protection and is now back with Kay. She is unsure if he is still with the FBI, but is certain that he is in contact, if not actually working for them.
Kay has spent six months as medical examiner at Port Mortuary, a mil...more
Published by Sphere, 28 April 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7515-4392-6
It several years since I have read a Kay Scarpetta adventure. It appears that in the intervening period she has married Benton Wesley – a man who has been declared dead, been in witness protection and is now back with Kay. She is unsure if he is still with the FBI, but is certain that he is in contact, if not actually working for them.
Kay has spent six months as medical examiner at Port Mortuary, a mil...more
BEWARE OF SPOILERS
I have a love-hate affair with Cornwell. She always draws me in, but sometimes I'm annoyed at what she does.
If Scarpetta is such an insightful and hotshot medical examiner, then why does she so often have serious personnel problems with her mostly hand-picked staff? Huge blind spot in Scarpetta, no? It makes her appear incompetent.
In this book there's a nominal excuse for the staff problems -- she's opening a new forensic center in Mass., but has been detoured for several mont...more
I have a love-hate affair with Cornwell. She always draws me in, but sometimes I'm annoyed at what she does.
If Scarpetta is such an insightful and hotshot medical examiner, then why does she so often have serious personnel problems with her mostly hand-picked staff? Huge blind spot in Scarpetta, no? It makes her appear incompetent.
In this book there's a nominal excuse for the staff problems -- she's opening a new forensic center in Mass., but has been detoured for several mont...more
After discovering and devouring Patricia Cornwell's "Postmortem" (now 20 years ago), my family and I have been huge fans of the Kay Scarpetta novels. Over the years, we eagerly awaited the release of Ms. Cornwell's next novel, always confident that it would surpass her last. Until something changed and Ms. Cornwell forgot how to tell an interesting story. Instead of flying effortlessly through her books, I now find myself slogging through them, falling asleep over them, yawning through endless p...more
4 likes · like · see review
I promised myself to stop with the police procedurals for a while. But they seem to be, for whatever reason, the easiest option when I'm sitting around with a few minutes to myself and want to read on the Kindle. Not sure why this is. For me, at least to this point, browsing on an Ipad or Kindle is just not as fun as browsing a real bookstore. That sounds like something an old man would say, so Im hoping that it will change as I keep reading more electronically.
Anyway, this book is not, in my li...more
Anyway, this book is not, in my li...more
This novel provides disturbing data about war, the military, and the government. The average person really has no idea what is truly happening due to government intervention and secrecy. This reminds me of many of David Baldacci's books. Another aspect of the Scarpetta series is that people she trusts constantly betray Kay. Marino has assaulted her, Wesley pretended to be death, her father depended on Kay as he died of cancer, and many others such as Kay's mother, Kay's sister, and many of Kay's...more
I was all excited when I realized that this book was back to the first person narrative of Kay Scarpetta but soon I was lost in the overly whiny nature of the narrative. She's not being told everything by Benton (come on, after 20 years you should know the score) Marino is being an overbearing arse, Lucy is hiding something. In other words not much has changed. The venue for the book is Boston where Kay is now the head of a Port Mortuary, and apparently is the Chief Medical Examiner for Boston,...more
Port Mortuary – Patricia Cornwell :: Friday, September 17, 2011 ISBN:
978-0-7515-4392-6
BOOK COVER: ‘Port Mortuary’ is literally a port to receive the dead – and the deaths are mounting.
Kay Scarpetta had been training at the Port Dover Mortuary, mastering a ground breaking forensic procedure. And it is not long before these new skills need to be put into practice. A young man drops dead, eerily close to Scarpetta’s home. When his body is examined, there are stunning indications that he may have...more
978-0-7515-4392-6
BOOK COVER: ‘Port Mortuary’ is literally a port to receive the dead – and the deaths are mounting.
Kay Scarpetta had been training at the Port Dover Mortuary, mastering a ground breaking forensic procedure. And it is not long before these new skills need to be put into practice. A young man drops dead, eerily close to Scarpetta’s home. When his body is examined, there are stunning indications that he may have...more
Ok, now I remember why I stopped reading the Scarpetta novels several years ago: 1) Scarpetta is annoying. 2) Marino is annoying. 3) Benton is annoying. 4) Lucy is REALLY annoying. Haven't read one for about 3 or 4 years, so I was a little bit out of the loop on what Kay's life is like now, but actually, it's same old, same old. But honestly, do any more annoyingly one-dimensional, cardboard, and totally sterotypical characters exist in any other book series? DO ANY OF THESE PEOPLE EVER HAVE A R...more
Sep 12, 2011
Ms.pegasus
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
mystery lovers, Patricia Cornwell fans
Trust no one …. How did Kay Scarpetta get there, and where will it lead her? Told in the first-person, present tense, this is a dark and suspenseful novel which focuses as much on the emotional state of the main character as much as on the actual mystery revealed by the plot. Scarpetta is tough, a perfectionist in her job, territorial, and wary of manipulation. Abruptly summoned from a training fellowship at Dover Air Force Base after having been away from her new position heading the Cambridge...more
While the 18th book in the series isn't the greatest (that is reserved for "From Potter's Field" in my opinion), it's a welcome return to form for Cornwell and Scarpetta both. Cornwell uses the first person narrative, which allows the reader to go more deeply inside the plot and characters and that alone is reason for reading this book. We learn that Scarpetta has ties to the military--the Air Force helped her pay for medical school--and now Scarpetta is at Dover AFB to learn about CT-assisted v...more
I read all Kay Scarpetta books, I used to be a real addict when I was younger. I loved all the books up till The Last Precinct, which I thought was the final book of the series!
A few years later I discovered that the series still continues and I have read all books since, but only because of a weird sort of sentiment... Every time I finish another I tell myself I should stop reading them because they disappoint me every time, but by the time a new one comes out I forget and I read it anyway.
One...more
A few years later I discovered that the series still continues and I have read all books since, but only because of a weird sort of sentiment... Every time I finish another I tell myself I should stop reading them because they disappoint me every time, but by the time a new one comes out I forget and I read it anyway.
One...more
Imagine yourself putting together a jigsaw puzzle in an almost completely darkened room. All of the pieces are shades of gray and black and you don't have the box cover. It takes a lot of time and effort to finish it, and after you do, you realize the picture isn't really worth seeing. That's what it's like to read Patricia Cornwell's latest Kay Scarpetta mystery, Port Mortuary.
Told from the first person perspective of Scarpetta herself, the tale is murky, mysterious and rather tedious. All the...more
Told from the first person perspective of Scarpetta herself, the tale is murky, mysterious and rather tedious. All the...more
3 likes · like · see review
ornwell has brought back Kay Scarpetta for an an 18th adventure with her newest novel. The good news is that the series seems to have gotten its groove back as the story shifts from the personal crises of the various regular characters to actual cases as the primary focus. Scarpetta is now the chief medical examiner of Massachusetts and is based out of the Cambridge Forensic Center in Boston.
The story starts with Kay rushing to head north from a assignment at Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Bas...more
The story starts with Kay rushing to head north from a assignment at Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Bas...more
I can't do it anymore. I am sorry Ms. Cornwell, but your characters are becoming harder and harder to empathize with and your storylines too convoluted. Scarpetta used to be such a strong character, now everyone is pushing her around - Benton, her husband is unwilling to share any information with her, and after 300 pages the only outward sign of love between is a glance. Not even a hug when Scarpetta arrives from a 6 month sojourn away. Lucy is becoming impossible to like and appears to be grow...more
13 likes · like · see review
Here goes for the third or forth time. My review keeps disappearing! Don't know what I am doing. Anyway, Patricia Cornwell's stories continue to get more high tech and somewhat futuristic. The interactions between characters is also often stilted, conversations particularly between Kay and her husband do not seem natural at all. As someone having greyhounds I was naturally drawn to the greyhound in the story, but that was mostly background and a part of the mystery, since a murdered man was walk...more
2 likes · like · see review
I'm a big fan of Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series and was really looking forward to her latest novel. I have to admit the ending was a complete let down.
Although this book was exciting and had alot of meaty information dealing with new technology I felt it was a little lack luster. It seemed to follow a similar pattern to many of her other novels, the "villain" was pretty clear from the get go even with all of Scarpetta's excuses for his behavior. Throwing his daughter in as the mastermind w...more
Although this book was exciting and had alot of meaty information dealing with new technology I felt it was a little lack luster. It seemed to follow a similar pattern to many of her other novels, the "villain" was pretty clear from the get go even with all of Scarpetta's excuses for his behavior. Throwing his daughter in as the mastermind w...more
BOOK REVIEW
“Port Mortuary” by Patricia Cornwell
Reviewed by Bill Breakstone, January 3, 2011
Port Mortuary is the latest novel in the Kay Scarpetta Series by Patricia Cromwell. The title refers to the Medical Examiner’s Office that receives (thus “port”) and autopsies victims of fatal accidents, natural deaths, combat mortalities (in the case of military “ports”, such as the one located at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware), and homicides. Scarpetta fans will not be disappointed by this latest ins...more
“Port Mortuary” by Patricia Cornwell
Reviewed by Bill Breakstone, January 3, 2011
Port Mortuary is the latest novel in the Kay Scarpetta Series by Patricia Cromwell. The title refers to the Medical Examiner’s Office that receives (thus “port”) and autopsies victims of fatal accidents, natural deaths, combat mortalities (in the case of military “ports”, such as the one located at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware), and homicides. Scarpetta fans will not be disappointed by this latest ins...more
1 like · like · see review
Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell has many good & bad points. This novel is written in first person voice which was a welcome change from the prior novels in the series. This helps tremendously with creating three dimensional personalities for each of the characters. However, it also caused immaterial details to be drawn out & inconsequential to the storyline. For an example when Cornwell is describing the routine inspection of a helicopter prior to take-off this was a little too detail...more
Granted, I read Port Mortuary in about two days, but that wasn't because it was the most compelling plot I've encountered lately; it's because I did a lot of skimming.
What was compelling—and I think this is true of Cornwell's other recent books, come to think about it—was the technology. Descriptions of "flybots" and "nanobots" and self-replicating, cell-sized machines that can be introduced into the human body on contact—now those things are interesting.
What's not interesting—not any more—are S...more
What was compelling—and I think this is true of Cornwell's other recent books, come to think about it—was the technology. Descriptions of "flybots" and "nanobots" and self-replicating, cell-sized machines that can be introduced into the human body on contact—now those things are interesting.
What's not interesting—not any more—are S...more
1 like · like · see review
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Amazon customer ratings down down | 20 | 59 | May 03, 2013 05:45pm |
Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. At her first signing, held during a lunch break from the morgue, Patricia sold no copies of Postmortem and fielded exactly one question – an elderly woman asked her where she could find the cookbooks.
Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Cre...more
More about Patricia Cornwell...
Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Cre...more
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