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Apr 11, 2011

marymurtz rated it:

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But what originally made the character unique and compelling....all of it is gone.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 More...

7 comments like (35 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2011

Ellen rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 05, 2011

False rated it:

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 workin More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 03, 2011

Perrin rated it:

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 Co More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

Beth rated it:

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 ou More...

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

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 happine More...

5 comments like (7 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2011

Dave rated it:

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 returni More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Jim 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...

0 comments like

Jan 29, 2012

Barbi rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Jan 20, 2012

Ron rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Nov 19, 2011

Debbie rated it:

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 K More...

0 comments like

Oct 20, 2011

Hali rated it:

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 Bosto More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 13, 2011

rainbow3 rated it:

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 ar More...

0 comments like

Sep 21, 2011

Briansmom rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Sep 12, 2011

Ms.pegasus rated it:

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 Camb More...

0 comments like

Aug 27, 2011

Barbara rated it:

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- More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 26, 2011

LadyHeather rated it:

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 i More...

0 comments like

May 03, 2011

Mazola1 rated it:

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 tedi More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

Aaron rated it:

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 B More...

0 comments like

Mar 05, 2011

Deanna rated it:

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 More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2011

John rated it:

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 wal More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2011

Amy rated it:

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 daught More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 04, 2011

William rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2011

Christine rated it:

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 detailed. More...

1 comment like

Dec 30, 2010

Donna rated it:

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.

W More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2010

Jennifer (JC-S) rated it:

‘Things end where they begin and begin where they end.’

This is the 18th novel to feature Kay Scarpetta in the 20 years since ‘Postmortem’ first appeared. This novel is written from Kay Scarpetta’ s point of view, and it gives shares some secrets from the past and provides some new insights into her character.

At the beginning of the book, Scarpetta is undertaking a training fellowship on Computer Tomography (CT) – assisted virtual autopsies at Dover Air Force Base. Howe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 23, 2011

Linda rated it:

It's often said that a good novel should be shown, not told, and that's the main problem with Port Mortuary. The first person narration by Kay Scarpetta turns what should have been a compelling hunt for a murderer into a sort of stream reactions by Kay to things that have been kept secret from her. Scarpetta has long been on the cutting edge of forensic pathology, but now she's facing the brave new world of flybots, packbots, and synthetic biology, which promise to radically change the face of w More...

0 comments like

Jul 28, 2011

JoJo rated it:

Though it was refreshing to hear Kay Scarpetta's voice again, this book fell a little flat. I certainly liked the plot and it kept me interested enough to finish the book, but it seems that Cornwell's writing has suffered of late. I am not sure if this is due to the pressure to punch out new Scarpetta books so quickly, but it was incredibly frustrating to me.

I may not be an expert myself, but there were multiple issues that arose in this book. I was utterly frustrated by Cornwell's repetition. More...

1 comment like

Jul 03, 2011

Barbara rated it:

This book was overly long and badly written. I hope for Patricia Cornwell's sake, that this is not the first Kay Scarpetta book anyone reads. If so, it will probably be the last. While always intense, Scarpetta was in the past at least interesting and a character you could care about. In this book she is merely a bitch. Not sympathetic at all. Surrounded by family, friends and employees, the only thing she seems to care about is an abandoned dog. That attachment, while possibly meant to humanize More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 11, 2010

Melinda rated it:

The first person style of the book is an interesting change to the usual set out of Scarpetta novels.

However I did find the book a little slow on the action. Most of the book covered Kay's inner dialogue, interesting though that might have been, it did tend to confuse the story somewhat for me and the usual supporting characters such as Marino, Lucy and Benton played such little roles that oftentimes I forgot they were actually a part of the action.

The sub plot regarding her More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

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