Poor contination of the Scarpetta/Chardonne ugly soap opera...

That we've had to wait a few years since the "Last Precinct" [skipping the wretched non-Scarpetta "Isle of Dogs" and Cornwell's non-fiction book about Jack the Ripper:] made us anxious to devour Kay Scarpetta's return. Alas, Kay is little more than a bit player as first niece Lucy, as head of her own investigative firm, then a resuscitated Benton Wesley (what a rip-off!!) steal most of the scenes. Pete Marino is around for little more than overweight color; and a few Louisiana characters trying to solve a series of killings there also play minor roles. If anything, the horrible Jean-Baptiste Chardonne, back from "Black Notice" is the star. While supposedly he was blinded in his unsuccessful attack on Scarpetta, he looks out windows and reads notes, so what gives? He manages to escape from prison while on death row (seriously?!) and apparently is still at large at the end, so something tells me we haven't seen the last of him.

This dark work sees Scarpetta as just a shell of her former self; dwells on Lucy as some sort of goddess; and disappoints from short chapter to short chapter (124 in all). We sensed with few pages remaining that the end would be just a brush-off -- and it was. "Blow Fly" is hardly entertaining, poorly written, uninspired, and uninteresting -- maybe the worst Scarpetta of all. For our money, we think the publishers owe the public a closer scrutiny of this author's future work and see if it really warrants publication. This one will soon go to the overprinted bin, along with Isle of Dogs, where it belongs.