I want to love each book that Cornwell puts out. And I notice a trend that she's gone back to the good ol' days of first person storytelling, which can work for or against her, depending on the interest in the novel. Unfortunately I felt that this one was a little too talky and not enough on the action front to keep readers interested. Secondary characters like Marino, Benton, and Lucy have all taken a back seat to Scarpetta's stream of consciousness monologues, which are lengthy and overdone throughout the book. I just didn't find the plot of this book strong enough to warrant these monologues. I feel a little ripped off as well, that she two-parted the story from the last novel. When it was a little edgy and shocking in that novel, here it begins to be predictable and boring.

You can pretty much anticipate each "twist" as it comes, and to me that tells me that Cornwell got a little lazy with this book, as she usually includes a little bit of an element of surprise with her novels.

I will keep my fingers crossed for the next book, as I'm not prepared to give up on her yet. But if she drags this plot line out for one more book I might have to reconsider.