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Black Notice

(Kay Scarpetta #10)

Patricia Cornwell (Goodreads Author)

3.89 · Rating details · 36,763 ratings · 744 reviews

This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN: 9780751525434

A foreign ship arrives in Richmond, Virginia, among its cargo an unidentified body...

While Lucy Farinelli goes undercover in Miami to bring down a notorious criminal cartel, Dr Kay Scarpetta and Pete Marino discover a body in a cargo ship recently arrived from Belgium at Virginia's Deep Water Terminal in Richmond. I ...more

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Paperback, 466 pages

Published 2007 by Time Warner Paperbacks (first published August 2nd 1999)

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Jan 07, 2012 James rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-fiction, 3-multi-book-series

Book Review
3.5 of 5 stars (rounded up due to the topic in the book) for Black Notice, the 10th book in the "Kay Scarpetta" thriller and suspense series, written in 1999 by Patricia Cornwell. For me, this was a transitional book in the series, not so much from good to bad, but in the terms of who Kay Scarpetta is and what happens with the people in her life. If you are still reading the series, or think you will, don't read the next few lines... then skip ahead to the next paragraph w Book Review
3.5 of 5 stars (rounded up due to the topic in the book) for Black Notice, the 10th book in the "Kay Scarpetta" thriller and suspense series, written in 1999 by Patricia Cornwell. For me, this was a transitional book in the series, not so much from good to bad, but in the terms of who Kay Scarpetta is and what happens with the people in her life. If you are still reading the series, or think you will, don't read the next few lines... then skip ahead to the next paragraph where it will be spoiler free. *** SPOILER *** Kay has lost Benton... and she needs to re-evaluate her life. Knowing what happens later in the books, and thinking about what we learn in this one and the previous one, I really questioned what Cornwell was doing in the series... and if it was just too many directional changes *** SPOILER END ***

So... the best part about this book is that there is the possibility of a werewolf. No... Cornwell didn't delve into fantasy, but there is a disease that could make someone look like a werewolf and that's where we go in this installment. Rather than cover the actual details of the story... think about the amount of effort and work Cornwell had to put into this book in order to write this story. It's highly focused on extreme medical conditions, takes you across the continent, involves shipping procedures, politics, FBI investigations. This is not a normal everyday writer's story... Cornwell may have a few downs in some of her books, but you can never question her ability to write a good story and to put the effort into surprising her fans. She excels in this area, and this book is one of those reasons for me. You don't want to stop turning the pages and will end up reading it in one rather long sitting, just to understand what this werewolf thing is all about!

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators. ...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Jeff rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: who-done-it

If you ever want a prime example of a book series that has taken a sharp nosedive in quality, this is the one.

Kay Scarpetta is the chief coroner for some place, somewhere in Virginia and consequently sees her share of unusual murders that need to be solved. The early books were clever variations on the procedural genre and are entertaining reading. Then things went south.

Shifts in narrative, from first person to third person, from book to book, didn’t work and were jarring. She stretched plot ...more

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Aug 16, 2008 _inbetween_ rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The best thing about Black Notice are the many white pages between the short chapters. My copy doesn't even have any contents or a blurb, just the author's picture covering the back, underlining that she's sold as a must to a certain group of people I guess.

As predicted, now that Cornwell "killed" off Benton, he's suddenly much more beloved and gets more space. Kay is exactly the same, but her frequent crying and "feeling depressed" is now attributed to his loss (I will never ever buy another s The best thing about Black Notice are the many white pages between the short chapters. My copy doesn't even have any contents or a blurb, just the author's picture covering the back, underlining that she's sold as a must to a certain group of people I guess.

As predicted, now that Cornwell "killed" off Benton, he's suddenly much more beloved and gets more space. Kay is exactly the same, but her frequent crying and "feeling depressed" is now attributed to his loss (I will never ever buy another so I skimmed wikipedia with one eye - I'll never get to see his resurrection and omg engagement). Lucy is exactly the same, ie. not really there except in illogical bits of annoying-her-aunt (her relationship with Marino would have been the only interesting one but, as usual, off-screen).

All conversations are monologues of people talking apart from each other, which sadly does not seem to be an intentianal post-p-p-modern statement since Cornwell has never managed dialogue, though if she enhances her incompetences to make them work for her, I guess one has to give her cudos, just don't think the target audience (see above) even recognises that.

Everyone is out to harrass and hurt dear Kay, as usual, until in the end she calls in a few favours of her thousands of powerful friends that come out of nowhere, just like the many luxury items she buys in some limbo time. I've tried hard to stop rereading paragraphs to make sense of mistakes, not just in missing sentences or information, but also in contradicting descriptions of place, all the more annoying because detailing every move always made up most of Cornwell's novels. She still phones up a French restaurant owner at home instead of googling a word, so it's no surprise she skips over to Europe for a bit again.

The weird erroneous lecturing this time was about tattoos, where she tries to make a respectable parlor sound like a depraved dark den of perversion, and even then the tattooist comes across as sensible. As with e-mail, remember that in 1999 tattoos were at their new mainstream height, with every little girl and every run of the mill secretary having one, yet here this renowned crime author says it's only for criminals and gangs.

The title is once again misleading and a wasted opportunity, the Black Notice that interpol uses for unknown victims seems as irrelevant as loup-garou. Instead Cornwell spends the whole first half of the book, at least 200 pages, to rehash how many envious bad people under Kay make her life difficult. In the first novel, the backstabbing and politics were just awfully realistic, later they became grating, the pervasive bitterness that is suffered for too long and then always finally handled with a friend in a high place, unsatisfactory in both respects. Now it's another set-piece she pointlessly repeats, and of Kay's employees bound to be traitors or victims or both.

There is more oh-godding and yay-death-penalty, but again, just an escalation of her norm. Added up, I think she must do some political free lancing since she doesn't do regular work otherwise yet harps on and on about success-less people undermining the great.

The funniest line of the book was when she shouts (again) that she just doesn't cry, what with crying all the time.

Cornwell had so obviously seen the French films about perverted mishapen murderers shielded by their rich families that I couldn't believe she added nothing at all of herself, just subtracted, less than nothing. Interpol and all Europeans are idiots, it needs her flown in via Concorde (with the usual useless and unexplained Marino) to stipulate what I thought had been obvious from chapter one, ie. that the straight human hair found on the scenes signed by "werewolf" were obviously body hair. Duh?

The second to last incredulous laugh escaped me when she fucks the stunningly beautiful rich young ATF guy with the sculpted body who finds her so beautiful, sucks on her big breasts and is helpless in the face of her sexual expertise. She just uses him, but after telling him to leave her alone she then pines for his sexual expertise (yeah, what?) and then he moves to the USA.

The last laugh was when she of course lets the killer into her house again. Sadly they never succeed. The end. ...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Amy Metz rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I'm starting to be disillusioned with the Scarpetta series. The characters are getting harder to like--including Kay Scarpetta herself--and the plots are just so-so. We have a bad guy, he kills a lot of people, Marino and Scarpetta go after him, Kay has a brief fling, the killer tries to kill Kay, the end.

I didn't like the abrupt ending of this book, and I didn't buy Kay's feelings for Tally. Two business meetings, a one-night stand, and a lovers' spat, and suddenly she can't get him off her mi ...more

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May 16, 2014 Guera25 rated it did not like it · review of another edition

It never ceases to amaze me how Cornwell can spend four hundred pages setting up complex cases and building suspense and then blow it all in the last three pages like a case of explosive flatulence. It doesn't help that the narrative arcs of her books all follow the identical repetitive sequence of evil, evil criminals and corrupt bureaucrats gunning for the noble, studiously moral Kay Scarpetta, who spends ninety percent of the time being a complete jackass and pettish, needy judgmental harrida ...more

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Feb 06, 2009 Mappi rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: patricia-cornwell, read-2009

Overall - 1/5 : Dog catching its tail !

Plot - 1/2/5 : Good start, but disappointing finish. Kay and Marino come together to solve the mystry behind a unidentified body found in a container, which leads them to France to unreveal a horrible serial killer who calls himself Le Loug Garou - The Werewolf. Kay is again put down when she choses to flirt and Lucy irritates me that i feel I have reached my limit. And the way Marino is treated shows clearly that the series has started to sink.

Writting - 4 ...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Barbara Mitchell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My friend periodically gives me bags full of books she's read and I found this one in the last batch. It's been ages since I've read a Cornwell/Dr. Scarpetta book, just long enough for me to miss them and really enjoy this one.

The mystery in this case begins with a decomposing body found in a cargo container that docks in Richmond. The murderer's trail will lead Scarpetta and Marino to France and back again and will be very difficult to solve. Meanwhile, it has been one year since her FBI lover ...more

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Nov 27, 2020 audrey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: animal-harm-is-super-triggery, virginia

Scarpetta books come in three (3) particular flavors:

1. Serial Killers Are Super-Violent, Yo.
2. Scarpetta's Co-Workers All Want to Destroy Her Career (Because She's So Awesome)
3. Scarpetta's Terrible Family & Friends

Books of the first stripe have always been the most interesting to me, so much so that it's been tolerable / interesting when they stray into the second area. While I completely understand that there's an appreciative audience for the third kind, they leave me cold: Scarpetta is a d ...more

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Sep 06, 2014 IslandRiverScribe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-thrillers, z-read-2014, police-american

Kay Scarpetta has not handled Benton Wesley’s death well. She has worked herself into the ground. She has distanced herself from her friends and employees. She has even started smoking again. She is mired in guilt and regret over every unkind word she ever spoke to Benton. No, Kay Scarpetta is not handling her grief well at all.

Now, just before the second Christmas since Benton’s death, Senator Frank Lord, one of Kay’s oldest friends and professional confederates, delivers to her a letter from B ...more

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Aug 09, 2013 Deb rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was exactly what I needed. Mystery.. excitement..suspense. I was sitting on the edge of my seat speculating most of the time. I didn't want to put it down. It was not boring in the least!

There is an international killer on the loose in Richmond and this killer is leaving behind some strange evidence. There are dirty cops in high places on the force. It's up to thorough Chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her watchdog/best friend tough detective Captain Marino to get to the bot This book was exactly what I needed. Mystery.. excitement..suspense. I was sitting on the edge of my seat speculating most of the time. I didn't want to put it down. It was not boring in the least!

There is an international killer on the loose in Richmond and this killer is leaving behind some strange evidence. There are dirty cops in high places on the force. It's up to thorough Chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her watchdog/best friend tough detective Captain Marino to get to the bottom of things. From Richmond to Florida to Paris..Local police, FBI, ATF, Interpol this is a crime mystery not to be missed.

I haven't read a full fledged crime mystery in a long while. I needed a little excitement in my reading so I decided to jump back into this genre for a little while. I really enjoyed the suspense and the sense of constant "who done it". This is actually book #10 in the Scarpetta series and it's my first book by Patricia Cornwell. I like the fact that even though I have never read any of the previous books, I felt as though the author quickly brought me up to speed and the majority of the book was moving forward with only slight reminiscence on the past. Being that my first love is actually Historical fiction and I read that because I enjoy learning with my fiction, I was glad that I felt enlightened by the author's expertise in the field of medical examination. I learned so much about this field that I knew nothing about. So, along with everything that comes along with a crime novel, I also learned something. I also liked how the author broke up the seriousness of crime, the rawness of the examinations, the mystery of the investigation with Captain Marino's wry humor. He cracked me up on many an occasion and I think it helped attract me to this book.

Yes I do recommend to my crime, thriller and mystery readers. This is a goody. Four and a half stars because I usually save five or more for greatest books of all times. I will be going straight to the next book... NOW! ...more

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Jan 28, 2018 Li'l Owl rated it liked it · review of another edition

*GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS REVIEW TO READ JUST THE REVIEW FOR THIS NOVEL *

I'm repeating my reviews primarily for readers who haven't read Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series of novels yet.
First and foremost, this series should be read in sequence to get the most out of them as the characters are tightly connected together.
After reading book one, Post mortem, starring Kay Scarpetta & Pete Marino I was absolutely hooked and
I read them back to back as soon as the next in the series was relea ...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

A great Scarpetta novel with an intriguing twist to leave the reader excited and curious at the same time. When a body turns up in a shipping crate, Scarpetta is called to look into what might have happened. Odd French writing on the side of the crate adds to the mystery, especially once it has been translated. Are authorities looking for a man or beast? Clues left at the scene do not help clarify this conundrum, nor does liaising with officials on either side of the Atlantic. As Scarpetta delve ...more

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Aug 18, 2013 Mahoghani 23 rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, books-read-in-2016, series-books, favorites

It's hard for me to get into books when I know what happened. Even though I read these books out of order, it still was a good read from start to finish.

There's a killer on the loose that no one seems to understand his motives. He's vicious and very destructive to his victims body. He started his murders in Paris and has now transferred his evil doings into the United States, particularly the state of Virginia. However, there's something strange about this killer. He has a rare disease called hy ...more

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Apr 11, 2015 Dhuaine rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery

Even a fortress can't protect the stupid.
1) Learn how the murderer approaches the victims.
2) Conveniently ignore all common sense.
3) ???
4) Might as well fire half of detective division and simply keep watch on Scarpetta. Every major criminal ends up near her sooner or later.

Not marking this as spoiler because every Scarpetta book ends this way. This one is just more blatant and even more stupid than usual. It never ceases to amaze me how Cornwell spends time and effort on establishing a bizarre, ...more

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Jun 15, 2009 Anne Hawn Smith rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book, mystery, forensics

Nophoto-f-25x33 Patricia Cornwell's books get more and more painful to read. Kay Scarpetta's friends and family angst intrude too much in this story. Police Captain has got to be the worst of his breed acting in a manner so unprofessional as to be ludicrous. And her neurotic niece acts in a way that belies her profession.

I used to just love Cornwell's books, but I have begun to think that I am watching the worst soap opera in the world. This is a shame, because the early books were so good I cou ...more

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May 30, 2013 Carmen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A foreign ship arrives and an identified body is found on board. From this point a mix of fear and adrenalin, Cornwell brand, follows.

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Mar 02, 2020 Baba rated it liked it

Shelves: crime-fiction

Lucy goes undercover to bring down a cartel. Scarpetta and Marino investigate the supposed decomposed corpse of a stowaway that turns out to be much more. As ever in this series the action, drama and menace from the case invades Scarpetta and co's personal lives. With a shocking antagonist and a return to some great plotting, Cornwell brings the series back to its best. 7 out of 12 ...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Allison Ann rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library

WEEK 2
WORD: BOWL
BONUS: BLONDE (HAIR)
MY LETTER: B - title Black Notice

Book: Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell
Finished: March 16, 2013
Rating & Book Review: 3 stars - I've been reading/re-reading through the Scarpetta series and not particularly enjoying them. The characters are SO unpleasant that I can't get past it, but I've been forcing myself to keep reading. This one was actually less horrid. The characters were still wretched, but this time they were being wretched on purpose so I could accep ...more

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Dec 19, 2018 Nancy Hammond rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Loved it. In my opinion, better than Body of Evidence. A bit of mystery, suspense, and romance, nicely tied together for the perfect crime drama plot. Kept my interest and was hard to put down. Now, i am hooked on the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series.

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Mar 09, 2008 Cathy rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I liked the first 4 or 5 Scappetta novels a lot, but then it all became so repetitive. This was boring. I felt as if I was reading the same book over and over again. No more Scarpetta for me.

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Feb 18, 2009 Louise rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Last one I'll read....going downhill ...more

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Aug 04, 2014 Gerard rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Filled with unnecessary chunks, irrelevant to the actual story!
Slow-paced and tiresome read!

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Nov 04, 2016 Dave added it · review of another edition

Shelves: patricia-cornwell

I'm beginning to think I've read to many Scarpetta books... easily predictable! But it was ok to read. ...more

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Nov 08, 2019 TheMadHatter rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, reading-challenge, setting-usa, mystery-detective, science-forensic, re-read

Aussie Reader's 2019 Series Challenge: Read book #7, #8, #9, #10 in the Kay Scarpetta Series
Aussie Reader's 2019 Spring Bingo Challenge: Read a suspense/crime book (Column #5)

A "black notice" is the term given by Interpol for unidentified bodies and that title is actually a pretty good summary for the book as this time around we find Kay and Marino joining forces with Interpol to help solve the murder of an unidentified person found in a shipping container.

I have read this book many (many) year ...more

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Jul 08, 2020 Henri Moreaux rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: americas, politics, mystery-suspense, crime-murder, law-enforcement, europe

I read this without having read any prior books in the series, and as such it doesn't do all that well as a stand alone book with many references to various prior events, only rather than refreshers they're quite hollow references which leave the stand alone reader a little puzzled. The continual sadness Kay feels over the dead Benson is one such instance where the circumstances of his death aren't readily apparent.

Regardless, it was an entertainingly gory book with a mysterious serial killer wh ...more

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Mar 23, 2019 David added it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-in-2019

The plot was interesting. I wanted to read the resolution. But I don’t like the characters. Not even Kay Scarpetta, who is supposed to be the icon of the series. Marino is mildly interesting on occasion but usually too aggressive, too nasty for any real sympathy. Lucy Farinelli is awful; Kay loves her because Lucy is Kay’s family, but I can’t stand her. I find her to be an aggressive, temperamental, spoiled little child. You get the idea that each has a certain integrity and that each is devoted ...more

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Jul 14, 2020 Kingfan30 rated it liked it · review of another edition

Scarpetta books seem to come into my possession at various points and in random sequence, I’m sure I’d get more out of them to read them in order but I’ve got too many series on the got to add another one. That said they generally stand ok on thief own as the crime is new it's just the underlying story line that’s a bit out of sink. This one started out well with a random unidentified body in a container, but it wasn’t massively fast paced and it is showing its age (when was the last time you he ...more

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Jul 16, 2017 LaTonya Reed rated it liked it · review of another edition

I was annoyed by everyone in this book, everyone was miserable and I mean everyone. I knew this was not going to be a happy go lucky book, but damn!! I found myself ready for the book to be over. It was just okay.

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Nov 25, 2019 Nicky Mottram rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, borrowbox, crime

Audio version of this book 📚- Not one of the most gripping in the series

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Dec 29, 2020 Cruelbeautifulthing rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

So Patricia Cornwell did it again! She ended my book w a cliff hanger sort of thang - _-
Regardless, IT WAS THE BOMB. My love for Kay Scarpetta is just stronger than ever. I loved the mystery and chills this book gave me. Yes it deserves 5 stars :)

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About Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell

14,148 followers

Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, in 1990 while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. Postmortem, was the first bona fide forensic thriller. It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature.

Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, ...more