Customer Reviews

Blowfly

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(71)
2 star:		(150)
1 star:		(411)

 

 

Patricia Cornwell used to write terrific books about Kay Scarpetta, filled with action, suspense and science. Her latest effort, Blow Fly, is terribly disappointing. For two thirds of the book the main characters stumble and bumble their way through the plot, lost in self-pity and paralyzed by neurotic worries. They have become pathetic caricatures, and fill the pages with anxiety and meaningless dialogue. Dr. Scarpetta half-heartedly investigates a brutal murder that turns out to be irrelevant to the flow of the narrative. The book comes to an unsatisfying, sudden ending, as if the author remembered that she had another engagement and had to abruptly end her writing.

This is the last time I buy a book from Patricia Cornwell before reading the amazon.com reviews. No more pre-ordering for me after Blow Fly. I hated Isle of Dogs immensely and didn't even pay attention to her Jack the Ripper book, but I thought "finally, back to Kay Scarpetta" and pre-ordered Blow Fly. Big mistake. I felt like most of the book was taken up introducing new readers to all of the characters and summarizing her previous Scarpetta books. When it finally did get going, toward the end, I kept looking at the number of pages left, wondering how it was possible that I was almost finished when there was obviously so much story unresolved. The answer came when, in the last few pages, she completely rushed through ending the book. She spent a great deal of the book in the Wolfman's mind, but couldn't spare us 20 more pages for a halfway decent ending?

As to the characters and their attitudes/outlook and whether they're realistic or not and the present tense and the third person writing that the other reviewers disliked, I won't pass judgment on that. It was probably part of the overall "yuck" I felt while reading this book, though.

Next time, I'll be sure to read the reviews here BEFORE I give Patricia Cornwell another dime of my money.

I wholeheartedly agree with the previous posters. In fact, one review sums up my feelings exactly - "When it finally did get going, toward the end, I kept looking at the number of pages left, wondering how it was possible that I was almost finished when there was obviously so much story unresolved." I thought for sure there was a 'To be continued' in my near future. I was shocked when the answers were supposedly crammed into a few short pages. Did Ms. Cornwell run up against a deadline? The book definitely seemed like merely a segue to the next installment, which will hopefully be much more fulfilling.

After the last two Scarpetta disasters, I swore off Cornwell. But got suckered back in by the promise of the "old Kay." Well, I got the "old Kay" but from the last two disasters. Tortured, lugubrious characters; improbable, conspiracy-theory plots; and worst of all - written in present tense! How pretentious and very distracting to read. Like it or not, Ms. Cornwell, the prime consideration for a writer is the audience. I suggest you stick with a diary if you feel so compelled to put forth your own agenda at the expense of the reader.

When I first starting reading the Scarpetta novels I thought it was fairly clear what the attract was to each story: a viscous but unusual murder, or series of murders was committed, and Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner for the state of Virginia, would be called in to use her forensic expertise to discover and unravel the clues. Remember that this all began after "Quincy, M.E." went off into syndication and before "C.S.I." first aired, so detective stories hinging primarily on forensic investigation and detailed medical examinations of corpses was not as prominent as it was today. Plus there was the entire sub-text of Scarpetta as an extreme competent woman who was always the target of professional jealousy and/or political intrigue. For years my main complaint about the Scarpetta novels was that they rarely provided a satisfactory sense of catharsis, especially with regards to the despicable characters who were gunning for her professionally; they never seemed to get their comeuppance.

But then the novels started to link up in strange and bizarre ways, and it became clear that Kay Scarpetta was the target of a complex and intricate conspiracy. No matter what the crime, and no matter how unrelated it seemed to what had happened in the previous novels, it turned out that it was all part of this giant conspiracy. From this perspective it is not surprising that there is no true catharsis at the end of any particular novel, because in terms of the big picture there is always more fun to come. However, this leads to the key question with regards to this concerted effort to destroy Kay Scarpetta: Why is author Patricia Cornwell out to get her own creation?

These novels are becoming more and more like Greek tragedies where the gods look down and laugh, and I entertain the notion of profiling Cornwell to figure out why she is destroying her character and this series. Scarpetta is no longer employed by the state of Virginia, and her character is no more prominent than any other in the novel. More importantly, she has not cooked a nice meal in a long time, which is as telling adetail about her deterioration as anything. "Blow Fly" is a rather ironic title for this novel because, as most of these reviews will attest, Cornwell is blowing it and her readers, who have lost the faith, are flying away in droves. When you get to the BIG SURPRISE REVELATION in this recent novel your honest reaction may well be (a) give me a break and (b) somebody put Scarpetta out of her misery before this insult is added to her accumulation of injuries. Even worse, what limited amount of catharsis there is in "Blow Fly" happens "off stage." For those of us who have literally been waiting years for certainly people to meet their richly deserved ends, being told about it rather than getting to enjoy the moment is yet another slap in the face from the author. My wife literally went back and reread the ending, thinking she had missed something, and, clearly, she is not alone if leaping to that conclusion.

If we were talking a television series the question would be when did the Scarpetta novels "jump the shark" (the reference is to the infamous episode of "Happy Days" when Fonzie jumped the shark and fans of the series consider it all downhill from there). For many it will be the point in "Blow Fly" where the surprise revelation comes or when one of the villains gets out of an impossible situation. However, for me it was before this novel, when Lucy had a shotgun on one of the villains and left them behind in a motel room to go rescue her Aunt Kay. I knew enough to blow the person away, not just because they deserved to die, but because you do not leave a bad person alive behind you when you go off on a rescue mission.

"Blow Fly" has to be the most disappointing Scarpetta novel to date and I shudder to think what is in store for the next installment, which I would say has to be the grand finale except I see from my review of "The Last Precinct" that I thought his novel would have to be the end of the Chandonne plot line. I will continue reading, not so much because I have latent masochistic tendencies, but out of a sense of narrative completeness and a commitment to the idea that you make sure the body is (truly) dead and buried before you walk away. But I take no more pleasure in the experience at this point.

BELIEVE THE REVIEWS!!!! So bad, words can't even begin to describe it. WARNING: IF YOU'RE GOING TO READ THIS, THEN BORROW FROM THE LIBRARY. DON'T WASTE A DIME ON THIS. I was a HUGE Cornwell fan, but this book is, without a doubt, one of the top five WORST books I've read not only this year BUT THE PAST DECADE. PATRICIA, DON'T YOU TAKE ANY PRIDE IN YOUR WORK? The only reason they let you publish this is because of who you are. BAD!!! BAD!!!! BAD!!!

I felt Cornwell fleeced loyal readers who paid full price for 'Isle of Dogs' last year, but decided to give her one more try when she returned to her much-honored Scarpetta series with 'Blow Fly'. Now I'm cured. I'll wait for the remainders pile before I try her next book -- though it seems Cornwell has become so bored with her writing that it wouldn't shock me if she just decides to call it a career (at least with this series). In 'Blow Fly' she gives us 100 good pages. Unfortunately, it's a 400+-page book, and the good ones are near the end. The story finally gets cracking when Scarpetta finally actually goes to work -- but, alas, the crisper storytelling stops just before the book does. The ending seems like little more than a few loose ends left dangling in case Cornwell decides to pick up the case again -- if readers still have any interest. Lucy and Rudy's East European adventure with which the book begins remains little more than a forgotten enigma at book's end. What exactly was that all about? And resurrecting Benton Wesley essentially negates the angst present in the previous two Scarpetta novels, set after his earlier supposed death. (Hope you didn't plan to read those books again. They're now out-of-date and falsified.) I can't believe Patricia Cornwell, who turned out page-turners for more than a decade, doesn't realize this (and her last couple of recent efforts) is a subpar offering. I can no longer afford to subsidize her self-amusement. If she still needs the money, she's got to do better than this.

All the celebrity must have gone to Patricia Cornwell's head. Not much planning went into this disaster. Here is a thought: Kay Scarpetta, get over yourself! Who would even want to be around this morose woman. I didn't care for (or like) any of the characters. What scares me is that the Wolfman is poised for yet another return. YIKES! Badly written, no ending and characters with dead personalities. Amen.

Evidently Patricia Cornwell believes that content doesn't matter anymore and environmentalists everywhere should be up in arms that even one tree was sacrificed to print this book. Ghosts from the past are resurrected so that new characters need not be created, the plot is contrived, bloody and boring, Kay is almost beyond redemption and Lucy should be in prison. I will not read the next book if this plot is continued and I have read them all.
Kay Scarpetta fans everywhere need to send a message that we want the original tough, smart, forensic marvel back.

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.