Customer Reviews

Cause of Death (Windsor Selections S)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(43)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

While I'm not the type who notes inaccuracies very well, it was the story that bothered me most. Nevermind that many writers these days have serious problems with prose.

I had a very hard time trying to convince myself that a forensic pathologist could be rambling endlessly about "evil". All this with hardly any conscience over having an affair with Benton and sullying his marriage.

Furthermore, Patricia Cornwell pulls out the old trick of "men versus Scarpetta" again. While it was vaguely interesting in the first book or so, this constant reminder is tiring.

Finally, the "conspiracy" part has been beaten to death. It doesn't mean you can't use it though but Patricia employs it to poor effect.

I felt that Cruel and Unusual and The Body Farm were the better books out of this series. I think she has finally worn out her characters and they would've been better laid to rest.

I have read all of Cornwell's books and can now honestly say I am deeply depressed by the author's galloping ego. Lucy irritates me endlessly. Her relationship with Kay bounces back and forth with remarkable clarity however. It's perhaps the most convincing relationship in the series. I hate Kay's affair with Benton Wesley with a passion. Not only is it contrived and embarrassing - how can he be so ethical and yet so base? It would have been far more interesting to team up Scarpetta and Marino. I love Marino. He's so real, I can practically see the egg stains on his tie. Benton, clearly modelled on John Douglas, the former charismatic head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, has lost something in the translation. He has become quite improbable since he took up with Kay. Why oh why did Cornwell bump off the boyfriend Mark? And this I think is the crux of the problem. Firstly, we are told of Mark's death in an earlier book - in the past tense! We are not allowed to really share her agony, even though we by now, care deeply about Kay Scarpetta. In Cause Of Death, Cornwell pulls the same stunt. We have to wait for nearly 100 pages to see Benton and Kay together - and we learn, they've been split up for months! Quite conveniently, Benton is getting a divorce - at his long suffering wife's request. I guess Cornwell got stung by so much criticism of the extra-marital affair. In the context of the books, it seems highly unlikely Connie Wesley would really run off with another man, but okay, I'll rent the idea for now. Still, the medical aspects of the books continue to inspire, in spite of the laughable, clunky final set pieces.. A nuclear power plant? Please! I miss the earlier Kay back in Richmond with her squirrel and no-life. This one is too Cosmo, too Rambo-lina. However, the earlier diving sequences are fun and the locations as usual, make me jealous as a writer. Cornwell has been there, done that. I can't wait for the next book

I'm reading all the books (in order) and can hardly believe this is written by the same author. The characters are familiar; Lucy is still annoying, Marino is still the only "real" person, and Benton is as stiff as ever (what is the attraction?)

This is a book I'm reading just to "get to the end of it." The story line is week, the plot is silly, and Dr. Scarpetta's involvement is just plain implausible. I mean, really? The FBI and international intelligence community is sharing information with the Chief Medical Examiner from Virginia when there is a nuclear crisis looming? Don't other CME's get jealous? What was Ms. Cornwell thinking?

I miss the forensic detective work and the writing of her previous novels that kept me on the edge. Resurrect Temple Gault for goodness sake! That would be a story.

The book started off well with attention-grabbing events related to the death of a reporter. In no time, it bogged down into neurotic reflections on relationships of all sorts. This is billed as a suspenseful crime novel, but it has more romance, both hetero and homo, than crime and suspense. By page 140 I was so bored, I did not think I could continue, but I hate to start a book and not finish it.
Then another murder occurred about half-way through, and the pace picked up a little then but quickly slacked off again. The descriptions are voluminous, peripherally related to the plot, and almost as interesting as a textbook.
Admittedly this is not the type of book I enjoy but I wanted to try a Cornwell book because she is a very successful author. (A $750k advertising budget helps, I'm sure.) It was tough for me to plow through.
It violates the Third Commandment repeatedly, which I find offensive and unnecessary.
On page 287, there are daffodils, crocus, and ivy growing in window boxes in London in early January; one would think it too cold! Does the Putman group not have editors any more? Where are the good books?

In Cause of Death the mysterious death of a journalist scuba diving around obsolete US warships leads to an investigation that takes several twists and turns. The result is a taught thriller that is marred by flawed research. The investigation is workmanlike but the trail is unpredictable. Cornwell does a good job of leading the reader on. Along the way Cornwell manages to push a couple of politically correct buttons but not enough to stand in the way of the story. There were two serious problems that I did note. First, the element uranium U-238 plays a pivotal role in the story. Cornwell states that the only place that U-238 could be found would be in a research reactor. U-238 is the fuel used in Canadian nuclear reactors that are used in several countries throughout the world. Without spoiling the plot this lack of proper research undermines the whole story which was pretty farfetched to begin with. Second, the story requires the handiwork of a graduate student computer hacker. I had trouble rationalizing that a computer hacker with the skill demonstrated couldn't ensure that a PC disk drive was permanently erased so that no crucial data would be recovered. So, Cornwell has provided the reader with a plot that has too many holes. It's too much of a stretch for the willing suspension of disbelief.

Spoilers towards the end of review. I finished this book...barely. I began reading the Scarpetta series because I wanted some light summer reading, and Cornwell fits the bill: her writing is nowhere near sophisticated (try Scott Turrow or Caleb Carr for crime/mystery writing that assumes that you're an intelligent reader), but entertaining? Yes, most definitely. Her first half dozen books were great, and Temple Gault in particular was a fabulously evil villain. This book, however, takes a total and almost laughable nosedive right from the beginning. My paperback edition...which I fortunately paid only 50-cents for at a yard sale...starts with an intro by Cornwell, who proudly boasts about how she learned to scuba dive in order to convincingly write this book. So why does she then go on to write a lame story that reads like a long, constipated crap? Maybe her money and time would've been better spent re-whetting her writing skills? Her first books were fantastic...what the heck happened here?!

Now 7 books into the series, I can definitely say that somewhere along the way, Cornwell decided that her audience will love whatever she writes because hey, it's Scarpetta. Wrong. Every book is the same, with everyone conspiring to make Scarpetta look bad and cause her as much bodily harm as possible. *yawn* Lucy's total lack of human quality has been way over-played and is already bone-tired *yawn*. Scarpetta's continued wimpy relationship with Wesley *double yawn* seems totally incongruent with the toughness, ethics, and self-possession her character supposedly possesses, not to mention the stiffness and dullness with which Cornwell always writes of their amorous interactions. Only Marino remains fresh as a character, his peppery and persnickety moods the only wake-up calls the reader can periodically look forward to in an otherwise tortuous replay of Cornwell's increasingly formulaic writing.

The plot line...complete with religious fanatics and scuba diving and nuclear threats and Middle Eastern terrorists and ROBOTS, doncha know, and a convenient trip to London for two during which Scarpetta and Wesley get a shag on...is ridiculously out of hand. What ever happened to the great murder cases Scarpetta started out with? Now she's single-handedly clearing the way for the FBI to disarm nuclear terrorists in a radioactive plant with a virtual-reality robot housing a secret bomb in its head?! LOL!!! Come ON! Good god, Patricia Cornwell, where were you when this was written?! The ending stinks, another trend I'm noticing in the books: the endings have grown progressively weaker and rushed. All of a sudden, the day wll be suddenly saved by Scarpetta, just like that, and everyone is on their way home, safe and sound. *yawn*

Cornwell got tired here...it's obvious...and judging from reviews of future installments in the series, I have a feeling she stays tired. Too bad...the series started out so promising. I'm willing to read one more...what the heck, it cost only 50-cents from the same yard sale.

Well, I love listening to books on CD during my commute. Frankly, I can't decide after 4 of the 10 CDs included in this package whether I should continue to listen or not. The reader's voice -- C.J. Critt -- is really irritating. Her inflection on certain words doesn't work and the voices she uses for some of the characters are so off-putting. After being almost halfway through, I really would like to know what happened to this AP reporter/scuba diver, but I'm not sure I can handle sitting through 6 more CDs. The whole story seems amateurish, and I agree with another reviewer who said that the know-it-all aspect of the protagonist is tedious. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend it. This is the first book I've picked up from Cornwell, and I probably won't pick up any others.

I haven't read ALL of the books in the "Scarpetta" series, but I've gone through my fair share. This one ranks last in that list.

The "book" is used more as a vehicle to develop the characters in the series, than as a story that can stand on its own. There seems to be no true plot, and it is almost predictable... a "typical" ending except in this case the "bad" guy is nowhere to be found throughout the whole book, so you end up with this totally off feeling that you've just wasted your time in trying to put some thought into figuring the "mystery" out. Aside from all of this, in this particular story Scarpetta is closer to the female version of James Bond than in any of her other stories... man this girl can do it all, knows it all and can take on a heard of rhinos all by her self.... too much.

I like to be challenged by a story, not to be fed a pointless story because she had to write 'x' many books to fulfill a publisher's contract. This is what this book is, no less, no more.

Dear Dr. Scarpetta,
I have been following your adventures for nigh on ten years, and wish to bid you farewell. I doubt we shall ever meet again in a reader-main character relationship. Yes, I am sorry but you have become a pain and a bother to me, and I can no longer summon up the sympathy necessary for you, nor the patience and interest necessary to turn the pages of your story. My spare moments shall have other characters peopling them.

"Cause of Death" has done me in. I was able to read only a few dozen pages this time, although up until now I have succeeded in finishing your increasingly irritatingly surrealistic adventures.

How did this happen? Did I love you too much at the beginning? Do I expect too much from the main character in a hastily-edited serial novel?

My dear, over the years you have become more and more haughty, negative, paranoid, self-absorbed, self-centered and self-satisfied. You relate less and less well to others, to whom you show evermore coldness, anger, disdain and general ill-feeling. You are in a constantly bad mood, constantly vying for power, constantly feeling miffed and disrespected, constantly showing that you are the best at everything including scuba diving on New Year's Eve without your license, so that you are unable to enjoy even the cottage your colleague Dr. Mant lent you. There is never enough hot water for you, not even in the women's washroom of a dock/naval/abandoned ship facility.

Your author obviously cares little about the image you project anymore. You need a sense of humor. You need to lighten up. You need to become attractive to readers again. You need to ask your author to set your adventures in the summertime rather than the dreary days before Christmas or New Year's. You need a bit of humility, modesty, humanity, good sense and...some sort of authentic, altruistic caring. In short, you need a new character-life.

I know what will happen to you over the next few books, through the magic of reading reviews and have decided that I do not want to follow you to New York, or anywhere, with your miraculously resurrected True Love or your nemesis the Werewolf. Seeing how you behaved in France in another book was enough for me.

I am no longer going to be the witness to your author's acting out, either.

So this is good-bye, dear Kay. Goodbye.

A general in the Navy? Almost as believable as a 23-yr. old genius with an attitude who is the FBI's secret weapon. This book read as though Ms. Cornwall phoned it in.