Customer Reviews

Cruel and Unusual

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book opens with the execution of rapist/murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell and the following autopsy. Not long after murder victims start showing up around Richmond that look like they were committed by Waddell. How can that be? He's dead. Then his prints show up at a crime scene and to top it off, Kay's assistant in murdered and the press blames Kay.

As usual PC carries over characters from her previous novels that we've come to know. Any second we expect cop buddy Pete Marino to drop dead from his excesses and niece Lucy is still annoying (to me anyway). Thankfully, the descriptions of the murders and the autopsies don't seem as gruesome as the last one ("All that Remains) and like the last one, this thriller gets five stars, because I just couldn't put it down.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

In this fourth installment of the Kay Scarpetta series, we find the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia chasing a most challenging miscreant - a murderer with no pattern to his destruction except the intent to play games with the authorities hunting him. The book is a must-read for those addicted to Cornwell's well-researched suspense novels, since it sets the stage for a showdown in From Potter's Field. But a major plot hole revealed in the first few pages leaves the reader feeling cheated for the remainder of the novel.

We enter the story with Scarpetta recovering from the death of a close friend. While this development certainly bodes well for future plot twists, it leaves the reader frustrated with the current one. The few details of the death surface mostly at the end of the story and while we're told of Scarpetta's devastation, we really don't witness it. Seasoned Cornwell fans are accustomed to these shallow depths in characterization but it nonetheless puts a damper on an otherwise entertaining mystery.

This is the worst of the Scarpetta series. which is quite an achievement seeing as all the others are brilliant. My favourites being the claustrophobic "The Body Farm", and the superbly dark "Point of Origin". I have loved all the Scarpetta's, and read them at least twice over, and i still think this is the worst.

The plot was very complicated, and it all seemed a bit of a mess. The characters were nothing special, and i this is the only book in which Cornwell manage to bore me with her normally insightful computer terminology. It's too long, and basically i dont think it has any substance. There is a great potential. The idea for the plot is superb, and could well have been one of the best, but somewhere along the line it all slips. I cant put my finger on it, but i just didnt come away from this with the satisfaction i normally get out of a Kay Scarpetta book.

Nevertheless this is still a necessary book to read if you intend to read the entire series. It is one of the major turning points. The first book to feature Temple Gault, who would later lead to Carrie Grethen, Newton Joyce, and all the other catastrophic events which culminate in the next turning point of "The Last Precint". each one has signalled a new era for Patricia Cornwell, and each one has not been quite as good as the others. But The Last Precint was still much better than this. It is, admittedly, very clever, but far too complicated, and im surprised it got the CWA's gold dagger.

nevertheless, i have given it two stars purely because it is such a major point in Scarpetta's life. You must read it if you intend to read the entire series, but dont expect to enjoy it as much as you do the others.

I stumbled upon this book quite by accident and thought I'd give it a whirl. I never expected to fall in love with a character and an author quite so quickly! From the first page to the last, it's a can't-put-down book. I love the idea of having a fingerprint from a recently-executed criminal show up at a new crime scene. And I love how they determine throughout the whirling pace of the book how this could be possible and who the real killer is. Great ending, superb characters and dialogue. Cornwell is a mistress of her field and has great credentials -- having worked for a medical investigator -- to boot! Anyone who hasn't read this book should drop everything they're doing and read it.

This was my first Patricia Cornwell novel and I must say I was blown away. I never thought I'd warm up to a modern mystery writer the way I did with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, but Ms. Cornwell has displaced them both in my heart.

C & E was by far the most fascinating book I've ever read. I sat up until the wee hours of the morning reading this wonderful novel, devouring every word, as I couldn't go to bed until I had finished it. The only disappointment was the ending. The killer came out of the blue, and there were too many loose ends.

The story and characters were first rate and I intend to read all her other books. It's been a long time since I found an author I would be willing to pay hardcover prices to read.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is in it up to her neck this time. A death row inmate, Waddle, is executed, but before his body is even cool, murdered corpses start piling up with Waddle's fingerprints found at the scene of the crime. Next thing you know, people are dropping like flies, some of them close to Dr. Kay, and she is publicly implicated in the deaths.

Cornwell has written a workably entertaining mystery here. The plot is engaging and bubbling with intrigue, and the writing isn't hampered by too much extraneous detail or incidental goings-ons. There is a subplot with Kay's niece, Lucy, that I found a tad ingratiating and annoying, but for anyone reading the Scarpetta mysteries in order, it is an understandable and rather necessary bit of character development.

I do, however, object to Cornwell relegating some of the more serious character development to the back story. I'm talking about the sudden death of Kay's long-time love interest, Mark, (and, to a lesser extent, her decision to quit smoking). These are pretty significant events in Kay's life, and to leave them in the background as part of the story dressing seems at odds with an author who wants us to sympathize with her character.

To that end, some of the story ended up either ringing false to me, or just falling flat. For example, there is much made of Kay's financial secrets, which she refers to in connection with embarassment and rage. When the secrets are finally revealed, I found them to be maudlin and a little silly. It baffled me why Kay would take such pains to keep them hidden.

Furthermore, I respect Cornwell's decision to keep her novels secured solely in the Holmesian realm of mystery solving, but this means that there is very little action in the book, and a lot of key details are discussed and reviewed over and over again by the characters. It makes for repetitive reading. It also means that the actual discovery of the culprit's identity is never as important as the sleuthing that went into discovering that identity.

In other words, if you're looking for closure with this story, you won't get much. Cornwell does a great job of setting up quite a puzzler, and it will keep you guessing. But, much like a magician with an amazing magic trick, once you learn the secret, you're bound to be a little disappointed.

First of all, this book really should receive 3.5 stars, but due to the lack of "half-stars" in Amazon.com's rating system, a mere three will have to do. This is my fifth Patricia Cornwell book, but definitely is not my favorite. The plot was terrific--the idea of a death row inmate possibly escaping from prison is a frightening concept, especially since Cornwell is always right on the ball when it comes to accuracy of details. As always, the characters are so realistic that the reader often must test himself to remember that they are indeed fictional. This book got a five star rating from me until about halfway when political injustices against the main character intervened. Although this was a good idea for a plot twist, it seemed that Cornwell was digressing from the main idea of the story, taking the reader into another story completely separate from what we read in the beginning. The ending was a disappointment--throughout the story, Cornwell is setting the reader up for the usual great climax where the perpetrator is discovered and captured and all is well--and then, it doesn't happen. In my opinion, it seemed like the ending was written by not Cornwell, but another author who rushed to complete this chapter of Kay Scarpetta's adventures as soon as possible. Overall, Cruel and Unusual was a good book that unfortunately could have been a great book if the right elements had been present.

The good: The basic plot line is interesting- a man who has just been killed by the electric chair has his finger print turn up at a murder scene. The writing itself is good. The main character Kay Scarpetta and an old professor of hers are well `fleshed out'.

The bad: Other characters are not well `fleshed out'. The plot never fully explains itself. Is the book about figuring out how a dead criminal could commit crimes - or is it about Scarpetta - redeeming herself in the eyes of everyone around her - after developing an anti-social workaholic tendency after the death of a loved one? The latter seems to be the path the author choose - leaving some of the twist in the plot unresolved. Though others in the story have made Scarpetta out to be the villain (on many different levels - as a family member, as a friend and as a professional) in the end her `goodness' is redeemed. How the bad guys in the story turn out seems to be unimportant - which I found to be a major flaw.

Ah, the good old days of Dr. Scarpetta and her gang of crime solvers. This book represents one of the glory days of Cornwell's writing. I reread CRUEL AND UNUSUAL whenever I wish to return to a time when I actually liked Scarpetta.

The plot is ingenious. An executed inmate's fingerprints turn up at another crime scene. How could this possibly happen? Perhaps he's still alive, having been switched with another inmate instead of dying himself. Perhaps the truth is more twisted and harrowing than even Dr. Scarpetta can imagine. When Kay's implicated in the murder of one of her workers she has to find the reason behind the fingerprints to save herself and those close to her.

If you're a mystery lover, you will thoroughly enjoy the first 90% of this book. Ms. Cornwell does a masterful job of weaving the story, adding twists, and providing enough technical detail to make it all believable. And then, just when she has you all set up for a masterful finish..it doesn't happen. It almost seems that this rushed ending was written by another person. It is a good read...that could have been a great read.