Customer Reviews

Post Mortem (Narrativa (Punto de Lectura)) (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Body of Evidence is the first of many Scarpetta tales of gruesome crime, murder and investigation.

If you like a book that can make the hair stand on the back of your neck, give you goose-bumps, make you cringe and totally put you off that cup of coffee, read this! Absolutely compulsive reading. The best book I have read in a long time. And it just gets better with each consecutive novel!

While I admit this was a good book and an interesting start for a series, the story was weighed down by unneccessary details. I also would have liked some of the characters to play a bigger role in the story. Like what was the point, rather, of involving Wingo in scenes which did nothing for the story? They were nothing interesting, rather mundane; they should have been edited out.

Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell

This won an award from the Mystery Writers of America for the best first novel. It was based on a true crime in the Richmond Virginia area. A psychopath kills young women who live alone, striking in the early hours of Saturday. There seems to be no other pattern to the murders. The victims are tortured before they are strangled. There are few clues and no fingerprints. One victim is married, but lived alone as her husband lived away Monday to Friday; the husband becomes the chief suspect, as usual.

This story is told from the viewpoint of Kay Scarpetta ME, a single woman who has a high position in a man's world. Kay is resented by some. There is a sub-plot about a state Attorney-General who is a secret rapist. [What did she know and when did she know it?] There are many pages of details about the Medical Examiner's office. The author previously worked for that office, and as a police reporter. [My opinion is that the many details and characterizations slow the pace of action.] Kay's niece Lucy is shown as being a neglected and emotionally abused child; how will she turn out? Cornwell shows her knowledge of personal computers and software.

Agatha Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was a best seller, although it violated the conventions of mystery fiction. This book also does that, but it seems more based on reality that way. Will Cornwell's future novels do as well? Does her political outlook find favor with her audience?

Reading "post Mortem" is like getting to know the Chief ME of the Commonwealth of Va., up close and personal. To know what ticks her off, what are her strengths, and her weaknesses, how she is at a glass ceiling where she must fight with male colleagues, out to prove her inadequate in more than one ways - all of that and much more.

This being the first in the Scarpetta series, the book shows a lot of promise, by showing a gritty ME, who will not buckle under any pressure, may it be from the unidentifiable serial-killer lurking in the dark streets of Richmond, or the Police Squad officers, and more importantly, the bureaucracy that is out to prove her incapable of her job. Kay shows she's made of steel, and so is her determination to nab this killer, who proves as elusive as the proverbial needle-in-the-haystack.

Pete Marino, the Police Office who later goes on to become a regular feature in her investigations as a partner, makes a good appearance (if slightly cliched, at times!). A lot of the characters are introduced, including FBI profiler Benton Wesley, Scarpetta's sister Dorothy, her niece Lucy, and the headstrong Abby Turnbull. The introductions are enough for you to want to watch out for them in subsequent books in the series.

This being a story written many years ago, one has to give a wide margin for technology and CSI techniques that have over years become matured and some have even become outdated. But once you give that latitude, the story is in fact, written convincingly, and must've been a clincher of its times.

The only drawback I found in the book was that Cornwell's writing style was not yet perhaps mature enough to write less dramatic content. At times, the drama gets to you, but the suspense is retained well, and the mystery is revealed in an entirely convincing series of steps.

A good read for all Cornwell / Scarpetta fans.

This is an amazing book. Mystery and action culminating in heart thumping terror. I couldn't put it down.

the books i purchased a few weeks ago did not yet arrive at their destination in san jose, costa rica. what takes so very long????????? i didn't mind paying the shipping price but i am wondering when the books will get there.

An OK book, but not as good as "All that Remains". I really like this kind of plot, but it could be better.