Customer Reviews

Red Mist (A Scarpetta Novel)

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(85)

 

 

I've read all of the Scarpetta novels and after the last 2, vowed never to read another one as I've watched Kay et al slide inexorably down the slippery slope into tedium, repetition, predictability and implausibility. However, last week Cornwell came to our local bookstore and so off I went in the vain hope that if she was actually putting in an appearance in our humble neck of the woods then she MUST have something worth offering. The event was extremely well attended with much overflow milling about in the aisles and generally raising the blood pressure of her "security" (a young man with a Secret Service-looking curly wire hanging out of his ear) and the event organizer who would have been right at home in the Catholic school of which I have shuddering memories. Suitably chastised into order, the tension mounted as we were promised the imminent arrival of Cornwell ("how excited are you??") for 20 minutes. Which is exactly how long we were given. No reading from Red Mist, 20 minutes of questions and answers, and on to the book signing. No dedications please, no conversation or questions (probably just as well as I don't think that my comment of "I hope this is better than the last one" would have gone down very well) - just an illegible scrawled signature and on to the next in line. Move `em along and rack up the dollars. I spent longer trying to find a parking space than I did in the esteemed author's presence. I left clutching my hardback copy for which I paid $$$ and wondering vaguely what had just happened.

Feeling somewhat disgruntled I settled in at home with a pot of tea and The Book. 120 pages later I felt the panic starting to creep in. 50 pages further on I was tempted to fling myself on the floor kicking and screaming. A couple of days later when I had finished it (not all in one sitting - I can only take so much at once) I was leaning towards returning the book and demanding my money back. I mean, it's not as if you can even read the signature! As many other reviewers have stated, Red Mist is an incredibly disappointing novel. Cornwell seems to have reached the sad but often inevitable place that many authors with an initially much loved character reach - she's quite simply run out of steam. It pains me to admit that I no longer like any of her characters; although I must admit to never having liked Lucy. She becomes ever more sociopathic (a word that Cornwell herself used to describe her at the signing) but not in a Dexter-ish way. Benton quite simply should have remained dead. Marino continues to barge about in his boorish/boring manner. Scarpetta has lost the clever edginess for which she was first famous and has simply become an angry, paranoid shrew. Dialogue is weak, plot lines are unlikely, unnecessary repetition is rampant.

Watching Cornwell at the book signing was actually like watching the demise of the Scarpetta novel. One got flashes of humor, breif connection with her audience and semi-interesting tidbits. Then reality hit and you realize that this is about the business of selling novels and content does not really seem to matter anymore. However for me, the proof of the pudding IS in the reading and this is a particular flavor that I wont be indulging in any more. RIP Kay.

This is the most excruciatingly dull novel I have read in many years, and I read a lot.

I actually am a long time fan of Cornwell and Scarpetta and have read all her books in this series but I could not even finish this one. My rule of thumb is to read at least 100 pages of any book once I start reading it but this was one of a handful of times when I simply could not see wasting any more time after that on a story with such achingly dull characters and a nearly unfathomable plot line when there are plenty of other good books out there waiting to be read. As much as I hate to say it, in my opinion this book is not worth your money or your time. Case closed.

I always try the new Scarpetta books because I so loved Patricia Cornwell's earlier writings. But, it is torture to finish them and half the time I cannot finish them. They make ME angry and hostile! With each new book, I hope she has taken her negative reviews to heart about all the negativity, anger and hostility her books are fraught with. However, for so many of her last several books, I just hate the tone of her characters....Scarpetta's always so self-righteous and angry, analytical, ad nauseum, about everybody's ulterior motives, personal failings, personal afronts; Morino's pig-like behavior; Benton's distance, coldness and her relationship with him that is so conflicting that I'm not sure what Cornwell wants the relationship to be; etc., etc., etc., same old boring stuff; I could almost lip sync it. Patricia Cornwell needs to seek some serious psychiatric care. Sigh..... What a waste of what used to be such a fabulously interesting writer.

I am a fan of Cornwell but this book was a disappoinment. Way too much rambling and not enough action. The plot was interesting but I found my self skipping over the story just get to the end. This is not a page turner by any stretch. The way her husband and neice are treated - like strangers that were in the way - did not sit well. Something was missing in this book.

Please save me from these depressing characters! I think I am pretty much done with Scarpetta unless Ms. Cornwell can spice up the next one. I could not even finish this one. Like a previous reviewer said, there are too many good books out there to waste my time being bored!

Unlike other readers, I did not find the book boring at all. I guess TV programs like CSI here, there, & everywhere have made this type of mystery too slow for some folks. What I did like about the book is a return to somewhat normal relationships & personalities for the regular cast. Kay's insecurities & the food are back, but Kay is not overly neurotic as in the last several books. Benton is a little flat, but is coming back as husband/FBI profiler. Marino is back to being a friend, rough & grouchy, but protective & part of the family. Lucy is way less psycho & seems to have regressed to the little girl computer whiz of the earlier books (which is actually refreshing considering what a far out nut she had become). OK, not the best book but it gives me hope that Cornwell is moving in the right direction & future books will be more like the earlier ones where the plots were believable, the main characters were sympathetic, & there were no soap opera antics like Benton's return from the dead to slay a vampire-like character a few books ago. This book gives me hope that Cornwell will do better & keep us supplied with some more good Scarpetta novels in the future.

Patricia Cornwell novels have become a joke. As a fan who loved her first several books, it is difficult to comprehend what happened. The novels are boring, self-indulgent, with unbelievable conspiracy plots at every turn, and no matter how hard the author attempts to shock, I barely care about what happens to any of the characters anymore. Any interesting original plot lines are long gone, and the books could be reduced to quarter of their size and you would not miss a thing. Same old, same old. Not even sure why I continue to slog through these, but I suppose hope dies hard. Sad and definitely not worthy a space on my bookshelf.

This book was so boring! There wasn't any suspense at all. Benton, Lucy and Marino were just after thoughts. I finished the book but it was a struggle. This is a truely dispointing book from Patricai Cornwell. Hope her next book will get back to the basics of solving diffcult murders with all kinds of twist and turns. If you are a die hard fan you will probably read this just because but don't expect much intrigue.

If you can stand to read 160+ pages of dialog before getting to the story, you may mildly enjoy this book. First Scarpetta talks to the warden, then Kathleen, then Marino, then Jaime, then Marino, etc. FOR 160 PAGES--ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS!

I found the ending extremely rushed and anticlimactic. Cornwell could have cut out a large chunk at the beginning and dragged out the end. It was definitely lopsided writing, like she had to keep the book under 500 pages, but after investing in the long, drawn out, beginning, she had to cut short the end. I think a better ending (one that was more believable, too) would have taken about an extra 10-20 pages.

Spoiler alert!

IMHO, the hackneyed use of identical twins detracted from the book. Puh-leez. And then she didn't use it to its full potential. Not cool.

P.E.D.E.S.T.R.I.A.N. It's Christmas, so I'm feeling charitable, but being as kind, gentle, and tactful as I can possibly be, that's the nicest word I can come up with to describe this latest Scarpetta "thriller". Let's just say that if this book had been the first Dr. Kay book, there would have been no series, due to lack of popular demand.