Customer Reviews

Scarpetta

5 star:		(146)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(53)
1 star:		(112)

 

 

I have always been a big fan of Patricia Cornwell, and have read all of her books. I was so excited when Scarpetta came out--I ordered it immediately. What a disappointment!!! I'm sure she is laughing all the way to the bank, but I have to say--if this was the first novel I'd ever picked up by Cornwell, it would be the last. It was initially boring, but I kept figuring it would get better. I managed to actually finish it after putting it down several times. Boring, boring, boring. What happened to the old Patricia?? Her first books were her best books. Now it's just blah blah blah, and very pretentious. The best character is Marino. Scarpetta has always been a snob, and frankly, I'm tired of her.

I just could not get into this book. As many of you have said, I used to be a big Kay Scarpetta fan, but this one might have been the last straw. Way too much personal stuff clogged up the plot line. I really felt as if I had missed one or more previous books because I couldn't follow things. I dredged through this book. It might have ruined me for future Scarpetta books forever.

All of a sudden, Scarpetta has gone from what seems to be a struggling, independent pathology "consultant" in South Carolina, bereft of an official position and attacked by Gorilla Marino, to a highly successful, MARRIED, Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner, CNN reporter, and - oh, yes - professor at CUNY (yes, there is such a place as John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in case anyone cares). All in the course of less than a year! Is there an installment I missed?

Frankly, I found this book deadly dull. After 135 pages (out of almost 600!), I still didn't know what was going on. I knew who the serial killer was from the moment he walked onto the page, and I have frankly grown extremely tired of Cornwell's dropping every acronym out there (and, of course, explaining what it means to all and sundry - who in heaven's name doesn't know what an ISP is at this point?), even though it breaks up the flow of her writing and has nothing to do with the plot line or story.

Scarpetta's (and Cornwell's) moral rectitude verges on the santimonious, Lucy is as unsympathetic a character as ever, Benton remains a self-conscious jerk, the novel's other chracters are not well fleshed-out as unique individuals. Only Marino is once again quasi-interesting.

Why did I finish this book? Well, the library lends books for three weeks! And it took me nearly that long to finally slam it shut. I guess I keep hoping that her novels will rise to her early writing again (I don't agree with some other reviewers that she's anywhere near her early best). But at some point, disappointment will trump curiosity.

The name of the latest Patricia Cornwell crime thriller is well-chosen -- "Scarpetta" revolves solely around Scarpetta.

Fortunately Cornwell seems to be attempting to get back to the roots of what made her series a string of uber-bestsellers, with a greater emphasis on the gruesome crimes. Unfortunately the first two-thirds of the book drag like a deflated balloon, and too often the book feels like an ode to psychobabble and Scarpetta's awesomeness.

Scarpetta is called back to New York when Oscar Bane, a man with achondroplasia (dwarfism), turns himself into the police. He's the only suspect in his girlfriend's murder, but he swears he didn't do it. So Scarpetta is forced to sift through the lies that Oscar tells her, as well as some truly bizarre evidence (a random assortment of DNA in the victim's vagina). Despite Oscar's obvious paranoia, she believes that he really didn't kill his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Benton is attempting to come to terms with Scarpetta's near-rape, especially since Marino has been assigned to the NYPD and an online muckraker has published a column about the event. As Scarpetta sifts through the evidence, Lucy's computer wizardry unearths some disturbing new information about the victim -- and the online Scarpetta impersonator that may also be a vicious sadistic killer...

In many ways, "Scarpetta" is a big sprawling step back in the right direction for Patricia Cornwell. Cutting edge technology, gruesome crimes and lots of sifting for clues are all included, and Cornwell successfully integrates some seemingly irrelevant plot points -- such as the victim and suspect's achondroplasia -- so that they become important parts of the solution.

Unfortunately, "Scarpetta" is slow. Very slow. The first two-thirds of the book just ooze along with virtually no revelations, except that Scarpetta is sorta-kinda-maybe sure that Oscar didn't do it. Instead, we're treated to a slow grind of speculation, psychobabble and therapy sessions for Benton and Marino. I do not read crime thrillers to hear about the inner angst of the heroine's husband.

As for the seemingly endless whining about tabloid stories about Scarpetta? Hard to care. It has only the most tenuous of connections to the main storyline.

Fortunately things speed up about two-thirds of the way in, when Scarpetta actually gets around to looking at the victim's body and apartment. And Cornwell inserts the creepy idea of being impersonated online, which is taken to eerie lengths that may involve murder. Unfortunately it's still punctuated by the perpetually obnoxious wunderkind Lucy's flirtations with the DA.

The biggest problem is, simply put, Scarpetta. Everyone raves about how beautiful/smart/awesome/brave/famous/kind she is, but here she seems robotic. Despite being newly married and coming face-to-face with her friend-turned-almost-rapist, she registers almost no emotions except a few token flickers. She just drifts through in a cloud of untouchable awesomeness, while everyone marvels at her. It feels like the author is bored with her self-insert.

In fact, Benton and Lucy don't really react at all to Marino's reappearance, except a bit of stiffness -- hardly the homicidal reactions Benton predicts earlier. Marino is the one who really comes alive -- despite Cornwell's contempt for his "blue-collarness", his wrenching journey of repentance and shame is genuinely touching. He's done something terrible, and is trying hard to put his life back together.

"Scarpetta" is a step in the right direction, but Patricia Cornwell's sixteenth Scarpetta book is hampered by a slow plot and increasingly unemotional heroine.

I rarely write reviews, but am moved to post one about this book as a warning to fellow Cornwell fans: save your money and your time and avoid this book. What makes Cornwell's earlier books so compelling is that they seem real. This story, however, is completely unbelievable. The crime that sucks everybody in seems so run-of-the-mill it's impossible to believe it would consume the attention of so many high profile figures. The new characters are not sufficiently fleshed-out to make you care about them or what happens to them. As for the usual characters, Scarpetta, Lucy, Marino, etc., they are so incredibly one-dimensional it's difficult to care about them either. It's been a long time since Cornwell has met the high standards set by her early works, but never before has she so thoroughly failed to deliver as she does with this book. A deep disappointment, akin to watching a once-great ballplayer come to the plate barely able to swing the bat. it's time for Cornwell to hang up the spikes.

Sorry there isn't a rating lower than one star.

I loved Cornwell's earlier books, and keep trying to give her another chance. I'm sorry, though, they just keep getting worse.

I've been slugging through this one for a while, and the only reason I keep at it is because it puts me to sleep every night.

I really hate to write negative reviews, but Cornwell fans need to know this.

I keep reading five star reviews of this book and have to wonder if these people read the same book I did. It was slow, boring and way too long. It might have made a passable short story. After the interviews I've seen with the author I have to believe she thinks way too much of herself these days. Stick to her earlier books.

Cornwell,(after having the first series of very good forensic Scarpetta thrillers,) latest ones are unreadable in my opinion. All of her characters (good and bad) are seriously flawed with either narcississtic neuroses or deviant antisocial personality disorders. Not all people especially male characters need to be so flawed. Her central theme of forensics is lost in the various oddities of all of her characters. Maybe she views these as normal?? Is everyone in the author's world so flawed or is it an abnormal perspective in her. It is too bad because she used to be a pretty good writer. She needs to keep her private psychosocial perspectives to herself and stick to her expertise in writing - forensics.

Characters that have become caricatures of themselves, written in the third person, everyone worshiping at the great altar of Scarpetta - I cannot believe how different Patricia Cornwell's earlier books were. I used to love this author, and look forward to every new book she released. I'm only sorry that I got suckered into purchasing this book, quite embarrassed about that.

A friend of mine loaned me this book after telling me there was no way she could finish it. I had pretty much given up on Cornwell's books a few years ago, but I decided to give it a try. Well, I plodded through this slow, dull, boring, convoluted mess and actually did finish it. All the time, I was wondering why the heck I stayed with it. I guess I kept thinking that soon something exciting or twisted or fascinating was going to happen....it didn't! It will be the last Cornwell book I'll ever read. I'm so sick of that snotty brat Lucy: Scarpetta is painted as a virtual saint (hardly); and the only interesting and sympathetic character is Marino, who played a very small role.