Customer Reviews

Southern Cross

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(36)
2 star:		(64)
1 star:		(345)

 

 

I can't understand all the horrible reviews this book got. I almost didn't read it because of them, but I loved Hornets Nest so figured I'd give it a shot and I'm really glad I did. I went into this book not expecting a whole lot due to the negative reviews, and I was pleasently surprised. I really enjoyed this book and the characters, I found it a very funny, entertaining and light story. I'm glad I didn't listen to the majority of bad reviews and hope that Ms. Cornwell will continue the series with another story involving Hammer, West and Brazil (as well as many more Scarpetta novels!).

I could not believe this was the same author who wrote all those wonderful Kay Scarpetta books. This book is terrible. Let me backtrack: In the very beginning, we are introduced to several characters such as Popeye, our main character's dog, who is presented as though she can think like a human. Some of the story lines come from the dog's mouth; " Popeye licked her owner's face and felt pity. Popeye knew her owner was denying the grief and the guilt she felt about her late husband's death." (How in the world could a dog, even stretching your imagination, know THAT?) Later, we meet Niles the cat, who has the same uncanny ability as Popeye the dog. There are other characters: Bubba (real name: But Fluck, wife's name is Honey), Smudge, Gig Dan, Smoke, Weed Gardener, Divinity, Wally Fling, Captain Cloud, Mr. Curry, Mr. Pretty, Mrs. Fan, ad nauseum. We are expected to accept these characters as real people. Each time I came across a new name, I took the book less and less seriously. We then meet the chairman of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Crime Commission (whose name is okay but suspiciously similar to Amelia Earhart), Lelia Ehrhart, who talks like this: " You're hanging out by a thread on a limb all alone on this one!". The only explanation we get is that Ms. Ehrhart was raised in Vienna and Yugoslavia and does not speak English well. I re-read several paragraphs, thinking my eyes had finally bought the farm, when I realized this was intentional. The plot? You won't be sure what it is until well past half of the book, but it goes something like this: Police chief Judy Hammer (groan) is tasked to clean up the city of Richmond, Virginia in the span of a one year term. She is assisted by Officer Andy Brazil and Deputy Chief Virginia West. As a team, they will clean up Richmond and fix all of the police department's problems, with an ultimate goal of uniting all the police departments in the South, an okay (but just okay) beginning plot until you find they have one year to do this. Then you find that they intend to do it with a computer system, (ho hum). There is, in all this, a murder, and it is told with the usual Patricia Cornwell aplomb, but there is never any mystery and this is not a whodunit. I gave it two stars because despite the distracting names and animal characterization, there WAS a story, albeit a small one. I ended up really liking the character "Weed", but found the villain too villainous to be believable. I think Patricia Cornwell should stick to Kay Scarpetta.

...not by a long shot. When Joe Wambaugh started playing it for laughs, he lost me as a reader. There's a section where our hero is on her cell phone and a garbled crossover from someone else's call makes her think a hate crime is being planned, when actually it's just a couple of hunters making plans. Not only that, one of these guys has an embarrassing name that's been passed down through several generations (you'd think one of his ancestors would have gotten the point a long time ago). All the bad jokes make the story line disjointed and muddled. The only redeeming factor here is that the main character is pure Cornwell--a strong female character who concentrates on her profession rather than gender politics. Chief Judy Hammer is a brass level cop who's so competent that she was brought in from the outside to straighten out a dysfunctional police force. Kind of like Cornwell's main hero Kay Scarpetta from most of her other books, an M.E. who's good enough to run a whole state's forensic pathology unit. I only hope this book isn't "The New Cornwell", where she ends up casting Scarpetta in stories that are a mix of "Diagnosis: Murder" and "Police Academy". I enjoy non sequitur humor as much as anyone else, but I began reading Cornwell's stuff for the same reason I read Wambaugh a generation ago--to get good crime stories.

I couldn't put this book down. I wanted to see just how BAD it would get. And I was not disappointed. The book didn't make sense. The conversations were stupid (all those "ten" codes) the plot ridiculous, and characters just kept popping up out of nowhere. I'm glad I bought the paperback. If I had bought the hard cover (like I usually do) I would have had to return it. IT WAS THAT BAD !

I wonder where in the world an editor was. I often find that well-known authors suffer from an apparent lack of strong editing. They need someone to knock them across the head and tell them just because they sell lots of books doesn't mean they don't need to rewrite and revise! There was only one character in this book that I felt had any depth at all and he was pretty one-dimensional. I really have enjoyed the Scarpetta series, so I was looking forward to an enjoyable read. But the thinking animals,whiny characters, and horrible language in this book were too much to handle. I didn't even finish it because I didn't care about the characters or the plot. This book isn't even worth checking out from the library.

The author should have bought Web-sites for Dummies as most of the computer stuff is completely wrong. Also there are many mistakes that the proof-reader should have corrected. Very little of the story ties together, as another reviewer mentions the attempts at humor just don't work. The complete bungling done by these supposed professional police earned them the resentment. I finished plowing through it as I was on an airplane and had run out of other things to read. Reading mindless trash on an airplane is OK, but this doesn't even make that grade.

I can't take this book back fast enough! I LOVE Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta books--can't get enough of them. So I was really looking forward to this. Imagine my horror when I realized I had bought another book like Hornet's Nest! I made the mistake of forcing myself to finish that one, and I'm not going to do it again. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING when she wrote these? I don't require that she only write about Kay Scarpetta et al, even though I love those books; but this book is SO offensive, and its characters are SO ignorant--I couldn't care less about any of them. Not only that, I don't want to even pollute my mind with this drivel. The one star is only because they won't accept this review without a star. PLEASE, PATRICIA-- don't ever do this again! And GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK!

I love the Scarpetta series. And had hoped that I would like this one. It is not up to her usual standards. I didn't make it past page 100. I put it down and got The Last Precinct. Much better. Please stick with Scarpetta, it is what you do best Ms. Cornwell.

Sorry but this book wasn't even close to Ms. Cornwell's previous worse, (I have never read a bad one until this one) so what's up? I live in Harrisonburg, VA and can't believe that everyone in Richmond is that stupid, doesn't anyone there have an average IQ? And also (I know I am alone here) why is there so much profanity in this book, it was repulsive. I grew up around the US Navy in Norfolk, VA for 35 years and never heard this language all day and all night long . . . give it a rest. Of course if the people in Richmond are as ignorant as they are portrayed then their vocabulary is probably like this. And one good note the language mangler was good, she done good working on her, in my opinion the only bright spot, but still not worth reading. Better luck next time!

I have to admit, I never even got to page 70. The language was filthy. I can't believe no one else who reviewed this book mentioned how ridiculous the names of the characters were. Give me a break with Butner Fluck! What kind of a name is that?! Was this book trying to be a comedy? Anyway, besides the fact that I could not read ten words without some sort of expletive involved and the odd choice of names, this book made no sense whatsoever. Sorry, I just hated it. I have to say I have never before not finished a book, I like tying up loose ends, there just wasn't anything here to tie up.