I always enjoy the Scarpetta books.

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3+ of 5 stars for Book of the Dead, the 15th book in the "Kay Scarpetta" thriller series, written in 2007 by Patricia Cornwell. When I saw the title and read the description, I had very high expectations of this book. I really enjoy the series and hoped it would explore a bit of the occult side, perhaps venturing a little into historical Egyptian themes like the movie "The Mummy," which I love. I won't spoil anything, but it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. Still a decent book in the series, and worth a read for a fan of Scarpetta, it was not without issues. Another psycho from Kay's past pops up. Another weird murder with ties to a victim in Rome and a small boy in Charleston, South Carolina. Too many coincidences for me. That said, the detail is great. The investigation is strong. The mystery is OK. But it was too formulaic for me. Characters are always memorable, and Cornwell does a great job at showing the crazed personalities of these serial killers. Trying to come up with new material is not easy and I do give her credit. Has the usual cast of characters... not sure what I think of Benton anymore. I kinda want him to be written out... again... since he came back from the dead at one point. Sensing a theme? :O

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So delicious, so vicious, so wonderful, so addictive.

So much chaos

Just ok. The writing isn't getting better. It feels like she isn't trying very hard. Not her best work. I will keep reading though, in hopes it gets better. I must be a glutton for punishment.

I love Cornwell's earlier book but this was pretty lame. It was a soap opera disguised as a thriller mystery. Too much focus was put on her regular cast of characters and their baggage. If you want a real mystery, read another one of her books.

just boring. i read few of cornwell before which were ok. but this one so boring. forced writing. i just could not swallow it and left it unfinished

Not my favourite among the Scarpetta books. Definitely not. On the other hand, they seem to grow worse with every book now. I, for one, am getting tired of the stories being so centrated to miss Scarpetta herself, the murders and mysteries always involving her somehow. And I thought that in this book pretty much all of the characters were annoying. I find books about murdering psychopaths interesting, I admit that, but in this case it felt like the murder story was hidden way too far behind the crappy behaviour of the main characters and that the story definitely did not get to the bottom with the actual "mystery" of the book.

I read this book in English

Svensk titel
DE DÖDAS BOK

Absolut inte min favorit bland böckerna om Scarpetta. Tvärtom! Det känns som att de bara blir sämre och sämre, och jag är så less på att allting centreras kring Scarpetta. Att det alltid tycks finnas någon slags komplott mot henne eller någon mördare på jakt efter att förstöra hennes liv. Jag brukade tycka om huvudkaraktärerna. De var kanske inte hundraprocentigt sympatiska alla gånger, men de var i grunden bra ... Nu känns de mest irriterande allihop. Själva mordhistorien och berättelsen om psykopaten som dödar och lemlästar hamnar alltför långt i bakgrunden. Det är psykologin bakom illdåden som brukar göra att jag gillar den här sortens historier, men det känns verkligen inte som att Cornwell går till botten med brottet i den här boken ...

This book was terrible! What a waste of time! Last winter I got turned onto Cornwell and I read all of her books in order. The first few were SO incredibly riveting and I really enjoyed them. This book however showed a complete melt down of all the characters. Kay has been completely shrunk down and doesn't seem like the same person she was in the beginning. The switch to present tense was a terrible move. The switch to third person is also a strange change. I liked it better when it was just the body and the evidence and they had to go from there. None of this incorporating chapters from the killers point of view. I don't enjoy reading about torture and the actual killing. I'd rather start with the body. Maybe I am too sensitive but not my taste. I doubt I will ever read her again. So sad what she made Marino. And she seems to want to kill everyone off. I stopped at page 200, skimmed to the end to see what happened and then returned it to library in disgust. Glad I didn't buy it!

Kathy REICHS IS MUCH BETTER! And so scientific, its awesome! You will learn something.

I've read many of her Scarpetta books, and liked most of them more than this. I'm not sure if it's actually worse than what she typically writes, or if I've just gotten used to reading better mysteries.

The characters are flat and somewhat unbelievable (especially Dr. Self) and she left tons of loose ends at the end of the book (and not in a good way). It also drove me nuts that the entire novel is written in the present tense, to the point where I went to check one of her old books to find out if this was standard (it's not).

Fairly disappointing.

The six-page prologue in Book of the Dead is one of the most chilling scenes I've ever read. A man tortures a young woman by placing her in a bathtub full of icy water. Cornwell knows how to evoke terror and does it superbly here.

Cut to Scarpetta and her lover Benton Wesley who are, predictably, in crisis mode. They're investigating the murder of a young woman in Rome, but the tension in the first few chapters escalates not because of the murder case but because they're at odds with one another. Enter the usual suspects: investigator Pete Marino, who's involved with a young nubile biker and has fallen off the wagon. Rose, Scarpetta's elderly office assistant, and Lucy, Scarpetta's niece, are keeping secrets from her. Benton has his own problems dealing with a narcissistic TV talk show host who's also a psychiatrist. Lots of intrigue and drama and ritual murders, each more horrific than the first.

An interesting read for Cornwell/Scarpetta fans, not her best work, but well worth the read.

Anyone relatively close *coughs* Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter friends *coughs* knows how much I am fascinated with murder mystery plots because of my not‎-so‎-fleeting interest with criminology, crime psychology and criminal profiling. That is probably why I had a hard time comprehending why I didn't like this book.

The accurate descriptions were there. The serial killer plot was there. The unrelenting search is ever present.

Then I realized, BAM, her characters suck. Not they suck as in they are despicable people that should not have lived. No, they suck as in they are unlovable people and the way they are presented in the book annoys me to no end. They ramble and their issues take too much time away from what's really important ‎-‎-‎- finding the serial killer.

I guess dealing with any of Cornwell's books is a gamble.