En primer lugar, no me llevo nada bien con este tema de las sagas, tan de moda últimamente. Hay gente que sólo lee libros si pertenecen a alguna saga. La mayoría es bastante comercial. Antes de terminar de leer El libro de los muertos descubro que forma parte de una saga que ya lleva 18 libros, de la cual es el número 15. Si bien no entorpece tanto la lectura el leerlo descolgado del resto, me hubiera gustado más descripción de los personajes, conocerlos más a fondo, ya que en ese sentido los sentí muy superficiales, pero como hay un par anteriores a éste, doy por sentado que el trabajo en cada personaje ya se ha llevado a cabo. Por otra parte, el libro es extenso (unas 440 páginas) siendo lo mejor de todo el principio y el final. Aclarando: el principio fue, obviamente lo que me enganchó y llevó a leerlo, realmente prometía mucho. Y el final es de esos en los que la historia da un giro total, aunque algo brusco. Por lo que el resto lo sentí como un completo relleno, un ir y venir. Por momentos leías un thriller y por otros un romance. Desde mi punto de vista se balanceó demasiado sin llegar a un equilibro justo. Una manipulación injusta a quien esperaba más del libro, lo que, resumiendo, me deja sin ganas de seguir leyendo el resto de la saga.

El peor libro de investigación policial que he leído en toda mi vida.
400 páginas de relaciones entre personajes y 56 de novela detectivesca.
¿De qué va la novela? De esto:
El tumor de la sobrina, el cáncer de su ayudante, la relación con su prometido, la relación con Marino, la relación de Marino con su novia, la relación de su sobrina con Marino, la relación con el poli italiano, la relación del asesino con su madre, con su padre, con las víctimas.

Hay un poco de avance policial cada 40 páginas. Nada un párrafo pequeño (a veces son dos).

Eso sí, no hay un solo policía. Al asesino en serie solo lo busca una forense privada de 50 años. Lo más lógico del mundo.

Y para analizar la arena encontrada en el escenario de los crímenes... pues no hay otra forma que ir a la NASA, que está justo al lado, y usar el microscopio más potente jamás creado. Que supongo que está para esas cosas, para mostrar granos de arena con el tamaño de un todoterreno.

El último que leo de esta autora, cada novela es más inverosímil y se aleja más de lo que importa: la resolución del crimen.

I'd actually give it a 3.5 but that's not an option on GR. Hard to follow all the characters in this one, but on the positive side, there's quite a cliffhanger @ the end....waiting for the next one!!

I read this book because I've read the whole Kay Scarpetta series, but I'm a little dismayed. I dunno if Cornwell is tired of these characters or is having a hard time in her own life, but she's turned these characters into such bitter, screwed up freaks that the books are getting depressing. If I hadn't invested myself in these people several books ago, there's no way I would've bothered to finish this, I think. The murder mystery part of it was interesting, but it wasn't enough to distract from the empty and painful lives Cornwell's visited upon all her main charcters.

Everything was wrong with this book, it did not work at all. Clearly I should not jump into a series part way through, where there is some development of a long term plot, but I still expect books to stand on their own, and this didn't. Relationships with big red flags (a manipulative and jealous boyfriend). No suspense. No build up to a finale. Rushed ending. The title and back cover blurb have nothing to do with the story. Dull discussion of forensic science, that isn't even used to bring a criminal to justice. A lead character who is apparently so hot everyone wants her ... BORING!

Complete garbage and I will not bother with any more Cornwell.

Just awful
I have loved the first 10 books in the Scarpetta series but the last few have become torture to read. I actually haven't read the last 40% of this one because I couldn't bring myself to continue with it and this devastated me as I can count on one hand the number of times I've quit a book. The plot changes from one scene to another so randomly it's hard to keep track of who is doing what. The characters, especially Marino,have changed beyond all recognition and the stories are a by product now. I actually think the author hates the characters herself with what she has turned them into. I have the remaining 10 books on my kindle and will not be reading any of them, if I could request a refund I would

Wow, I didn't realize how much the books changed later on (and not in a good way). I don't really like the omniscient narrator as much as I liked the first person style with the main character. I feel like it takes away from some of the suspense and the experience of solving the crime. Of course, this book is way more the direction of soap opera with a crime thriller in the background than the prior books I read where the drama didn't seem to take mainstage. I really did not agree with how the sexual assault scenes and after commentary were handled. WTF? I'm not sure what the takeaway message from that was supposed to be. I don't think the main protagonist is a great role model and has too many character flaws to be all that likable. And then I was disappointed with the crime thriller aspect of things. It didn't have much depth, although it could have been developed more, and, wow, was that an anti-climactic end. It was super fast, oh we know all this now, here's all the puzzle pieces in place, and killer caught behind bars, the end. What?! Not even a satisfying conclusion of the soap opera drama, either. Killer may be behind bars but the relationship drama to be continued. Bleh. I think I'm done with this series now.

This is one of the worst books I've ever suffered through. Rich finally asked me why I was still reading it after i exclaimed aloud for the umpteenth time about how awful it was, and all I could do to explain was talk about how much I enjoyed the early books she wrote and how I couldn't believe how it kept getting worse and I had to see how it panned out. Awful. The early ones really were fun, technically interesting, interesting characters, decently written (never anything amazing), thrilling and generally pleasant little reads. The last one of hers that I read about 4-5 years ago was not up to the standard of the others I'd remembered (and bizarrely had changed from first person in the first dozen or so books to the third person), but when I found this one on a free book pile I thought I'd give it another chance. What a mistake - the characters didn't make any sense, most of them displayed bizarre behavior, dialogs were choppy, nonsensical and at times pathological. As I read I kept thinking about how many cardinal signs of mental illness were present in different elements of the book - rampant paranoia by some characters, weird fixations, hypersexualization, hugely disordered thinking. It was so bad it was almost fascinating to keep reading it. A little research on the author reveals that she does indeed have some mental health issues of her own which makes things make a little more sense. How could her publisher have let this go to press without substantial editing? I'm glad I didn't spend any money on this book or I would have felt cheated, as it is the few hours of time I spent reading it were a sad loss.

Why do I continue to read this stuff? Answer, I don't anymore!

Re Read April 2024

story 4 stars**
audio 4 stars**
Narrator n  Kate Readingn

Patricia Cornwell's newest book opens with a graphic chapter on a woman who is being tortured. It's spine-chilling and disturbing. It does, however, open the door to an interesting track to find out who the killer is. It almost seemed obligatory to add aspects of the Iraq war into the story, but I realize that the war had/is having an effect on our soldiers who are on the front lines. No one can do what they do and remain who they were when they left.
I was a little annoyed with the miscommunication that Scarpeta and Benton have - all the time. Throughout the book, they were spatting. I didn't also buy the transformation of Pete Marino into a drunken bully and almost rapist. Pete has gone through a lot of things, but this last iteration of his "love" for Scarpeta is a little over the top.
I also felt the ending was a little pushed - wrapping everything up in a hurry with not much attention on the murderer. But still, it was a nice read and kept my attention - I got through most of it on my two two-hour plane flights when we went to Florida.

[I don't remember this plot at all, except a vague recollection of this book. Re-read.]