Oooo a cliff hanger! Like Kay I have a soft spot for Marino (obviously not what he did nor do I feign to have excuses for him) and need to know what’s going on with his plot. This one felt more cohesive than the last - I rather enjoyed it.

Feel like being annoyed for the entire length of a book? Read this one! I keep reading this series because of the cases... the lead character is a medical examiner and she gets interesting cases. The cases are becoming subplots while the family/work drama takes center stage. The four lead characters have all turned into unlikable assholes. I take that back... the most interesting character (Lucy) has barely been in the last few books so I don't call her a lead anymore. The 3 leads have all become such horrible people, it is hard to root for them anymore. These people are supposed to be family/romantic partners/close work colleagues and yet almost every interaction they have with each other is hostile. And to top it off, the case in this book started out as an interesting case and then got really convoluted. I have the next 2 books in this series in my bookcase so it has 2 more chances to improve. Otherwise, I am out. Can't recommend this one.

Y lo terminé... Debo decir que no me gustó

DNF

Unfortunately, not one of her best. It took me a long time to get into the book and even longer to really care about the characters. I'm not sure I did even in the end. Usually I find Cornwell's books hard to put down. This one was mostly hard to pick up. Too bad, really, because she is one of my very favorite authors.

I just love revisiting Patricia Cornwell's characters that I have gotten to know over the past 15 years. I don't necessarily like where she's taking them, but I still like to read about them. Her books are always very engrossing and I hate to put them down. This one got me through two stomach viruses in one week! I came to the conclusion that Kay, Benton, Lucy, and in his own way, Marino, are all highly intelligent people that lack emotional and social smarts. I want Kay and Marino to resume the relationship they used to have back in the best books of Patricia Cornwell's career, The Body Farm and From Potter's Field. I want Kay and Benton to either commit or break up. Their relationship is ridiculous. The end of this book is very disturbing and implies a sequel is necessary. The plot of this book, while very interesting and engaging, is at times, confusing. I had to reread things as the author quickly jumps to conclusions. When the characters are talking to each other, they leave out a lot of "filler", so that you really have to think about what they are saying. Sometimes the pronouns are unclear. I don't know if that is intentional based on their intelligence and relationships; like married people who can finish each other's sentences and have to only say a short phrase or word to know what the other is thinking. I like the new character, Bull, who I assume will remain a constant. It seems like some of the other regulars may be eliminated but of course, I'll have to wait at least a year to find that out.

i started this one this morning after feeding my cat.

Actual Rating: 2.5 Stars

I have been reading the Scarpetta series since it first came out back in the early 90s and so Kay, Benton, Marino and Lucy all feel like a part of my (dysfunctional) family. However, I think it is time I checked them all in for some serious therapy as in this book I almost didn't recognise them anymore.

While I love this series and will keep reading the series, this book just had me scratching my head. Where do I start: the plot with Marino and his tours of the morgue, or the whole everyone wants to sleep with Kay theme, or the convoluted family tree around Dr Self (the most annoying character ever to appear in these novels). The plot made no sense. The pacing was off. This was a bit of a mess and that is hard to write as I love Cornwell's writing almost as much as I love Scarpetta.

This was easily my least favourite Scarpetta novel. Hoping this was just a slight lapse of judgement and we return to a crime/forensics focused novels where some of the characters are allowed to spend a small margin of time being happy for a change because right now they (and thus me as a reader) are in a constant world of doom and gloom.

Reading Challenge
Aussie Readers 2022 Annual Genre Challenge: Read a crime genre book
Aussie Readers 2022 Covid Challenge: Read books that titles spell out Outbreak (B = Book)
Aussie Readers 2022 Autumn Bingo Challenge: Column #1 Read a book with a female main character
Aussie Readers 2022 May Rachel Amphlett Challenge: Rachel writes mostly crime and thrillers. She also writes several different series. Read a book which is part of a series.

The book I was reading is called "Book of the Dead", by Patricia Cornwell. I wasn't even sure what's this book is about, but I'm guessing that it's a mystery of solving a murder case. I didn't like this book because I don't understand the whole thing about this book, and I wasn't sure if they are really solving a mystery, and plus, there's so many quotes and talking. I felt confuse when I was reading this book because I wasn't even sure what's going on in the book. The main character is Kay Scarpetta because she is the first person that pops up in the book. I rate this book as a 3 because it can be confusing and you won't understand it, and it can be funny sometimes.

The story was O.K. but I just despise the characters. A bunch of miserable rich people interfering in each other's bizarre sad lives; it's not appealing. At least that one lady (I can't even remember her name) got to keep the dog she found. Best thing about the whole book.

I have always loved the Scarpetta series. I've read a couple of them twice. This... This is at such odds with the others. The style is not as expected, after moving from first person, we've now in la-la land. the characters are just so far removed from interest that I couldn't be bothered. Skimmed a lot. Then DNF'd at about 1/3 of the way in. This hard-back is going to charity. Someone might like it.

Creo que es obvio el tipo de libros por los que me estoy interesando últimamente :S pero no es TAN a propósito, simplemente son los que me ha tocado leer y sin duda fue una lectura entretenida y llena de sorpresas, ahora sí que no tenía idea de quién era el asesino y su motivación tampoco la tenía del todo clara.

También me enteré que es parte de una serie de libros sobre la doctora Scarpetta :O aunque al menos a mi no me causó conflicto al entenderle, no es del tipo de libros en serie que resultan confusos si no has leído los anteriores. Y hablando de personajes la verdad es que todos me sorprendieron, son increíblemente complejos y están muy bien desarrollados, aunque algunos no me agradaron del todo, reconozco que la autora tiene bien desarrollada esa parte y se agradece, porque al ser en serie pudiese resultar tedioso o que al no conocer la historia de todos simplemente no te intereses, pero la verdad es que sucede lo contrario, te dan ganas de leer más sobre ellos :D

Así que eso me lleva al estilo narrativo, que no es complejo, pero que logra atraparte desde el principio, no hay momentos flojos o innecesarios y la historia se va desarrollando a un ritmo agradable que no se siente lento y que al llegar a la parte final todo cobra sentido y entonces lo que hacen a lo largo de la historia empieza a conectarse y así te encuentras con una historia interesante, que si bien no es una rueda de la fortuna en emociones, tiene la increíble característica de hacer que quieras saber más, no se va por las ramas y tampoco tiene cosas que no van. Por lo tanto se los recomiendo ampliamente :)