I didn't like this book and would have put it down without finishing it, except it is short and I was killing time. The only character I liked or found interesting was Winston's grandmother. It felt like the author couldn't decide which story she wanted to tell, so she told all of them, but told none of them well. The idea that a DA in Massachusetts would just arbitrarily decide to investigate a cold case in Tennessee struck me as absurd. And the name of the task force "At Risk" was stupid.

Bottom line: It reads like an early draft and her editor failed her.

Wow, Great detective mystery. A state investigator known as Geronimo to investigate a cold case murder. His boss DA Lamont is running for governor, she is the reason he was called in on the case. He ends up getting threats toward his grandmother.
Expect twist and turns. Very good who done it. Really like this book and the mystery.

Didn't think a lot of this one, to be honest. Cornwell is usually good at developing a story and characters, and including an interesting mixture of people you like, and those you really don't, but not here. The book was short, characters rather two dimensional and the plot was pretty unclear... Not one of her better ones unfortunately. Won't stop me reading others whenever I start to feel too safe in my own home...

Crap. First of all, it uses the rather unprofessional format of present tense grammar. I'm supposing the author intended this to give the story a sense of immediacy and urgency; it just made it sound like it was being related by a Valley-Girl.
The story plodded, large sections of what I would have considered important action are skipped over, scenes jump around with no sense or reason, and it was just plain not exciting.

Reminder: Just because something gets on the Best Seller's list does not mean it has any quality, whatsoever.

This is only the second book by Patricia Cornwell that I have read. The first was from her Kay Scarpetta series, and I throughly enjoyed that book. I was excited to get into this series, but I have to say that after reading the first book it just doesn’t seem to be from the same author.
The first few chapters had my attention, and then the momentum sort of fizzles out. There’s a lack of twists and turns in the plot, and the characters are all over the place. The storyline almost feels forced. Maybe the more books in the series you read the more things come together. Unfortunately, for me I will stick to the Scarpetta series.

Meh. I listened to the audio version of this book. I actually have the book but never got around to reading it, i saw the audio version in the library and needed something to pass the time while driving so i grabbed it, thinking... Cool, i will finally get to see what that book is about.
Well... Meh. It was mediocre at best. if I had read it rather than listened to it I might even be more harsh in reviewing this, sorry Patricia Cornwell, but it just wasn't that good of a storyline, in was dry and the characters were unlikable, i see where she was going with Win saving Miss Dog, and protecting Susie from her dead-beat husband, yeah okay so you want me to think he is a nice guy.. okay... I liked his Gram okay too but it just didn't draw me in, Win seemed underdeveloped, and Monique seemed cliched and a stereo-type of a boss who is a self serving ambitious bish. Come on, please i realise you want her to be multi-sided as well, but it just didn't work. I never really felt any connection to any of the characters. Maybe it was because it was such a short book... maybe that is why it just didn't work well. The characters seemed to cookie cutter stiff. Maybe the narrators voice provoked some dislike as well, there were times that it was hard to distinguish betwen characters, there was not enogh clarity between the characters from the narrator.

I am getting rid of the hard copy of the book I have and i already returned the audio version to the library. It did serve its purpose, it burned some time while driving, it was not really deep so i didn't have to really concentrate , it was what i consider a beach read... a book you just don't care if you forget at the hotel when you check out, certainly not a book you would seek out at the lost and found. Lol

Win Garano is called away from a course of the National Forensic Academy to work a twenty-year-old murder case. His book, the district attorney is planning to run for governor.

Interesting characters with an interesting plot. Mix politics with mystery and you have a good story.

It did take me a little bit to get into this story and I had to really pay attention to stay with it. I did like the main character, which made the story for me.

Ok, so this is the 1st book in the Winston Garano series by Patricia Cornwell and, I should have read it first Lol Win "Geronimo" Garano is a Mass. State Police investigator, who works for the D.A.'s office and more specifically for D.A. Monique Lamont. In this book Monique is attacked in her own home raped and set up to be killed and her home burned. Win comes in the nick of time and saves her from being killed and her home burned. In the course of the book Win who has been sent to Tennessee for more training gets told by D.A. Lamont to try to solve a 20 yr old murder committed in Tennessee...fast paced good book...A bit different from Ms. Cornwell's Scarpetta novels and worth the read.

Terrible all around! Whatever happened to Cornwell's writing and why did it get this bad? I remember reading her Scarpetta novels 7-8 years ago and they were captivating and well written. This book is just utter garbage, seriously folks don't waste your time. I actually thought that for a few chapters there, I was reading some of James Patterson's work - the flimsy characters and the short chapters with a shock factor at the end.

Viene a ser el hijo bastardo de una noveletta de estornudo, porque estornudas y ¡ooops! ¡Se ha acabado!, y una de playa, porque puedes leer tres frases, irte a bañar volver y ¡sin problema!
Con esto no quiero decir que sea mala, ni mucho menos, creo firmemente que éste tipo de literatura debe existir pero no esperes que te abra los ojos a un nuevo mundo y sacuda los cimientos de tu moral. En resumen: relaja.

Aparte de eso, los personajes se hacen querer (no todos, PARA NADA todos) pero no porque son así de fantabulosos sino que dices "¿a que no va el anormal este y hace esto?" Y va y lo hace. Y hay que quererle. O Nana, a quien no sabes si la quieres por puro instinto de supervivencia o porque es... Es...Es la abuela que el mundo necesita. Incluso cuando hacen cosas mal, regulero, de darte con el libro en la cabeza, tienen sus razones.

En lo del argumento ya... Pues es de eso, de playa, de poder léertelo con tres mojitos en el cuerpo que a la final te lo explican todo, sin presión.

Así que lo que quieres es pasear los ojos por una página langidamente y te gusta el rollo policiaco y el sobreuso de móviles, muy recomendable.

2, maybe 2 1/2 stars.
This book took me a long time to read. It's not a long book, but it didn't make me want to read it.
The idea of the story, solving an old crime, is kinda cool. But I don't think it's written well enough to keep me interested. The last couple chapters were better than the rest of the book, but by then it was too late.
And the book jumps between two different characters and it always took awhile for me to figure out which character I was reading.
This is the first Patricia Cornwell book I have read, and I have a bunch of her books on our book shelf. I hope her other ones are better.

Un po' morta la storia nonostante la lettura sia molto scorrevole, scritta in maniera chiara e semplice.
Non è un vero e proprio thriller perché alcuni dialoghi li ho trovati un po' banali, molto ripetitivi, inutili e inoltre, il caso da risolvere, è solo un input che poi però non ha rappresentato il vero e proprio fulcro della storia , ma era solo un modo per arrivare ad altro...
Insomma, una delle letture più tristi fatte in questo ultimo periodo, midispiace perché l'idea c'era, ma non è stata sviluppata bene a mio parere.