n  n    Book Reviewn  n
3.5 of 5 stars to Trace, the 13th book in the Kay Scarpetta thriller series, written in 2004 by Patricia Cornwell. Trace is midway in the series which has about 25 books as of 2017 when I'm finally writing this review! I'm trying to catch up on all my favorite series, finish writing reviews and then read the latest books which are still in my TBR pile.

Trace is a solid story, as we come to expect from Cornwell, but it has a few issues, too. It's a very emotional book, not only because it's focus starts with a 14 year old girl's death, but also because Scarpetta has just come back from Florida, where she basically ran off to for a "break." When she's back in Virginia, she's suddenly faced with being pulled back into her old routine, having to help the new ME figure out what happened in this crime. Scarpetta is also working again with her former right-hand-man, but something is different about him. She even suspects he may be the killer this time; and he's got some interesting attitude issues towards his former boss. Plus, Scarpetta is on her own, sans Lucy and Benton who are busy elsewhere.

In some respects, we're back to basics with this book, as she tries to solve the crime on her own, fighting with her colleagues the whole way. But she's also a different person, and her instincts aren't as fine-tuned as usual. It's a game-changing book, which ultimately sets the directional change in the series enough to re-boot it a bit. But the mystery itself is still quite diabolical. I wouldn't start with this book if you are new to the series, but if you're a big fan, it's worth the read to see all the changes going on in her world.

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For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

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After going through some continuous heavy reads, I wanted a something fast paced where I didn't have to get involved much with the storyline. I picked this off my 13 year old cousin's shelf and was sorely disappointed from the first chapter!
It is my first PC novel but I don't think I was unfair in expecting something unputdownable, since books with such themes are expected to be so. However, I found myself coming up with new excuses to take breaks from reading this book and by the 100th page, was begging the author to go somewhere with the story line.
While the blurb informs you that the central point of the book is the death of a 14 year old girl, the storyline keeps jumping between multiple deaths and everyone wastes a lot of time obsessing over everything else apart from the 14 year old dead girl until about 250 pages into the book. The present tense narrative is EXTREMELY annoying and quite frankly, naming your bad guy Edgar Allan Pogue just makes the whole thing a big fat joke. Also, the author starts out by talking about the very shady new chief medical examiner, delving deep into his character and also dedicating a small section of the book as a narrative from his POV (still figuring out why since it made less than zero contribution to the plot line) and then half way through the book he just disappears and is never spoken about again.
Not sure if I will read another book by this author.

I have two more of these to read. Don't ask me why. I must have killed a dozen albatrosses in a former life.

#12 ranks up there with the worst books I've ever read. Two of the plot twists were totally ridiculous.

That said, Cornwell seems to know this so she starts this novel 5 years later. In other words, she created such a shit storm that she just jumps ahead so she doesn't have to wade through all the questions that the last book's ending evoked.

As a stand alone the book is still uninspired and creepy. What I mean is that I've read Cornwell was a troubled women and these books start to show that. The characters are like attempted paintings that turn into jigsaw puzzles where the few missing pieces and the creases are all visible.

The ending, like some other of her works, is anti-climatic, and the plot demands so much serendipity you just have to shrug and read on. The characters undergo odd interactions and the sub-plots are just strange and misdirected. There are scenes with a woman who likes rough sex that seems to exist only so Scarpetta can examine another main character's genitals. Another situation requires a harassing physical and a lot of anger that seems to come from the author more than the character and the lesbian romance is truncated and simply present but meaningless.

One could write a doctoral thesis in psych on Cornwell and her relationship with her work.

Taking a break from the series. This one is probably the best one since book two or three in the series but I'm not sure I have the will to carry on with it. I love the genre and was hoping to fall back in love with this author and Kay Scarpetta after abandoning it in the early 2000s. I can see why my late teen self enjoyed these books and was enamored with the main character. I've enjoyed revisiting the world my younger self lived in but my 40yo self has run out of patience for the poor writing and hackneyed plotting. For such a long running series there is a serious lack of depth in the characters, stories and resolution. Like floating on the world's longest mud puddle, tolerable but definitely couldn't be called swimming or satisfying. I think I only stuck with it this long out of curiosity to see how the characters developed and changed with the new technologies. I may come back to it just to satisfy that curiosity but for now, a much needed break.

A good kind of read.. but somethings are vague... something is left half said, half described, some incidents are hard to link to each other, you have to think back and work it all out.

a bit tame after the events of the previous books but the added criminal insight is still refreshing

p68: rudy didn't used to lecture her.

p284: lucy had to get a flight physical right away because her medical certificate expired in two days.

I have the physical paperpack, but got the audiobook from Audible. Which felt like it was missing information. I returned it. It said it was abridged. Borrowed the audiobook from my library and at least more made sense.

As for the story, I felt a little bit was hinted and not delved into to much. Would have been interesting had they delved a bit more into Lucy and her personal relationships. I felt like a lot of the story was laying the groundwork for the conclusion, that felt rushed and not delivered in a very satisfying way.

A thriller that isn’t even close to thrilling. The ending is anti-climactic, the characters are unbelievable and stupid, and the plot is...I won’t even waste my time (at least, any more of my time than was already wasted on this stuff).

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

I read my first Kay Scarpetta book (Postmortem) when it was released in the 1990s. Following that, I religiously read every subsequent book as it was released and just loved the world, characters and mystery that Cornwell created (even if her blink and you miss it super fast endings annoyed me). But then I stopped. I don't know why (kids, work, moving house, life in general - take your pick), but this book has unfortunately sat in the bookcase since 2004 unread until now.

This was an okay read. In this book, Kay finds herself back in Virginia to assist with a high-profile case. While I love every chapter with Kay, Benton and Marino - I confess that I am not a fan of the Lucy and TLP story line which had a big focus in this book. I also think this book felt like it wasn't overly thought through in terms of character and motive/intent especially in terms of side characters/story lines such as the husband of the murdered girl, his wife and especially the new Chief Medical Officer. I am still not sure what Cornwell intended with those incomplete story arcs.

Even though this was an average read, I still devoured it in 2 days and was hooked on every word. What can I say - I love the writing of Cornwell and I love returning into Kay's world. Really looking forward to finally reading the later books in this series.

Reading Challenge
Aussie Readers 2021 Annual A-Z Location Challenge: Read a book set in a location starting with V (Virginia)
Aussie Reader 2021 Autumn Mini Bingo Challenge: Column #5 - Read a suspense/crime book

Good

I've always been a huge Patricia Cornwell fan, especially of her Kay Scarpetta series. This book unfortunately was very dissapointing to me. It didn't seem to have much of the forensic investigation or murder investigations in it. In fact, all the murders had been commited by the start of the book. It's definately a take it or leave it book.

I read it because it was a Scarpetta novel. My expectations and reality did not match. This book was written more on par with the lady detective books Cornwell writes -- that I have never enjoyed. The writing style is so distinctly different. I don't know if I'll even bother to read another "new" Scarpetta novel.

I'm giving it a "1" because I actually read the entire thing... Cover to cover, hoping it would "get good" and being sorely disappointed.