Absolutely not

I really, really like this series, even though sometimes the author is way too smart for me and things go over my head. However, the first 100-ish pages of this book were soooo slow and just kept dragging. Then it picked up and intensified. And then it slowed waaaay down again. And then the last like four chapters picked up again with intensity and surprise and boom! It’s over. Abruptly. Was definitely a good story, but odd. The beginning dragged and the ending rushed. Anyway, still great, still going strong and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Terrible family, terrible professional life, terrible serial killer -- just all around blah, even for wanting your brain to be quiet for a moment. Plus, I might be jaded, but a lot of the legal bits written for shock and outrage (Oh! That nice woman who befriended Scarpetta is now prosecuting her! Oh! Her oldest friend is being subpoenaed! Oh! She thought she could trust the governor! (mini-spoiler: never trust the governor)) come off as like, okay, when you're done being outraged, you may want to get yourself a good lawyer.

I think I'm done with this series.

ETA: And I am livid about Mr. Peanut.

This was a page turner, as have been most of her other books, for me. There definitely is a gruesome and grisly factor because she is a medical examiner and is always dealing with murders and murderers. Many times serial killers. I like this character, Kay Scarpetta, because she is a strong, intelligent woman who is real and flawed. She makes mistakes, as do we all, but she is always able to figure it out in the end. This particular story had many twists and turns that kept you guessing until it's all tied up neatly in a bow...at the very ending.

Hallelujah, I finished! I had to stop reading so many times while reading this book. It is BY FAR my favorite book yet!!! There were SO many twists and turns, plus you really got to see the inner workings of the system. Having Jamie Berger there and seeing things from a prosecutor stand point was so interesting!!!

I think we got to see a really great side of Lucy in this book and even got some Benton in there. I really can’t wait to see what happens next!

What a mish-mosh. The Last Precinct is really a continuation of Black Notice, and this review may contain some spoilers of the prior novel. It's kinda unavoidable.

Scarpetta spent the last book determining who murdered a man in a shipping container, a convenience store clerk and a deputy chief of police. At the end of it, we saw Scarpetta fighting for her life against a monstrous attacker. She saved herself by throwing a solution of formalin into his face, causing blindness. Her attacker turned out to be Jean-Baptiste Chandonne, the genetically deformed son of a powerful French crime family. In this novel, loyalists to the murdered policewomen insinuate that it was Kay Scarpetta who killed her. The crime part of the plot is devoted to Kay, Merino, Lucy, Psychologist Anna Zenner and others building her defense.

I thought it was kinda outdated, or maybe gimmicky, that Cornwell made the attacker into a literal monster. Chandonne, "Le Loup-Garou," is covered in baby fine reddish blonde hair that grows up to 7 inches long if he doesn't shave it. One side of his face is substantially lower than the other side and he has tiny, pointy teeth. Oh, and a really small package (Cornwell makes a point of this several times). His hideous appearance frightens women, so he developed a personality disorder in which his other self is a werewolf.

So all that was the crime plot; the rest of it was Lucy terminally pissed off, Merino ceaselessly offensive and Kay moping page in and out. Not only is Kay being accused of murder, but her job is in danger and she is n  stilln struggling with the loss of Benson Westley - from, what, three novels ago? After her on-and-off boyfriend Mark died, she started an affair with Benson while he was still happily married. That was the end of Scarpetta's lawful-good alignment for me, and it kinda grosses me out that she's portrayed so sympathetically. Boo f*cking hoo, you homewrecker! Too much of this novel was devoted to her grieving and trying to understand the man Benson was and the relationship they had. THE GUY IS DEAD, HAS BEEN FOR A LONG TIME... I really could care less that this character is still coming to terms with a plot development from several novels before.

Okay, rant over - unless the next novel doesn't move on from this. Honestly, I suspect Benson isn't dead - there are too many clues he went into hiding. One last thing: the twist at the end of The Last Precinct, revealing that Jay Talley is the main murderer, not really JBC (although they are twin brothers), and that he was sleeping with/cahooting with Bev the sleazy motel owner really wasn't much of a twist. From the moment that guy appeared in Black Notice, I just knew he was a villain.

I really hope the next novel is better.

One of the better Scarpetta novels, it was really building towards something, but I felt it was rather anticlimactic in the end. I really like the characters and ideas, I just feel the writing is maybe a little dated. Still a decent enough read.

This is #11 of Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series and she must have been running out of ideas for books when she wrote this one because 3/4 of this book is just Kay babbling to those who will listen (Anna or the NY DA) about what happened in Black Notice, which is the last book. Then when Cornwell finally proceeds with the story for the last 150 pages or so it is like she had two endings in her head when she wrote Black Notice and for this book she decides to use the second ending.

It starts right after the Werewolf was captured after attacking Kay at her home (the ending of Black Notice). Kay goes to stay with her psychiatrist friend Anna while her home is a crime scene. More deaths are discovered to have taken place before Werewolf (JBC) was captured. One even took place months before in NYC. The NYC District Attorney comes down to Richmond because of the similarities. Much to Kay's chagrin it is determined that JBC will be prosecuted in NYC. Yet things just aren't adding up. And things are starting to point to Kay as the killer of one of the victims in Black Notice.

There is a mad rush ending covering the last 25 pages which leave you shaking your head after 300 pages of the book are a retelling of Black Notice.

The way this series is built out so intricately just gets better with every book

Life is collapsing round Scarpetta in this one. Big changes in her life - will be interesting to see where it goes next.

Not one of my favorites from Patricia Cornwell but still a good thriller. I will admit that I did skip right to the last 50 or so pages once i got through the first 350 or so because it was getting very boring and there was no action to it. It was all about Kay whining about how crazy everything in the book was making her and how she was trying to control her feelings over Benton's death. I kinda wanted to say grow up Kay. You aren't the first person who has lost someone they love. But the last 50 pages did redeem the book with much action and got the answer out that I knew was coming and left the ending open for further books to look at this as only Patricia Cornwell knows how to do.

Re Read March 2024
Story 4 stars**
Audio 3.75 stars**
Narrator n  Kate Readingn