Anything might affect one’s enjoyment. It does not matter if enhancing or detracting elements are personal, stylistic, general composites of good or bad, or overall quality. For example, unless it is a treatise on the protection of animals, I refute the excessively sad drama of creatures dying in stories in any way. Fiction is where authors can make up happy endings, at least for animals! In social justice or crime, where contents like Patricia Cornwell’s are already grim, for Pete’s sake; spare cats, dogs, horses, rodents, and birds. Numerous people agree with me about sparing animals on film and in ink and dock a star for this alone. Mr. Peanut, this protest is for you! You deserved a new home.

I got invested in this eleventh case, “The Last Precinct”, 2000, which nearly earned four stars. Kay never smiles or jokes enough for me to like her personality at a five star level and autopsy scenes are obviously awful. What tanked my ability to like this story was a stylistic complaint, committing two personal bugaboos. For the love of God, authors: spell direction words with “S”! It drives me batty if they are not spelled and pronounced: upwards, backwards, forwards, downwards, towards. Go figure, vocabulary we hate creeps up unceasingly. Patricia could have used “to” instead. In second place, I hate first person, present tense. That jarring tense rips readers out of the front row, distancing us. Past tense feels like we are watching scenes, or seated with the storyteller.

What was riveting and impressive, was Patricia weaving incidents into a secret too large to resolve in one book. I tire of her repellent criminals after a couple of stories but have hoped resurrecting a beloved personage is the payoff. Maureen Johnson is an authoress who extends mysteries exceptionally well.

This is the second book that I read by this author. I got this book at the free book exchange at the store I have coffee at. I enjoyed reading it. It had a good story to it. It would make a good pay tv movie.

Probably smart to read the book that comes before this one, "Black Notice." It picks up from there, but events are explained throughout the book so you may not have to read Black Notice if you don't want to, but it was a great book. This book was not as good, but I still gave it five stars because I couldn't put it down. Slow to start but so much changes for the characters in this book that I could not wait to start the next Scarpetta novel. Through out the book I couldn't help but feel sorry for Scarpetta. Everyone can relate to her inner struggle this book, being accused of something she did not do.

If you read this one, plan on reading the following book because it is one of the best I have read and it finishes the story line completly. You will understand after reading The Last Precinct.

I'm going to be fare and I'm NOT going to rate it because I'm not reading the full book. I'm choosing to put this down due to personal preference. I will share my experience with it to this point.

From what I read up to page 178:
-The writing was fine. Not as exciting or full of suspense the previous book (book #10, this is book #11).
-There was a lot of recap. Seeing as to how I'd read the previous book and this being book #11, again not sure why there was so much extensive recap.
-I wanted books within the mystery genre because I wanted some excitement and I found myself pushing to read it and I don't want to do this.

That being said. Someone else may enjoy this greatly. I may also choose to read other books by this author but am choosing to not move forward due to some explicit detailed content that I just don't choose to read.

(I've gotten so much flack when my opinions don't agree with readers who disagree with my opinion. Once again, I've not said negative or positive about his.. I just choose not to read it. I've bought it, I have that right.)

I had read other books in the Scarpetta series several years ago and thought I might give it another shot. Mistake. This book was both dull and unpleasant. Cornwell showed herself to be somewhat hypocritical in her attitude about violence, specifically sexual violence. Throughout the book her main character, Scarpetta decries objectification of women and specifically becomes angry when some of the men around her appear to be attracted to and even aroused by violence toward women On the other hand this book panders to that emotion by repeatedly giving lurid descriptions of just such violence, presumably for the edification of her readers.

I quit partway through a seemingly interminable interview with a nasty predator. The purpose of the interview was unclear except that it seemed to be designed to upset Scarpetta. The whole book was focused on Scarpetta's issues of one sort or another and felt more like a therapy session that a mystery. I will not pick up another of this series.

to review at a later date - possibly even re-read at a later date as well, though not urgent ]

Couldn’t even finish it. If I wanted to read about Kay’s therapy sessions, I would. 100 pages in and no autopsies? Cmon. Disappointed.

Absolutely love this series, Kay Scarpetta, Benton, and Marino keep me reading. I love their dynamic and, as I've said before, even though these are set decades ago I am still finding them fascinating. Yes, liberties are taken, the above-mentioned never seem to get older, Kay Scarpetta is a one-woman crime-solving machine, but they are incredibly addictive.

Scarpetta has come out of her rut in this one. I wouldn’t recommend reading this without having at least read the previous couple. We see the characters take on a different dimension and Scarpetta is no longer sad or moping, she is furious.

For a book where nothing happens this is a riveting read. I suppose no-one is likely to come this book without having read a significant proportion of the previous 10 books in the Scarpetta series and as such basing the novel looking back at previous events is not a problem provided it is well written which it is without a doubt. Also the characters seem a little less abrasive than usual though Marino is perhaps becoming a bit of a caricature. It will be interesting to see where she goes from here in Blowfly.

DNF. I'm not sure if it's because I accidentally skipped this book so I'm now very much farther in the life of Scarpetta, or what, but I couldn't get into this one. So, I'm not going to rate it. I have a feeling that I would have been more into it if I had read it at the time I should have.

Thrillingly tense and suspense filled, edge of your seat stuff.