Fue un libro emocionante desde el principio hasta el final, no puedo creer todo lo que tuvieron que hacer para poder llegar a atrapar a Gault (el asesino) y en como fueron descubriendo los pedazos en su vida en donde demostró que desde pequeño tenia tendencias psicópatas. La forma en la que comienzan a ligar cada uno de los asesinatos es fantástica, la autora tiene todo demasiado calculado.

En este libro la doctora Kay me desespero un poco porque era demasiado terca, un asesino en serie te esta persiguiendo y te sales sola a la calle y expones a los demás por andar cuidándote y al final lloras porque no los quieres poner en peligro, que onda Kay, lo bueno es que reaccionaste y espero que vuelvas a ser la misma mujer segura de si misma y que piensa mucho antes de actuar. Y después de pregunta porque su sobrina Lucy es demasiado terca (lo aprendió de ti).

En este libro vemos a un Benton que se comienza a alejar un poco de Kay, no se si es porque su esposa ya descubrió el romance o porque simplemente tiene miedo que la doctora se este enamorando más de la cuenta. Esperaré al siguiente libro para averiguarlo.

The at-least-three novels that were all "about" Temple Gault (birth name, srsly) showed an obvious progression, or is it digression when it gets worse? The problem was less that I have a dozen of those books, it's that the two I bought outside the series are now spoiled to me. I had really liked Hornet's Net and thought it smart and witty and showing a different type of m/f relationship, so I ran to get the follow up - then never read it. NOW I see how Cornwell went from her first novels (which I consider standard, most consider best, critics consider that start of something exceptional which I still try to figure out) to the disjointed jump-scene multi-plot style of the Andy series. I still do not want to join the many critics who hated these off-side novels, I want to still think they are more Cornwell and really good, but having just finished Scarpetta 7 I still cannot say if Cornwell is having a piss, attempting the most subtle subtext of all time, or just truly bad. I had accredited odd similes to an original imagination and the complete lack of any showing to a tight pov where the heroine keeps huge facts from us as well as the others but - no, the Scarpetta series really is so utterly bad that I should drop that hope. Which means I misunderstood Hornet's Net after all?

I've neglected to write reviews, which I regret, but I wanted to wait and see how an overview would shape my perception. As usual (with books that are fairly popular) I can't help wonder about and react to critiques I've read. The blurb recommendations make no sense. There is nothing extraordinary and there is no way to claim each book as as good. The cover work is great, the titles raise interest - and there's the problem. As said before, Body Farm and Potters Field are actually false advertising. There is nothing harrowing, since we are never with the victims or the killers. There is no psychology, but then there can be all types of crime novels and Cornwell's are procedurals - she has Wesley for a bit of psychology/profiling, but Scarpetta's job is medical.

If we see this series as procedurals, we can take it like any of a number of modern crime shows on TV, most of which I cannot watch because they are so boring, now having lots and lots of extreme gore but not actually that much more plot than stuffy oldies. Scarpetta could be a TV show, but AFAIK only her rival Bones has one. These shows generally have the same small amounts of private moments, jokes and romance decorating the crime plots as Cornwell has in her novels, BUT novels are a lot longer than a 40 min show, and having trawled through 7 x atleast 370 pages I have to concede that it's way too little - and nothing progresses. As mentioned I was initially unsure if significant events happening between the novels was meant to be a sort of smart trick, but no, -i- must must must accept it just isn't, just like her buying a new house, buying a new car, in every book isn't, because they never feel different, there is never a sense of surrounding or private life, and to have her put out a cookbook is ridiculous for that matter as well.

The cars should matter more simply because she spends most of the time in every book inside one. She still seems to do nothing but travel, back and forth, take planes a few times a day, spend millions on journeys one would expect to be made by another or instead her phoning the other person. Where in the first six books the last of each journey led her to Key West or Miami or some other warm ocean site where she has a 4 hour holiday and gets vital info from some recluse no police contacted, she seems to have abandoned that as well now. While still making an annoying fuss about mynieceLucy, which gets more grating the older this FBI agent becomes, Scarpetta then singlehandedly kills the murderer. When she did in Gault I actually laughed, not because I'm a convert to gore but because it was so ridiculous - that guy was not a monster, he was the least sadistic of serial killers I ever heard about, but that's mainly because she never found a reason for him to do anything, let alone a real signature or grah anything.

But what Gault had done to his sister ages ago was more in the line of true evil - something Cornwell believes in, sadly with more lauding of church (and army; and police). Again one could say she is not setting out to write psychologically, it should be ok to give no reasons and motives for bad men becoming murderers, but the tiny glimpses were Cornwell was good was precisely when she made apt observations. To hide behind Scarpetta, to claim that the heroine is misunderstood because she hides her pain, that falls flat after so many books. To repeat someone is a monster and that a body had been dumped somewhere does not make it any more harrowing - to have a body slightly mutilated after death simply isn't monstrous or shocking, and one can't feel upset if one never knew anything of the victims or how their loss destroyed others lives. Scarpetta saying that in the past she had gotten hives does neither make her more sympathetic to me nor more convincing - I never thought her cold, but the books don't describe tragedies, aren't even evoking any emotion.

When one has to point at someone like Elizabeth George, who also got very very bad, and say that that's still some proper writing, it's sad. But when Cornwell decided not to focus on the victims, not to focus on the criminals, she had to focus on the detectives. And to have those just be told about in increasingly unconvincing snippets does not turn a series of descriptions of laboratories from a guide or hand-book into a novel.

Perhaps _From Potter's Field_ was not the best Patricia Cornwall book for me to start with. I always hear the hype about the Kay Scarpetta books, but the quality of the writing and the author's knowledge of her subject seems, well, weak. I had always assumed Cornwall was or had been a medical examiner. Halfway through _From Potter's Field_ I found myself looking for her bio and was not at all surprised that she actually had been a crime reporter and worked as tech writer and a computer analyst in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia. Maybe that is why I feel the medical details in the novel ring false. Or maybe I have just been spoiled by Kathy Reichs, who has a wonderful flair for sharing the more technical aspects of her profession with clarity, while not dumbing-down the information. [return][return]I will, of course, give Cornwall another shot - this is the sixth book in the Scarpetta series - perhaps I simply selected a novel Cornwall phoned in. After all, _Postmortem_ (1991) has the distinction of making Cornwall the only author ever to win the Edgar Award, John Creasey Memorial Award, Anthony Award, and Macavity Award all in the same year.

4+ stars

#6 in Dr. Kay Scarpetta series AND, more importantly, the last of the little mini-series/trilogy within the series (installments #4, 5 & 6). I really like this series, and was pretty satisfied with the wind up, or what at least seems to be the wind-up of the Temple Gault/Carrie Grethen-related trilogy (but you really never know with them). This was a stronger installment than some others I have read (before & after it in the series) and me tense throughout worried that something would happen, although there is a little more waiting for something to happen than actually does happen. This one takes place in VA (Richmond & Quantico) and NYC and the usuals are back: Benton Wesley (FBI); Marino (a Capt now, what?) and Lucy (Dr. Kay's niece; computer genius; intern at FBI). Lucy's age progression and timing of book doesn't add up, but I complained about that in #5's review, plus there were a lot less glaring procedural or common-sense errors that it was easier to enjoy the better storyline and intensity of this installment.

As good as any other.

Does not age well.

"Bila sam tako umorna da to nisam mogla nikome objasniti. Moje je raspoloženje bilo nadogradnja mnogih slojeva boli i tuge koji su se počeli slagati još dok sam bila mlada. S godinama, samo sam dodavala nove."

A gruesome but oddly familiar modus operandi for a murder in New York, sees signs that Scarpetta's nemesis has returned!

With some significant character and situational development Gault comes back all guns blazing! It could be argued that the Gault cases are when this series was at it's best, although it might just be the familiarity. Anyhows another pretty good installment in this rather good ongoing series. 7 out of 12.

I read this a while back but slowed down from reading more in the series. The later books had taken more of a depressing turn and even though I liked the character of Kay Scarpetta, I needed a change.

I've read a lot of Cornwell's books. The one thing that irks me the most about Scarpetta is that she doesn't let people help her when the big baddie is determined to fuck her shit up. They want her to temporarily move to a safe house, and even when she lets people stay over- it's like pulling teeth. They aren't being unreasonable, because Kay, this person wants to target you and they know where you live.

This happens in every single book.

Li os primeiros cinco livros da série "Kay Scarpetta" em Abril de 2012 e depois parei. Na altura entusiasmava-me muito com séries de policiais e queria lê-las assim seguidas, mas acabava por me cansar de ler sempre sobre o mesmo. O que é perfeitamente normal. Hoje em dia gosto de variar nos géneros e autores. Aliás, não lia um policial há algum tempo, por isso decidi continuar esta série moderadamente.

Sinceramente, tantos livros diferentes depois, só tinha uma ideia dos livros anteriores. No entanto, este livro faz várias referências ao passado e foi fácil apanhar o fio à meada. Kay Scarpetta é uma médica legista com uma personalidade forte e valores bem definidos. É uma mulher independente que vive quase exclusivamente para o trabalho. No entanto, nesta fase da vida dela, tem a sobrinha a trabalhar perto.

Neste livro, Kay persegue um assassino em série que a tem vindo a atormentar. Achei curioso passar-se na noite de Natal, foi uma daquelas coincidências. É uma história interessante, porque a Patricia Cornwell tem um dom para contar histórias e mantém-nos sempre em cima da ação. Não ficarei tanto tempo sem ler esta série novamente.

This is an entertaining, well-written, fast paced forensic thriller. It is a police procedural with an intelligent, strong and capable female protagonist, murder, intrigue, Ms. Cornwell's classic dry wit, twists and turns, and a satisfying conclusion. This novel can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone, but it is better when read in order for continuity. I listened to the audio version of this novel, and the narrator, Ms. C. J. Critt, does an outstanding job voicing the characters. {Note: I have had my own experience with records A-J, and the $20 fee, and Ms. Cornwell accurately portrays this.}