Good continuation of Kay Scarpetta's life and job.

Uno dei miei preferiti, probabilmente non uno dei più belli ma sarà il fatto che si intrecciano,oltre che la storia thriller anche molti legami sentimentali nuovi o rinnovati. Kay e Benton ad esempio. Li ho amati dal primo istante sebbene la loro storia sia almeno in questo libro completamente clandestina dato che lui è sposato la situazione di Kay non sia precisamente limpida dato che conosce anche la moglie. Eppure per quel poco che viene ritagliato del libro all’ambito sentimentale vi sono piaciuti subito. Bella anche la story line che riconduce a Lucy che è un personaggio che ho amato e odiato ,nel senso che Lucy non mi è mai stata simpatica né mai lo sarà,però la contestualizzazione , la sua crescita all’interno della serie letteraria mi è piaciuta moltissimo. Anche il fatto che sia stata data a lei la natura omosessuale all’epoca era effettivamente un azzardo che apprezzai moltissimo. Devo come sempre citare Pete Marino che rimane veramente il gioiellino di caratterizzazione come personaggio non principale di tutta la serie letteraria .Ovviamente la storia della morte orribile della piccola Emily Steiner fa da sfondo interessantissimo dietro il quale si muovono questi protagonisti. Merita.
Per me uno di quei libri che a distanza di molto tempo non ho dimenticato ma riletto volentierissimo .

Fantastic!

When all the books you have in the series are #1 and #5, you just read what you can lol. I need the full series asap.
4 solid stars.

29/3 - I agree with the other reviewers who said that the title of this book is misleading, this book is more about the FBI than it is the body farm. It would have made more sense to name it Quantico or something else that refers to where a lot of the book is located, instead of a very interesting place that really only gets a mention near the beginning and a quick visit at the end. If a book is titled The Body Farm you would expect the body farm to make a big impact on the story, possibly for the body to be found at the body farm and for Scarpetta to spend most of the book determining how it got there and why (there was a Bones episode that features a similar scenario, The Feet on the Beach) or for there to be a need to do numerous experiments with bodies to determine some fact pertinent to the case, not just one, most of which was done off the page.

Marino is being a particularly large jerk in this book and shows hints of future assholery (that I won't mention further because it would be a huge spoiler for a book far into the future) that makes me mad just thinking about it. I've already started the next book, From Potter's Field and don't see how Scarpetta can (or think I could) go back to behaving normally around Marino. After the way he treated her and Benton I can't believe she was able to go back to the semi-healthy working relationship she had with him before. In my head I always imagined Marino looking and behaving like Skipp Sudduth's character John 'Sully' Sullivan in Third Watch, who isn't particularly appealing in personality or (to be honest) appearance.

Unfortunately, I had to dock a star due to the false advertising of a book about the body farm that wasn't actually about the farm at all and because I have a question about the passage of time between this book and the previous one. On page 74 of Cruel and Unusual Lucy is described as being Kay's 17-year-old niece, but on page four of The Body Farm she is described as being 21 which conflicts with the fact that on page 19 Gault's murder of Eddie Heath is described as being "nearly two years" earlier. For me that's a really irritating, and easily avoidable, mistake to make. If you know your characters well, you shouldn't get confused as to how old they are from one book to the next. Unless of course it was done on purpose so that Lucy would be realistically old enough to be working for the FBI and she just hoped that with the passage of time, between the publication of one book and the next, no one would notice (naughty, naughty *shakes finger* that's not very respectful to readers who notice details and enjoy rereading an entire series one book after another).

2,5

I really liked this one! Definitely brought me back into the original reason i love the series. The mystery and the anxiety is just perfect and i could feel how stressed Kay was when she realized who the killer was.

Only thing keeping this from a 5 star is how rushed the ending seemed. I assume she will continue further with Lucy’s arc in the next book?

I am still not sure if I dislike the author's writing, or if the books are just so old that I dislike the books because they are just that dated.

The stupid Lucy storyline:
1)There has never been any indication prior to this book that there was any reason to even hint that Lucy had an addictive personality, and or had a problem with drinking. So, it's amazing how in only the course of one book, Lucy became this supposed alcoholic.
2)The lesbian storyline. I think Patricia was starting to question her own sexuality with this book, because there is absolutely no reason or previous hints, that would have lead anyone to believe that Lucy simply getting her cigarette lit by a pair of female hands means that she's a lesbian. It felt very out of the blue that suddenly Kay was suspecting of Lucy's sexual preferences.

The Benton storyline:
I actually didn't mind this, though I was rather ambivalent towards it one way or the other. I do like Benton, so perhaps thats why.

The Merino storyline:
Meh. Did not like it. Didn't like any of it. His jealousy though did make more sense than the entire Lucy plots.

The killer storyline:
Meh. Didn't like. Didn't care. Saw it coming long before.

Kay's sister Dorothy:
Never liked her. Flat out hate her from the first mention in this book.

Kay:
It's amazing how idiotic the rest of the world is compared to Kay. Kay is super investigator! She can do anything, and the FBI is stooooopid. The police are stoooooopid. Only Kay can save the day! Only Kay can find the killer!

Title: The title of this book was pointless to the plot. The Body Farm was in one scene, and I don't even actually remember why it was necessary. I think she would have been better off calling it Coins for the Ferryman or something like that. Something actually appropriate.

Other than the fact that I already have them all loaded in my itunes, I'm not actually sure I care if I finish the rest of the series or not.

I must say if I had to choose between Temperance Brennan or Kay Scarpetta... I'm Team Bones all the way. The Scarpetta books are so meh.

This is a well-written, entertaining, fast paced forensic crime thriller. It has an intelligent, strong and capable female protagonist, murder, mystery, wit, family and relationship drama, and a satisfying conclusion. This novel is the fifth entry in Ms. Cornwell's outstanding Kay Scarpetta series, and it is best when it is read in order, for continuity and to understand the interactions between the characters. I listened to the audio version of this novel, and the narrator, Ms. C. J. Critt, does an excellent job giving voice to the characters.

Needed less Marino and Lucy

The first books in the Scarpetta series are so great. The last books about Scarpetta I don't like so much anymore, stopped reading them two or so books ago. No more fascination, even boredom. But this book, in the beginning of the series.... Great suspense story!

No surprises ... just a thoroughly enjoyable forensic procedural investigation!

Nothing unique or compelling here! No surprises, intrigue, thrills, spills or chills! Just a good solid police procedural that focuses on forensic investigation and is predictably interesting - no ... let's make that gripping - informative reading coupled with great dialogue and compelling in depth character building in an ongoing series. This is Kay Scarpetta's fifth appearance in the literary world as the consulting forensic pathologist for FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and the series continues to move triumphantly from one success to another.

This particular novel deals with the disturbing murder of 11 year old Emily Steiner. The title of the novel derives from the most interesting part of the entire novel - the details of the research into the scientific minutiae of a body's decay after death. This research is carried out at the University of Tennessee's Decay Research facility, known colloquially as the Body Farm. It is absolutely fascinating and would lead one to wonder how it is possible in this day and age that a criminal actually gets away with anything!

Part of the appeal of Cornwell's writing is that she so effortlessly weaves Scarpetta's professional life and the details of the case at hand into the complex, uncomfortably difficult story of her personal life and the development of the characters around her. Pete Marino, her friend, long-time colleague and undoubtedly frustrated admirer with an unrequited fondness for Scarpetta, wallows in self-pity and begins to unravel as he finds himself in a most unprofessional relationship with one of the suspects in the Steiner murder. Lucy, Scarpetta's niece, is a computer whiz working on an internship at FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. She is charged with violating security and it is clear she is headed nowhere in life until she clears her name professionally and resolves substance abuse issues. Scarpetta herself wrestles with the difficulties of an affair with a married colleague.

Not a lightweight subject, to be sure, but thoroughly enjoyable light reading that will guarantee a break from the workaday world. Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss