mala la wea

I am still very much enjoying this series. The plots are very involved and very well thought out. The only reason I didn't go with 5 stars is because I felt it got bogged down every once in a while spending too much time on unimportant minutiae. For example, a flight and a hotel check in was described in detail (that had nothing to do with the plot) to the point that I started to wonder if I was missing something. (To put things in perspective, the flight home got one sentence). That didn't really detract from my enjoyment but I did notice more than once. This one could have used a little editing. These characters are endlessly fascinating to me. There is always some kind of antagonist and, in this case, it was a detective. I wasn't satisfied with that subplot. It wasn't bad by any means but could have been better. I still give this one a thumbs up. Continuing with this series...

All over the place and a bizarre ending. I suspect Cornwell has never visited a nuclear power station. I gave this book three stars because of the comedic value lawyer, doctor, diver and likely at some stage in a new story an astronaut!

I cannot help comparing Cornwell and Reich with the same tropes with Marino the walking heart attack and Skinny in Reich’s books. The wayward damaged niece Lucy and Reich’s stories a daughter both in the military or FBI. The love interests Ryan with Brennan and Wesley with Scarpetta. Both bosses of morgues. I prefer Reich’s character Brennan who seems more human and not an expert in everything. Rant over.

This story was odd. It started with the death of a reporter at a naval dockyards who appeared to have drowned. Then another death. Unprofessional policemen, an odd trip on Concorde to London for the day and Scarpetta angry a lot with her niece, lover, Marino, her staff, policemen and more or less everyone she meets. At least Brennan in Reich’s series has a cat she likes.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The ending was so abrupt. After a robot controlled by Lucy stunned the bad guys. Weirdly the cultist nutters were stealing I think rods for Libya? How they were going to sail away in a barge seems impossible to me or am I missing something?? I thought the mystery of who killed the reporter and Danny Scarpetta’s assistant would be resolved but it wasn’t really.

This is the weirdest place I’ve ever seen a mystery writer go and that’s saying a lot.

2,5⭐️

Forensisch patholoog Kay Scarpetta onderzoekt het lichaam van een overleden duiker. Het lijkt erop dat er 'gewoon' iets mis is gegaan. Maar toch voelt de situatie verdacht. Als haar assistent later dood wordt gevonden lijkt de zaak persoonlijk te worden...

Het begin en einde van dit boek vond ik best leuk. Aan het begin wordt namelijk interessant beschreven hoe dokter Scarpetta het onderzoek benadert. Aan het eind zit nog wat actie. Alles ertussenin was saai en voorspelbaar, helaas.

In Cause of Death, Cornwell immediately dives into her heroine's latest case and mystery. And, yes, that is a pun, because the first victim is found submerged in a river, and Kay joins the diving team in recovering the body. While everyone wants to rule the death a drowning, the tell-tale scent of arsenic informs Kay that the case is anything but an accident; rather, it's a murder. And that's just the start of a mystery which ends up touching close to home for Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and then spirals out of control into a national terrorist crisis. This is perhaps Kay's most dangerous case yet.

While Kay's niece Lucy, all her technology jargon, and all of her emotional baggage are still front and center in this novel, Cause of Death does not get bogged down too much in its subplots. The personal is present, but it's blended well into a mystery which starts fast and never lets up. Despite the presence of nuclear science, the clues in this book are accessible for the average reader, for they're more about the people and the psychology involved than anything else. What is not relatable is Kay's insistence upon inserting herself into dangerous situations and getting herself into messes she has no business becoming involved in. But perhaps this is why these books work so well, why they're so fun to read: while you and I have no business negotiating with terrorists, through Cornwell's Scarpetta, we can live an adrenaline packed existence... at least for a few hours – vicariously, of course.

I still love Marino.

If you are a fan of this series you may like this. Or not. This book appears to be an episode in a continuing story arc for the main characters, none of whose issues really engaged me. The main character, Va. Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, wonders why other characters from other agencies are hostile and uncooperative. I suspected it was because of Scarpetta's own arrogance and unprofessional behavior as she intrudes on investigations that are out of her jurisdiction and job description. This is especially true when she tries to shield her niece, an FBI agent, from possible danger instead of letting her do her job. (Spoiler alert.) However, after jetting on the Concorde to London with her (married) boss to interview a suspect (and have a quickie) Kay belatedly discovers the uncooperative officers are linked to the bad guys. Belatedly because by this time the cult's terrorists have taken over a nuclear power plant and threaten to irradiate half of Virginia unless, guess who, Kay can save the day. The book ends with a bang leaving enough loose ends to manufacture a mop.

flojito este libro si os digo la verdad

I liked the beginning, which I feel didn't match the end result. A reporter dies and Kay can tell immediately it was a murder. Also, she is being sabotaged and threatened which makes her instincts clearly right. She knew the reporter and so did Marino so it's pretty emotional.
Then Danny is killed, in Kay's car non the less, so it's obvious she's the target. Danny helped her with the autopsy of the reporter so another sad death.
Lucy's in a bigger role again and is being annoying with her auntie Kay. And Kay's pretty annoying with her not wanting her to be part of the case but then working with her in the end. Ugh, make your mind up.
Lucy creates a sort of robot that she steers and shows her abilities as a multitalented IT geek!
The case is about nuclear power plants and submarines which was a huge let down in this series, that's why the low rating.

9/22 I recently picked this up at the used bookstore, thinking that I had not read it. I wasn't far into it when I realized that I had. I don't remember the story, but I remember being irked that Cornwell had not researched the tidewater area well as just in the first 2 chapters she had some things ALL wrong! The community of Sandbridge does not sit between the Naval Amphibious Base and the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It sits between Back Bay and the Dam Neck base on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean; which at the time of the writing of this novel was identified as the Fleet Combat Training Center. The Naval Amphibious Base (Little Creek) sits on the Chesapeake Bay.
Additionally, the Inactive Naval Shipyard is not in Chesapeake, VA; it located in Portsmouth, VA.

Alright, I'm done with my rant, and I do enjoy these novels overall.