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Winston Garano #1

At Risk

patricia cornwell

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A Massachusetts state investigator is called home from Knoxville, Tennessee, where he is completing a course at the National Forensic Academy. His boss, the district attorney, attractive but hard-charging, is planning to run for governor, and as a showcase she's planning to use a new crime initiative called At Risk; its motto: "Any crime, any time." In particular, she's been looking for a way to employ cutting-edge DNA technology, and she thinks she's found the perfect subject in an unsolved twenty-year-old murder—in Tennessee. If her office solves the case, it ought to make them all look pretty good, right?

Her investigator is not so sure—not sure about anything to do with this woman, really—but before he can open his mouth, a shocking piece of violence intervenes, an act that shakes up not only both their lives but also the lives of everyone around them. It's not a random event. Is it personal? Is it professional? Whatever it is, the implications are very, very bad indeed ... and they're about to get much worse.

Sparks fly, traps spring, twists abound—this is the master working at the top of her game.

289 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1,2006
Series
Winston Garano

This edition

Format
289 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
April 3, 2007 by Berkley Books
ISBN
9780425214763
ASIN
0425214761
Language
English

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About the author

Profile Image for patricia cornwell

patricia cornwell

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Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, in 1990 while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. Postmortem, was the first bona fide forensic thriller. It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature.

Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure prize – the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. To date, Cornwell's books have sold some 100 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She's authored twenty-nine New York Times bestsellers.

Patricia's novels center primarily on medical examiner Kay Scarpetta along with her tech-savvy niece Lucy and fellow investigator Pete Marino. Celebrating 25 years, these characters have grown into an international phenomenon, winning Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Fox 2000 bought the rights to Kay Scarpetta. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel's Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen.

After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer.

Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. From the Charlotte Observer, Cornwell moved to a job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia – a post she would later bestow upon the fictional Kay Scarpetta.

When not writing from her Boston home, Patricia tirelessly researches cutting-edge forensic technologies to include in her work. Her interests span outside the literary: Patricia co-founded of the Conservation Scientist Chair at the Harvard University Art Museums. She appears as a forensic consultant on CNN and serves as a member of Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital's National Council, where she advocates for psychiatric research. She's helped fund the ICU at Cornell's Animal Hospital, the scientific study of a Confederate submarine, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and a variety of law enforcement charities. Patricia is also committed to
funding scholarships and literacy programs. Her advice to aspiring authors: “Start writing. And don't take no for an answer.”


Social and Digital Outlets

http://www.patriciacornwell.com

https://www.facebook.com/patricia.cor...

https://twitter.com/1pcornwell

https://instagram.com/1pcornwell/


Other areas of expertise & interests
Forensics | Forensic Technologies | Ballistics | Weapons | Explosives | Pathology & Autopsies | Crime | Historical and Unsolved Criminal Cases | Jack The Ripper | Helicopter Piloting | Suba Diving | Archaeological Excavation Experience |

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
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40(40%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
DDGG
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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From IMDb:
A district attorney wants to further her political dreams by solving an old murder.

Quite interesting but a not so appealing book. I am not so sure I'll put some effort to read this new series by Patricia Cornwell.
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Est
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Patricia Cornwell’s most recent paperback, At Risk, is probably a cautionary title suitable for the reader. Cornwell, who is best known for her award-winning series on the forensic scientist, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, offers a mystery involving a 20-year old murder in Tennessee and the assault of a Massachusetts’ DA, Monique Lamont. Investigating both crimes is Boston detective, Winston Garano. I am leery of saying more as I don’t want to raise any reader’s hopes that this is a good mystery.

I wish I could say that the various twists and turns make for fascinating reading, but the characters are mostly unsympathetic and hard to relate to. This is a real shame as Cornwell’s Scarpetta novels were fascinating reads in their early days. I don’t know what has happened. It seems that Cornwell has somehow slipped off the track. In general, I go into reading particular authors favorably disposed towards them. However, the last few of Cornwell’s books, and in particular, At Risk, do not hold one’s interest, much less invoke much interest to begin with. I think there was potential here for a very good political thriller. However, neither Cornwell nor the reader can muster much passion for these characters. That is sad. What makes this even more tragic is that the writing is spread out and enlarged for a small paperback. This could easily have been rewritten as a short story, or at most, a novella. I cannot in good conscience recommend the book, even if one is a Cornwell fan.

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Lmaoborgini
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This could have been a great story, but there were too many plot points packed into too short of a book for this to be enjoyable. There was a 20-year old unsolved murder, political fighting, new developments in using DNA to solve crimes, secret scheming, break-ins, etc. Lots and lots of things happening, but nothing was developed in enough depth for it to matter. Short novels are great, but the plot won't make sense with so many competing storylines crunched together. There were a lot of times that I felt like parts of the story were missing. I reread a lot of sections to try and find how we went from one point to another, and there was no connection. I also didn't really understand what happened at the end. This was not a good introduction to Cornwell's new main character, Win Garano.
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RealYRC
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Very easy to read change from Scarpetta, but it lacked the punch. It was an ok read, but if there are any more in the series, I wouldn't rush to read them.
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imdeadnow
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book is a compilation of a serial story written for the New York Times Magazine....and it shows. I felt like I was reading that first draft. In these days of ghost written franchises (Robert Ludlum, Lawrence Saunders) At Risk doesn't read quite like a Cornwell work; I found myself re-reading sentences that didn't make sense the first time through. Makes me wonder.
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Bleodsian
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Ok, so this is the 1st book in the Winston Garano series by Patricia Cornwell and, I should have read it first Lol Win "Geronimo" Garano is a Mass. State Police investigator, who works for the D.A.'s office and more specifically for D.A. Monique Lamont. In this book Monique is attacked in her own home raped and set up to be killed and her home burned. Win comes in the nick of time and saves her from being killed and her home burned. In the course of the book Win who has been sent to Tennessee for more training gets told by D.A. Lamont to try to solve a 20 yr old murder committed in Tennessee...fast paced good book...A bit different from Ms. Cornwell's Scarpetta novels and worth the read.
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giddy27
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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2.5/5.0 - A non-Kay Scarpetta mystery/crime book by Patricia Cornwall, nothing special, just a quick read. Written in 2006, this looked like it might be the start of a new series, but only one more was ever published. Apparently the female DA, running for governor and the handsome, quirky African-American investigator generated enough interest that a Lifetime movie was made from the book, though perhaps that was the motivation behind it all along. Not one of Cornwall's best efforts. The plot was convoluted, the characters were underdeveloped, and it left me wanting more, but not in a good way.
Pop Sugar #23: A book with something broken on the cover
Book 64 of 2021
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Kionova35
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Difficilmente do una stellina ad un libro, ma questo proprio ne merita addirittura mezza.
Mi domando dove sia finita la Patricia Cornwell della brillante Kay Scarpetta...
Un libro senza capo ne coda, un cold case, caso irrisolto di parecchi anni addietro, tirato in ballo per affari poco leciti.
Scrittura così così, unica nota di pregio il fatto di essere corto, per cui si legge in un attimo, anche solo per sapere dove l'autrice vuol andar a parare.
Delusione totale per una scrittrice che amavo.
Sconsigliato.
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