As my first Patricia Cornwell book, I had high hopes. Sadly, with this book anyway, I was fairly disappointed. Nothing about it engaged or interested me; it felt very...empty, severely lacking in actual story. However I won't let it put me off as I've heard such great things about the Kay Scarpetta series

"....a brand-new Cornwell thriller, a book filled with all the chilling suspense, rich characters, and trademark forensics that have made her an international phenomenon. But what she does with those ingredients is a revelation."

I was unable to find any chilling suspense, rich characters or much of ANY forensics in this book. How can an author that was at one time so good at her craft create characters that the reader just does not care about?

After the last Kay Scarpetta novel, I had sworn off Cornwell, then a friend gave me At Risk for an airplane read for a return trip. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) she made no comment when offering me the book only that she had read it on the trip out. If I'd had anything else to read, if I could have turned on the television, if I'd had an interesting seatmate, if I'd had an uninteresting seatmate, if I'd had ANY alternative . . . . if I hadn't read the leaf notes and kept thinking "it must get better"

This one is so bad, I don't even want to pass it on to the rummage sale at church or the bag for the thrift shop. I'm not sure that I can in good conscience foist this onto some poor unsuspecting Cornwell fan . . . perhaps this book is why the recycle bin was invented!

I kind of liked this -- I liked Win and loved Grandma and Miss Dog. Also loved the threat Win made to the sleaze who was bothering his ex-girlfriend and was mean to the dog. This book was short and succinct -- are those the same thing?? Did not like that Sykes put her job on the line to help Win. This was a lot better than The Front, which I read first. It was kind of a relief from Kay Scarpetta and Lucy and Benton and all that drama. But -- I'll still read Autopsy when it comes out.

I’ve been wanting to try PC’s books for a while. My husband stopped at a yard sale and grabbed a box of books, cheap,not know what was in it.

I tried. Really I did. I read two chapters and then just skimmed. I thought maybe it just wasn’t my kind of book, but decided to check reviews on here. It’s not just me! The writing is choppy and made me feel like I was missing something. Several times I re read sentences trying to figure out what I missed. When really thing just aren’t written well.

I did see where people liked her books before this one, so maybe I will try and go back and find one I might like but I won’t waste my money on them. I’ll either hit the library or look at another yard sale. This one and the next in the series are headed out the door.

Not a Kay Scarpetta detective, but a short cold case story.
I felt the author was skipping relevant details jumping scenes and making for a fast read.
Although we are given the answers by the end of the book the bad guys seemed to stand out throughout.
If you are after a quick read then this is the book for you.

Terrible all around! Whatever happened to Cornwell's writing and why did it get this bad? I remember reading her Scarpetta novels 7-8 years ago and they were captivating and well written. This book is just utter garbage, seriously folks don't waste your time. I actually thought that for a few chapters there, I was reading some of James Patterson's work - the flimsy characters and the short chapters with a shock factor at the end.

Hmm, trying to find something good to say about this book. Well the character of miss dog was quite good? Apart from that majorly disappointed!

I'd picked up this book a while back at a charity book sale when I was thoroughly enjoying the Scarpetta series. That was before the Scarpetta books took a dive down in quality, so this book remained in my book pile for some time. (Yet, I have been considering rereading the Scarpetta series because I've a few left to read, and I can't remember all the character history).

I finally decided to give this a read, and was surprised to find it wasn't too bad. Although it's extremely short I thought the main character, Winston Garano, likeable enough and engaging. He's given a decent back story, but it does fall into the all-too-often used category of tragedy in his youth that drives him to be a highly focused and doggedly determined police officer. Maybe one day someone will write a crime novel where the main character had a comfortable and boring upbringing and lives a life free from personal tragedy.

The thing that I thought went against this novel is the plot is just too over-complicated. Many of the elements really didn't need to be there in the first place. For a novel that is supposed to be about a cold case, why drag all the politics and a sexual assault into the mix? It comes across as adding shock value to draw in readers, but all it does it push the cold case into the background. I'm now wondering if this series will be about cold cases or new cases.

I'm interested enough to read the next in the series.

Didn't think a lot of this one, to be honest. Cornwell is usually good at developing a story and characters, and including an interesting mixture of people you like, and those you really don't, but not here. The book was short, characters rather two dimensional and the plot was pretty unclear... Not one of her better ones unfortunately. Won't stop me reading others whenever I start to feel too safe in my own home...

this novel I really enjoyed. I really got into the characters and what they are all about.
Didn't seem like the same characters I've read in other books, they had a little difference and were interesting. I thought the story was different than others, and the twists kept me wondering, which I like as I try to figure things out lol. I can't wait to see what happens with the characters in future novels since this is the first in the series.

Read this over the last 2 months and finished it two days ago. On the whole not bad, but it was a “taste test” of what to expect from Patricia Cornwell, going into Autopsy, before realising that was “book 22” in a series. So instead, a “taster” for Post Mortem, the other book I was originally intrigued by 2 years ago.

At Risk is mostly a story of police investigation mixed with political beuracracy. Ironically, “At Risk”, is the name of the next-generation DNA testing program Washington DC., DA Monique Lamont, an aspiring politician, wants to put in place for making murder cases more easier to solve. And make for a good start on the campaign trail. In doing so she pulls in Special Investigator, Winston “Win” Garano from Massachusetts down to Knoxville, to solve a 20+ year old murder case. And “At Risk” will be the lifeline to make it happen.

Detective Win Garano is asked to reopen a twenty-year-old murder case, and soon finds himself endangered by the political ambitions of a district attorney. Her eyes are on the Governor’s Mansion, she will stop at nothing to get a leg up. The DA has decided she wants to toss her hat into the ring for the upcoming gubernatorial race and needs an edge. She’s created a new program she calls At Risk, utilizing new technology of DNA analysis. When a violent crime hits close to home, Win receives a mysterious phone call. Special Agent, Win Garano slowly starts to piece the puzzle together piecing it all together.

The character Winston Garano and his backstory is intriguing. The development of characters is decent enough and the story flows smoothly. I did not feel a connection to the characters in this book as I have in most of this author's other books. Having said this, it was a good story and I will read book #2 and see if I feel differently.