Is This Really Patricia Cornwell's Work

Advantages: Dr.Kay Scarpetta appears in it a couple of times
Disadvantages: Hard to follow and thoroughly boring

...Having been a long-time fan of Patricia Cornwell?s crime/suspense novels, I was happily surprised when I received her latest book, ?Isle of Dogs,? from my mom at Christmas. I hadn?t read anything by Cornwell in a while, so I was quite eager to get down to business and sink my teeth into my new prized possession. Thinking it was another book involving Virginia Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, I was most disappointed to find that only vague references were made to Dr. Scarpetta. In fact, she only appears once or twice in the entire novel. After reading the jacket cover (which I didn?t do when initially starting the book), I learned that this novel was an entirely different venue for Cornwell. It is her attempt at writing ?black humor.? Unfortunately, she fails miserably. There is little that is either remotely funny...

Pelenya 16.06.2002 · Read review
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Review of Isle Of Dogs - Patricia Cornwell

Dear Patricia... What's Happened ?

Advantages: Continues the Scarpetta series of books
Disadvantages: Poor plot, present tense writing, weaker characters

...I cannot tell you how much I was looking forward to this book. The last Scarpetta book was published in 2000, and previously to that, there had been one book a year since 1990. I started reading Blow Fly before Christmas, and I finished it 2 days ago. I suppose that says a lot about whether I liked the book or not. For me to take so long to finish a book is unheard of. In the past, I have read books in 2 or 3 days. Granted, that was before my husband and children came along ! Still, if I really like a book today, I will easily finish it within a week. All of Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books fall into the "finish within a week" category except, I am sad to say, Blow Fly. So, why is this ? The Plot ------------ The book is really a continuation of previous novels, and concerns the murderer known as the Wolfman. His real name is...

jo68 10.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of Blow Fly - Patricia Cornwell

Take this Home for Christmas!

Advantages: Lovely story, festive, well written
Disadvantages: Short

...Alison Dunwoody thought she had it all - a great job, good salary and a great life in New York City. But when the recession hits, Alison is shocked to find that she's lost her job. She's too embarassed to tell her family, and instead decides to fly home to Ireland and have Christmas with her parents, sister and 3 gorgeous nieces. Alison loves the feeling of being back home, but misses her new friend Jack from New York - he knows about her job loss and she can confide in him. Will Alison be able to keep her secret away from her family for her holiday? Or is Coming Home exactly what Alison needs to make her feel happy again? I have enjoyed a few Patricia Scanlan novels in the past, but I haven't read anything by her in a while now. I am a bit partial to anything festive so when I saw that her latest book was going to be based...

mummy2harry 13.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Coming Home - Patricia Scanlan

No one nicer ever won the lottery!!

Advantages: A wonderful poigniant tale
Disadvantages: None

..."My name is Perry L. Crandall and I am not retarded. Gram always told me the L stood for lucky." LOTTERY PATRICIA WOOD I have no idea how I managed it but at least three of the pile of books I picked up from my little mobile library have contained a lot of sadness and been very thought provoking. I?ll be all cried out by the time I go to replace them at this rate!! I started off with ?Where they were missed, then ?No Way Home? and I have just finished "Lottery" by Patricia Woods. This book is Ms Woods debut novel and was one of the short listed books for the 2008 Orange Prize for Fiction. THE STORY This story is narrated by thirty-two year old Perry, who has an IQ of 76. He is NOT retarded. "You have to have an IQ of less than 75 to be retarded. " Perry L. Crandall is a slow, but certainly not...

oldchem 09.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Lottery - Patricia Wood

The reader is at risk

Advantages: Title
Disadvantages: Characters, story lacking depth and detail.

...Background: As a compulsive, addicted reader of crime fiction, it would seem a surprise so far that I have not reviewed a novel by Patricia Cornwell. I have a very well read lady in my office who is always trying to encourage me to read a novel by this author. With that in mind I specifically went to the library and chose this book. Now at least I can discuss the merits of this author with her. About the author Patricia Cornwell was born in Florida on June 9th 1956. Her early career was in journalism, before she turned her attention to writing in 1970. Since then she has become an international best selling author, having racked up 21 novels already. With her most famous being the Kay Scarpetta series of which account for 16 of these. In 2007 her ?Book of the Dead? won the coverted BCA Crime thriller Award...

CPTDANIELS 21.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of At Risk - Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell beware!!

Advantages: Blinging newcomer
Disadvantages: Bit of a tangent mid-way through

...I think I may have been converted from Patricia Cornwell! For a newbie in the Crime/Thriller world, Karin Slaughter measures up rather nicely. Blindsighted is Karin's first novel and an absolute blinder at that! As stated by the Irish Independent, "This gripping debut novel...is likely to have Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs glancing nervously in their rear-view mirrors". I'm a huge fan of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs and Michael Connelly, so I felt that Karin Slaughter was a natural progression now that I have finished all the other's novels. *^*^*^*The Author*^*^*^* Karin Slaughter is a professional sign writer by trade but has fairly recently sold out to concentrate on writing (thank goodness!). She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia where she is finishing her 3rd novel, A Faint Cold Fear which is the 3rd book in...

blingblings 05.08.2003 · Read review
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Review of Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter

Cures insomnia in one fell swoop

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Such a let down from a once decent author

...It has just taken me over 3 weeks to read this book, which is so unusual. The majority of the Scarpetta series I have read in a day or two, the one previous to this took a little longer at about a week. But this book was so awful I struggled to even get to the end. It is such a shame because Patricia Cornwell has the ability to be such an excellent writer, but she has really let herself down badly with Book of the Dead, I haven't read a synopsis of the latest book Scarpetta, but I hope Patricia puts the series to rest in it, because judging by this one she's taken it a step too far. Its hard to say why this book was so bad without giving too much away about the storyline (or lack thereof!), so beware if you are an absolute spoiler hater you'll probably want to stop reading here. According to the synposis the book should be about...

Fiver29 20.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Scarpetta - Patricia Cornwell

You won't forget this book in a hurry!

Advantages: fabulous read
Disadvantages: none

...I can't believe that I have been reading books for all these years and this is the first novel I have read by Patricia Scanlan. What a treat I have been missing out on! She is a wonderful author and this book is so readable that from the very first page I was hooked and did not want to put it down. The book mainly tells the story of the run up to the wedding of Debbie and Adams and Bryan Kinsella. In the tradition of most fictional weddings there are lots of trials and tribulations particularly as Debbie can't stand her father and his new wife Aimee and does not want them at the wedding. Her long suffering mum Connie often finds herself stuck in the middle as the peacemaker. There are many other sub plots and strands as well though, making this read almost like a mini soap opera and keeping the reader's interest in all these different...

kingfisher111 17.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Forgive and Forget - Patricia Scanlan

Domestic violence and murder

Advantages: Interesting insight into domestic violence and immigration
Disadvantages: Ultimately not that memorable

.... Shelters for sufferers of domestic violence are out there; it's just they don't seem as well publicised as perhaps they should be. Patricia Hall's style of writing is, as expected, very plain and simple, which is perfect for the genre that she is writing. When reading crime fiction, it is the story which is important to me and I don't want it bogged down with too much description and long words. That isn't to say it reads like a twelve year old's, but it is very much in the style of a tabloid newspaper - probably not surprising as the author, real name Maureen O'Connor, is or was a journalist. That probably gives her an insight into the world of crime that most authors don't have. There isn't that much to criticise about the story, apart from the boring will they/won't they have children thread, which is really driving me mad now. However...

sunmeilan 05.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of By Death Divided - Patricia Hall

Scarpetta's last stand?

Advantages: Clever use of forensics and psychology
Disadvantages: Characters now a little dull

...Patricia Cornwell's novel "Trace" sees the return of Kay Scarpetta, the highly respected medical examiner who has been the chief character in a series of books since the mid-1990s. For those who are not familiar with the series, Kay Scarpetta is a forty-something high flier who has successfully solved a number of perplexing cases with the help of forensic science and the assistance of Pete Marino - a straight-talking hard-drinking cop, her niece Lucy - a brilliant young woman whose career in law enforcement has gone from strength to strength and her now lover Benton Wesley, an FBI profiler. While it is possible to read the novels independently or out of sequence, each subsequent book has referred to previous cases, sometimes with perpetrators re-appearing to seek revenge on Scarpetta. I read the first few books religiously but grew...

fizzytom 14.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Trace - Patricia Cornwell