Scarpetta Mass Market Paperback – August 25, 2009

With each book, more insight and depth of the characters are explored. Story telling keeps you interested and moves you to the next book.

This was a very talky book, but somehow the plot and characters evolved. Whether the author intended it or not, I knew who done it long before the characters seemed to suspect. These characters with 2-storey apartments on Central Park and private helicopters with pilots available 24/7 add a fairytale quality, and not in a good way.

Because you can’t wait to find out who done it! You don’t have to have read any other books in the series,it all is explained

I have been a long time fan of Patricia Cornwell. From the begining her writting style and attention to details draws you in. Her main characters, Pete Marino, Lucy, Benton Wesley and of course...Kay Scarpetta; you just feel like a very close friend of them all. In her recent books, every move, every action, their thoughts and emotions towards each other were as dissected as an autopsy that Scarpetta would perform! It was to the point of ridiculous, they didn't trust each other more often than not. Not only were you looking for the killers you were wondering what was going on between all of them, it was to text book. No one moves in life like that, Patricia Cornwell was over compensating and it was as if everyone was under a microscope??! This new book, AWESOME...none of the main characters were looking over their shoulders at each other like a soap opera on speed. The details and forensic analysis were where they were supposed to be...in the killers actions, the crime scenes and the creative thinking and experience of the characters to solve this. Patricia Cornwell made them human again in this book. All the human faults that are a true part of life not the sterilized and emotionless people they were all becoming in the previous books. I just finished reading it on my Kindle 2 I might add, I just could not put this book down. It was perfect from start to finish! This...this is the writting style and stories I've come to know and love from Patrica Cornwell. The psychological mind of the killer and what he/she does to his victims and how it's unravelled by the experts of Marino, Lucy, Benton and Kay who does justice to the victims of horrific crimes and are treated with dignity and respect. Kay's compassion and professionalism helps capture the killer while she cares to the victim(s) who can no longer speak for themselves. This is excellent; a must read.

Scarpetta feels like a book that has come full circle in this fascinating study of a woman who walks a far different career path than most of the women in this world. She has resolved many of the conflicts of her character through intense self examination following the near rape by Marino and the loss of her beloved secretary Rose. The story also resolves questions as to what has happened to Marino her long time loyal sidekick. Lucy has finally maturated into a likeable character.The story of little people has rarely been told before, certainly not in a high profile way by a top of the trees author such as Patricia Cornwell, and I was very happy to learn more about this topic. The characters were compelling and sad, as was the story of Shrew and the heartbreaking puppy mills that exist in our society. There was a lot of technology introduced that boggles the mind when one considers the state of the science and how Lucy has taken it to levels unimaginable by most of us. The psychopathic killer was a surprise and yet there were clues aplenty throughout. I am also very glad that Kay and Benton have come to a place of peace between them. It is about time. Another excellent and gripping story by this author.

The novel starts with the murder of an adult female little person with her adult male little person boyfriend as the main suspect. Oscar, the boyfriend has checked himself into the Psyche unit in NYC with, claims someone has been tracking him. He refuses to be examined by anyone but Kay Scarpetta. Both Oscar and his girlfriend are super fans of Kay. Benton asks Kat to come to NYC to meet with Oscar. Meanwhile police are combing the victim’s apartment for clues. Also a shocking story about Kay’s personal life appears on a trashy gossip website. Lucy, Kay’s niece is doing forensic computer mining of the victim’s computer and bringing down the gossip website. Most of the novel is centered on who is trashing Kay and if there is any connection between the victim, Oscar and the website. There is no forensic autopsy dialogue but some crime scene discovery by Kay. I would have preferred there to be more depth of forensics and less about negative media exposure about Kay. Also, I still don’t understand what was going on in the basement of the pet store or why that was even included in the book. It seems like unnecessary filler to me. Love Cornwell books, just not this time.

I have to admit, the previous Scarpetta books were lacking. You see, Patricia Cornwell has spoiled us with her early Scarpetta works like All That Remains, that anything less is not acceptable.Her early books were the front runners for all of the forensics shows on TV now -Then things went amiss. Cornwell's characters started losing their personalities, roaming from town to town, trying to get the Virginia magic back.It got so bad that in the last book, Book of the Dead, things exploded, and Marino, who has been treated almost as a cartoon-like character, assaulted Scapetta and disappeared.So now, in this latest Cornwell book, I was hesitant to read it. But am glad I did.While it is long winded in terms of the little person who would only talk to Scarpetta, all of the characters (less Rose who passed away) return in a semblance of their former selves.Marino has lost weight and the bad attitude, and is in a program for drinking. He is still a special investigator and is on a murder case Benton and Scarpetta are on.Peace is somehow restored, and the chemistry starts again.The details of the murder, and the kind of easy to guess who done it, well, you will find it an easy and enjoyable read.Welcome back Patricia Cornwell!