The Last Precinct is and outstanding novel. In this one Cornwell manages to turn Scarpetta into a victim. Along the way we learn a lot about Scarpetta's past also. Her love for FBI profiler Benton Wesley that has been going on for a long time. Kays job has put her in touch with many law enforcement colleages and other's as well. Kay Scarpetta is a go getter and won't stop until she gets to the bottom of what ever she is dealing with. YOU GO GIRL! This book deserves more than 5 star's, not sure why there is so many 1 star's unless people don't like forensic mystery's.

I've read a few others in the series and all were better than this. An amazing number of pages are reading the protaganist agonizing over her life. She comes across as a lost angry angsty middle aged woman in mourning. The mystery/murder is really shoved in back of Dr. Kay feeling sorry for herself. I would say 2/3 of the book is angsty anger and introspection and 1/3 is the murder plot. As I titled this review, it was very painful to get through. I won't buy another book from this author - I'm shocked she thought that this was something people would read for pleasure.

Ok I am late to start reading this series and it started out good and the more books I read the more irritated and bored I am getting but I just can't stop reading in the middle of a series...
Am I the only one who notices that the ages of some of the characters just don't add up...there are references to how long Kay has been in Virginia and Lucy was 10 in the first book and now she is 28 in this one but yet Kay and Marino haven't seemed to have aged those same 18 years at all...I guess I notice it more because I have read pretty much one book a day every day for the last few weeks in this series and so the progression just doesn't seem to add up to me.
Anyway the longer this series goes on I think the more far fetched it is getting I mean old homicides are now being linked up to new homicides and Kay has been almost murdered how many times now?! And she has lost countless employees and loved ones...how much can one person take, Scarpetta is like superwoman or something...anyway I know this review isn't really that good but I had to vent. Has anyone else noticed the age thing? or feel the same way about the story lines? I feel like I am reading a soap opera now...I hope the rest of the books get better, if not at least there are only 5 more for me to read to finish this series...

Cornwell always writes in vivid color. Some of her books have been my favorites. However. I think her plots are strong enough that she does not need to have such descriptive details. I find myself skipping these descriptions. Marino has become my favorite character ahead of Scarpetta. If you like violence this is the book for you. By Ruth Thompson author of "The Bluegrass Dream" and "Natchez Above The River"

Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelTravelersThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early SettlersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War

I recently read(listened to on CD) Black Notice, The Last Precinct and Blow Fly all one after the other on my two-hour daily commute. The Last Precinct was a very disappointing, almost time-wasting, read. I see that others felt the same way. It spends a lot of time inside Kay's head with few revelations and even less plot. After a while, I found Anna to be a pain in the butt. The interaction between the two was fake and contrived. And I hate to say this about a Cornewell novel, but it was boring, even.
The irony is that Blow Fly, which seemed to wrap up and even accelerate some story lines left dangling in past novels, was presented in a too neat package with most climaxes and thrilling events happening off-camera and not written about in detail.
I had stopped reading Cornwell after Black Notice, which I originally read when it was first published. Several years went by and I had forgotten why I didn't like her books anymore because I could still feel the rush of reading her early novels.
Now I know why.