Cromwell does her best work writing about Scarpetta. Absolutely love this character no matter what she's into. Kept me on the edge of my seat.

Bought this because I am a big fan of Cornwell.Thought this would be a great way to "read" the book while driving the motor home.

Excellent reading- didn't wan't want to put it down. Read it in 2 two days! Patricia Cornwell lives up to her usual high standard of writing.

I don't really even know what to think about this book...maybe if all the rest of the series was written this way I would feel differently but I feel like Patricia Cornwell just stabbed her main character!
Suddenly we are now in the third person and Dr. Kay Scarpetta is referred to as "Scarpetta" all the time. How would Dr. Scarpetta herself feel if she knew her friends and family referred to her and thought of her as "Scarpetta" it is insulting! She wouldn't be happy, at least not the Dr. Kay Scarpetta that I once thought I knew wouldn't be happy.
I am just disheartened with this series now...I have all the books in the series and unfortunately I am not the type to just stop in the middle and say I am done, but I should!
And another thing that bothers me is the age thing...I have said it in another review that the ages of the characters don't add up and when a specific age is mentioned or of time that has gone by it doesn't add up, don't believe me then read all the books back to back and take notes on what ages the author states certain characters are or how long a character has been working here or there or how much time has elapsed since this or that has happened. (example...Lucy in one book is stated as being 28 and then in another book it is stated that it is now 3 years later and Kay is 46 which would make Lucy now 31 but it says Lucy is in her 20's... there are a lot of these instances that I have noted and it just bugs me...maybe I am just being picky)
As for the actual story itself it is just far fetched!

*spoilers*

*The whole Benton not being dead reads like a bad soap opera.
*Lucy and Marino knowing about Benton and even being a part of it, nice really nice.
*Lucy leaving the FBI because of some guy, are we reading the same book series here?
*Everyone's hero worship of "Scarpetta" like she is some demi-God...the woman breathes and people are in AWE, she does it so perfectly (gag)

Ugh I could go on and on but I won't...it has pretty much all been covered in the many bad reviews this book has gotten.

I am upset at having wasted my time reading 465 pages. I had never read a Cornwell book and I don't think I ever will. Just as some of the other readers, I kept measuring the number of pages left and wondering how in the world the author was going to tie up all the loose ends in such a short time. Well...needless to say, she didn't...at least not for me. I literally threw the book in disgust when I finished the last page.