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I was honestly enjoying the book. Then I came to the ending. I had read the Scarpetta series in order from Postmortem to this one. Her serial killer Gault appears in several of the prior books, and the Scarpetta vs. Gualt finale happens here. I won't give it away, but let me say I was so disappointed that I quit reading the series.
The poor ending of this book, combined with the unrealistic events and general lack of research by the author in all her books has made me decide not to read anymore from Cornwell. With books I haven't read by better authors like DeMille, Deaver, Connelly, and Crais I don't want to waste my time with below average books.
Cornwell is detailed and this lends credibility to the plot and circumstances. The events are gruesome, but this is a coroner we are reading about, so that is to be expected. Cornwell does not exhaust the reader with gore and that made the subject matter easier to handle.
The one criticism I do have is that the story moved so fast that I felt I was sometimes missing something. I think I just have to get used to Cornwell's writing style, and I maybe should have started the series in a chronological order. Nonetheless, a satisfying read, and I would recommend the Cornwell series to others, worthy of 4 stars.
The book does not start off too well, with the sherrif Santa bit being a bit confusing for the first couple of pages. I didn't like it. And i thought i might be in for a disappointing Cornwellian offering.
My, was i WRONG.
This book is yet another stunner. She has definitely veered away from the cunningness and cleverness which inhabited her first three books. But she more than makes up for it with a chilling plot and one of the most cold and clinical serial killers i have eve read of. Essentially, this is a serial killer novel, and as that it not especially original. But it is nonetheless a good one.
Marino, Benton, Lucy and of course Kay are back again for another great read. Cornwell's writing is sharp and to the point, and keeps the you turning those pages. I can't really put my finger on a reason why, but from the first time i read a Cornwell book i feel in love with the way she writes. It's simply...wonderful. I can't get enough of it. It's no more literate than the next person's, but for some reason i just relish every sentence she writes.
The plot here is sometimes scatty and random (as was Cruel and Unusual) but here, she pulls it off a lot better. I tend not to like books full of random killings, without rhyme or reason (yoo hoo, James Patterson, author of Violets are Blue, i'm talking in particular about you.), but here i really did. The randomness is chilling, and Tenple Gault is a super villain, who curdles the blood. He is just so...hateable. You loathe him absolutely. Especially when you find out how he treats his sister. You just hate him even more. With every part of i wanted him to die, die, die. It is hard to conceieve of anyone so cruel and horrifically terrifying than him. When Scarpetta talks to his parents, it's painful to read, even though it's fiction. It's an extremely moving scene, full of emotion. (As is the entire book.)
This book moves along relentlessly to it's absolutely brilliant conclusion. It is the best conclusion she has penned yet, down in the bowels of the New York subway. Dark and frightening, she really brings over the atmosphere.
I loved this book, as i have loved almost every single Scarpetta novel so far.
The identity of the first victim should come as a real shock.
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