I really liked this one. I thought the plot was better developed than the others I have read in this serise (Books 2&3). It was amazing really, the plot kept thickening and thickening until I thought she would never be able to pull it out but she did manage remarkably. Only the fate of Jennifer's family was left out. I enjoyed the main love interests in this one as well. I do tend to go in for tortured lovers but they were really a solid pair. I thought that the superstions of Cornwall made a nice background to the story and were a pleasent change from her usual settings. This book also answerd some questions I had after a previous book. All-in-all a good read but I would definitely recomend reading it in order in the Serise.

I find that I read this book again and again. Mary Sage Elliot is no Nancy Drew. She has real problems that she would rather hide from, just like so many of us. During the first reading I had no idea who the killer was until the very end although in later readings I see the clues were there all of the time.

I have read all of Cornwall's books and the last two Scarpetta novels have left me disappointed in the finish . When Scarpetta finally lets the reader in on who the germ warfare bad guy is, I had no idea to whom she was referring or when the character had been introduced. The conclusion was disappointing, confusing and gives the reader a sense that Cornwall lost interest in wrapping up the crime/book. From Potters Field ended with the same lackluster, rushed conclusion. In addition to being stilted, the finish seemed a bit preposterous -- without giving the end away, the perpetrator of the crime does not fit the classic psychological profile of someone who would commit such a crime. On a positive note, Cornwall has already set up the plot for her next thriller with an additional crime (albeit one that sounds remarkably like the crime in the recently fabulous competitor's book Deja Dead by Kathy Reich) that goes unsolved in Unnatural Exposure. All in all I give it a B -- entertaining but not compelling.

UNNATURAL EXPOSURE is a good book, but not Cornwell's best. It appeals to me because it is set in Virginia, where I'm from. Cornwell also makes for a few surprises along the way. However, her Dr. Kay series is on a rapid decline in terms of subject matter. This particular book is the victim of decline, but is still good.

On the tiny and closely knit Tangier Island, a woman has died at the hands of a strange new killer. Dr. Kay Scarpetta has been called in to investigate. Early in the investigation, the killer contacts her via AOL with the frightening screen name DEADOC. They give her a virtual tour of a gruesome scene. With little to go on, Dr. Kay faces a new breed of killer. Moreover, she could be next...

This book is not the best, but it is a good read. It deals with a variety of issues aside from the crime aspect. It deals with homosexuality (a recurring theme in Cornwell's latest works),AIDS, vulnerability, and betrayal. If any of these topics bother you, I would not advise reading this novel. However, if you are an avid Cornwell/Scarpetta fan, or just enjoy good reading buy UNNATURAL EXPOSURE today.

Patrcia Cornwell has done it again. This is the eighth Cornwell book I've read and they keep getting better and better. Unnatural Exposure is the best in the Scarpetta series and the story is the most unusual. I feel like Kay is an old friend and I love Marino. Cornwell writes her characters true to life. Complete with stress, relationship problems, and the aches and pains of aging. I enjoy the intricate plots of Cornwell's stories and her development of the characters and their relationships with each other. As I read the books, I almost feel as if I am part of the story. Patricia Cornwell is a truly gifted writer and I am a loyal reader. I can't wait to read her next book.

As far as this being one of Cornwell's best books, it would not qualify. The book started off too abruptly and didnt give as much detailed background as it should have. In the beginning it introduced us to a mysterious death. There was a peson killed on a dock. Dr Skarpetta was the person in charge of investigating this crime. It goes on and on about this, not really introducing any new material. This made the book less attention grabbing. The same happened over and over throughout the book, and really didnt feel like we were getting anywhere. The only thing that gave it a weird feeling was the fact that it took place on New Years Eve. Normally Cornwell keeps you wanting to read the next page, Cause of Death just didnt cut it. Dont take this, as if she writes bad books, since most of hers that I have read were excellent. I just wouldnt go out and get this one until you have read some of her others.

I have read all of Cornwell's books and can now honestly say I am deeply depressed by the author's galloping ego. Lucy irritates me endlessly. Her relationship with Kay bounces back and forth with remarkable clarity however. It's perhaps the most convincing relationship in the series. I hate Kay's affair with Benton Wesley with a passion. Not only is it contrived and embarrassing - how can he be so ethical and yet so base? It would have been far more interesting to team up Scarpetta and Marino. I love Marino. He's so real, I can practically see the egg stains on his tie. Benton, clearly modelled on John Douglas, the former charismatic head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, has lost something in the translation. He has become quite improbable since he took up with Kay. Why oh why did Cornwell bump off the boyfriend Mark? And this I think is the crux of the problem. Firstly, we are told of Mark's death in an earlier book - in the past tense! We are not allowed to really share her agony, even though we by now, care deeply about Kay Scarpetta. In Cause Of Death, Cornwell pulls the same stunt. We have to wait for nearly 100 pages to see Benton and Kay together - and we learn, they've been split up for months! Quite conveniently, Benton is getting a divorce - at his long suffering wife's request. I guess Cornwell got stung by so much criticism of the extra-marital affair. In the context of the books, it seems highly unlikely Connie Wesley would really run off with another man, but okay, I'll rent the idea for now. Still, the medical aspects of the books continue to inspire, in spite of the laughable, clunky final set pieces.. A nuclear power plant? Please! I miss the earlier Kay back in Richmond with her squirrel and no-life. This one is too Cosmo, too Rambo-lina. However, the earlier diving sequences are fun and the locations as usual, make me jealous as a writer. Cornwell has been there, done that. I can't wait for the next book

I have read all of Cornwell's books and can now honestly say I am deeply depressed by the author's galloping ego. Lucy irritates me endlessly. Her relationship with Kay bounces back and forth with remarkable clarity however. It's perhaps the most convincing relationship in the series. I hate Kay's affair with Benton Wesley with a passion. Not only is it contrived and embarrassing - how can he be so ethical and yet so base? It would have been far more interesting to team up Scarpetta and Marino. I love Marino. He's so real, I can practically see the egg stains on his tie. Benton, clearly modelled on John Douglas, the former charismatic head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, has lost something in the translation. He has become quite improbable since he took up with Kay. Why oh why did Cornwell bump off the boyfriend Mark? And this I think is the crux of the problem. Firstly, we are told of Mark's death in an earlier book - in the past tense! We are not allowed to really share her agony, even though we by now, care deeply about Kay Scarpetta. In Cause Of Death, Cornwell pulls the same stunt. We have to wait for nearly 100 pages to see Benton and Kay together - and we learn, they've been split up for months! Quite conveniently, Benton is getting a divorce - at his long suffering wife's request. I guess Cornwell got stung by so much criticism of the extra-marital affair. In the context of the books, it seems highly unlikely Connie Wesley would really run off with another man, but okay, I'll rent the idea for now. Still, the medical aspects of the books continue to inspire, in spite of the laughable, clunky final set pieces.. A nuclear power plant? Please! I miss the earlier Kay back in Richmond with her squirrel and no-life. This one is too Cosmo, too Rambo-lina. However, the earlier diving sequences are fun and the locations as usual, make me jealous as a writer. Cornwell has been there, done that. I can't wait for the next book

There is little to add to the comments of those who have expressed their disappointment in Patricia Cornwell's latest novel. If anyone wanted Scarpetta, she wasn't around. If anyone wanted a single story, it wasn't there. If anyone wanted to plot, there wasn't even a cemetery. So, what was there? THAT is the mystery. The answer is that Ms. Cornwell who had just finished her adaptation of her last book for the movies, is captivated by movie or TV scripts. Note the hornet-marked paragraphs which could indicate scenes for a TV script. See how the people are just like all TV people-- caricatures with a heart whom you can't help but like. And note the presence of a schtick, as they call it in Hollywood, something repetitive "joke" to relieve the tension. This time it's a cat. Unfortunately, one must notice that plots are yet to be found to fit the characters. So here's my answer to the mystery. What's it all about, Andy? Why did she do it? My guess is that Ms. Cornwell started to write A TV SERIES, and came up with this one, catchily entitled, complete with visuals, full of double entendres, and loaded with meaning and doubts. The book, like a good TV drama series or evening soap is full of : Is she or isn't she? Will he or won't he? Do they or don't they? It's what addiction's all about. I can hear America saying: " Turn on Channel 4 honey, it's time for HORNET'S NEST, tales of the Richmond Blues, or Babes with Arms." So I now am waiting for the show ----- to be made in Toronto, and aired at 1 AM after Letterman and Snyder, Koppell and Maher. It will be an opportunity to lose sleep watching video instead of reading Cornwell. WIth all I have said, I can only presume that TV turned her down and rather than lose all that hard work, she made the treatment a novel. Just between us Cornwell addicts, I've read all of Scarpetta, too, enjoyed them and yet wondered when the author would be done with all those accurate and gory autopsy details. I've been there. Done that. Enough of the blood and scientific scalping. So I did look forward to a new setting. Ooops! Sorry! We all make mistakes, and learn from them. I wish Patricia Cornwell well with a new set of characters, and hope they will be as good as her original series. BAM BAM and Chou!

The reaction of Cornwell fans to "Hornet's Nest" reminds me of the events described in Rick Nelson's song, "Garden Party."

No one wanted to read anything new, so they booed Cornwell off the stage. She was probably tired of "living" with Scarpetta, so she wanted a break.

I thought it was a nice attempt at something different. The characters were a refreshing change of pace, and they were the main focus of the book. It was certainly more character study than police procedural or forensics procedural.

Cornwell passed on what could have been a detailed look at metropolitan police efforts. But maybe that's a longtime reader judging from expectations rather than the pages in front of me.

By the late pages of the book, I cared about the characters, and I would read about them again.

A disturbing trend by Cornwell to rush to an ending was again present. As a Cornwell reader who has read all her fiction, I am concerned about that in the past few efforts.

I found "Hornet's Nest" a nice change of pace that should be judged on its own merits. It was not intended to be a Kay Scarpetta book with different character names pasted in.

Try reading it that way.

I found "Hornet's Nest" to be an interesting look at the heart of issues for women in position of authority, as well as an absorbing read. The characters had professional and personal depth; each personality realistically portrayed. There were no major mysteries requiring plot twists and surprise endings. It was simply a close and surprisingly accurate psychological treatment of females in traditionally male positions. The scrutiny, the resentment, the suspicion (and the reality) of sex on the job were "dead on". Ms Cornwell did a fine jnob on this one, proving that it isn't a bad thing if a writer departs from the familiar. I'm hoping to see more of this cast of charaters

The line "every body knows, that the world is full of stupid people" is just a lyric, not a story line for an entire novel. I was unable to finish it, and completely overwhelmed by the ongoing and absolute abundance of unbelievable stupidity. Not to mention, sincerely disappointed, as I usually enjoy her writing.

I am completely at a loss for words. It is difficult to describe the feeling I had while listening (I got this book on tape) to this book, tape after tape, waiting for the plot to develop.

There are several loosely intertwined plots, most of which could be eliminated without changing the story at all. As one reviewer pointed out, there are cognisant crabs. That's bad enough, but my real issue is with the fact that the cognisant crabs are conversing with a cognisant trout. That's just silly... everyone knows that crabs and trout speak different languages. But honestly, aside from the heros of the story, the sea creatures are the most intelligent characters in the book. In that respect, they presented a welcome reprive from the nonstop mindless drivel that comes from human characters.

I could really just go on and on. There are absolutely no redeeming qualities in this book. Don't expect a typical Cornwell book. I dare you to disregard my review and read the book anyway :).

In a departure from her many forensic thriller books, Patricia Cornwell has written in 'Isle of Dogs' a silly satire of the Commonwealth of Virginia, including Tangier Island. She skewers the First Family and the state police among others. 'Dogs' is the third book that features Andy Brazil, now a state trooper, and Judy Hammer, now superintendent of the Virginia State Police. (They were also in 'Southern Cross' and 'The Hornet's Nest.') It took me several days to finish this overlong book, unlike most of Ms. Cornwell's previous page-turners. As a fan of her Dr. Kay Scarpetta series, except for 'The Last Precinct,' I tried to suspend judgment on 'Dogs' and be open-minded about its postmodern narrative. Even so, aside from some very comical dialogue, I couldn't find much to like about this novel. Dr. Scarpetta made a cameo appearance in two chapters, but she seemed robotic. Judy Hammer was among the least-developed characters in the book. The quasi-historical Internet postings by Trooper Truth a.k.a. Andy Brazil were informative at times but distracted from the narrative flow. Governor Crimm's 'submarine' seemed like a poor imitation of Ignatius J. Reilly's valve. 'Dogs' is somewhat like other postmodern satires I've read, but it never really comes together as a novel. Ms. Cornwell, count me as another disappointed fan who would like to see a revitalized Kay Scarpetta back on the scene.