Book of the Dead

Read: November 2007
Rating: 4/5 stars

Re-read 1: June 2018
Rating: DNF

Re-read 2: August-September 2019
Rating: 3/5 stars

Wow it was a real struggle to get through this book! Book of the Dead actually starts off really well; detailing the horrific murder of a young American tennis player that takes place in Rome, Italy. However from there the book becomes tedious with lots of long, unnecessary conversations that take pages to get to the point. I remember reading it quite quickly the first time around but it was during one of those pointless detail-filled conversations that I DNF'd it the second time.

There is a good story in here, if you have the patience to find it. I still like Kay's character and her relationship with Benton, Marino and show more Lucy, and it is those strong characters, along with inventive, interesting murder mysteries, that made me give the book another chance - and this time I was able to finish it.

In terms of rating this book, to me it is not quite the weakest book in the series (The Last Precinct was worse in my opinion) but it certainly doesn't represent how good Cornwell can be when she's writing at her best. show less

I can't say I really like Cornwell: her main characters of Scarpetta and Lucy are just not likeable. On top of that this novel is full of bits and pieces linked through complicated family lineages and weird coincidence, it just becomes tiresome. I do, however, like Cornwell's style: fragments of overlapping dialogue where each character seems to live in his or her own bubble, poorly communicating and lost in thought.
Overall this is a complicated and twisted story. It helped pass the time during confinement...

I wavered between giving this 2 or 3 stars. I have to say that though I've read other Kay Scarpetta books (and not in the series order), I can't say it is a favorite series--in other words, if I find the books free on an exchange shelf or need an audiobook for the car, then I'll read it, but I wouldn't go spend money for them.

In my opinion, this book suffers from the third person point-of-view that it takes. It distances the reader from the characters. As a result, I found I really struggled to care what happened to them (though since I've already admitted I've read books out of order in this series, I already know how some things turn out).

I'm not sure if I'd forgotten the character Rose or if I've just not read anything earlier in the show more series than this one. I did like her character and am sad that she's apparently on her way to being written out of the series.

I'm also glad that Benton's finally proposed to Kay--though given what's gone on in this book, I have to wonder "why now?". Neither one seemed very romantic throughout this book.

In fact, it seemed, as one other reviewer pointed out, that pretty much everyone is miserable. Benton's being jealous and also seeming to rue that he's in Massachusetts while his girl is in South Carolina. Lucy's never been a "happy" character, but she's in fine form--apparently upset because she has a brain tumor that's not shrinking (and she doesn't want surgery), upset that Marino is being a galoot, upset that her aunt is too forgiving and tends to keep things private. Marino is dissatisfied with being Kay's employee, but I'm not sure how much of that results from Shandy's button-pushing and the testosterone she had him using and how much stems from his own psyche. The only one who seemed to have much happiness was Ruth and that was mostly because of Harry.

The supposed big plot point of Dr. Self's animosity toward Dr. Scarpetta never comes to a head--it just sort of fizzles out.

And, as another reviewer mentioned, I do wonder if the publishing house pushed the author to get something ready for publication (to strike while readers wanted to read the next book) or if someone there dropped the ball by not confronting the author on how bad this book really is. show less

6/10
Way too many funny little connections that stretch even the boundaries of fiction that is supposed to be grounded in reality. Even with the factors that help explain some of his behavior, Marino (as a character) has moved beyond pity and scorn to positively disgusting and hateful. While the “completist” in me wants to know his fate, part of me doesn’t care about the details and is just glad he’s gone.
It is somewhat bothersome to me, having read the Kay Scarpetta books from the first through this one, that Scarpetta and her medical examiner skills have become a more minor part of each book. I prefer to see the mysteries unraveled from the investigative and ME sides of things and don’t need to be “with” the killer and show more the victims during the murders.
While personal relationships and issues are important, I’m hoping for a return to more competence, more focus on how the crimes are solved, and maybe a little more happiness and personal satisfaction for the main characters. show less

I can't do it any more. Uncle.

I pulled up to the library this afternoon, after muttering under my breath all the way there. It was my intention to renew this, as I was only on disc seven of the 11 disc set. Instead, I simply ejected the disc and returned the whole thing. God love the librarian, who simply smiled at me when I said "Here. Finished now."

Seven discs in - better than halfway through, and all I'd heard about the crime WAS the crime, and the very preliminary investigation. The rest of the time? Was exposition, rambling talk about various medical (including mispronunciations, though that's not the author's fault) and psychiatric conditions, meaningless conversations that went absolutely nowhere between the characters, and just show more random navel gazing from our principals, whom I might moderately care for, and people I'd never heard of before, whom I definitively don't.

Cornwell's style has turned into something that is completely annoying, although I didn't quite realize it until I listened to the previous entry, and it was exacerbated by this one. It's repetitive and run on: "Blahblahblah AND blahblahblah AND blahblahblah AND blahblahblah." How many conjunctions, never mind the same conjunction, can you put in one sentence? Also: (paraphrasing) "You are angry at the FBI, and I am not the FBI, and I have nothing to do with the FBI, so don't take your anger at the FBI out on me." I was so fatigued at the end of sentences like that one that I felt like I needed a nap. And nearly every sentence was like that.

I loved the early entries of this series. But no more. I give. show less

Cornwell's early work was outstanding - plots that had me on the edge of my seat, characters that were real and that developed over a series of books into people I cared about. But her last few outings have been very disappointing. I keep hoping she's going to find her stride again, but it is not in this book.

Cornwell seems to have lost interest in this cast of characters. This feels like she threw it off in a fit, not caring that the story does not make a lot of sense, and that these long-standing characters are acting way out of character. I onyl kept reading to see what happens in the end - and it was an appalling up-in-the-air ending.

Scarpetta moans and groans her way through this book - nothing meets her approval. Her relationship show more with Benton is tedious. They should either get on with it, or let it go. Lucy becomes more irritating every book. But Cornwell should be shot for what she has done to Pete Marino. This is not the Pete from earlier novels: he was a bit of a dag but well meaning and smart.; and he adored Kay and Lucy. This Pete is a brutish thug. Unforgivable.

Cornwell may well have a contract to deliver a book every year, but it is time she had a long holiday. show less

Review: I really don't want to review this book. I used to love Patricia Cornwell-Kay Scarpetta books. I mean, I would devour them the second they were released and find myself counting down to the next one. They held very interesting cases and the characters were intriguing. The last few book and this one included have gotten less about the cases and more about the melodramatic life of Kay Scarpetta. I did enjoy the case parts of the story but even those were bogged down with 15 conversations about how rich Lucy is or how insecure Kay is with the men in her life. Marino and Bentley are just shells of the characters they used to be. In fact, the only character I find recognizable and/or likable anymore is Rose. It is almost like the show more characters have become characterizations of themselves to the point where they are totally unrecognizable (and unlikable) to me. Patricia is a wonderful writer but I just think somewhere back around book 8/9 she somehow got put on auto-drive while writing Kay. I keep hoping the next one is better so I will keep that hope alive.

Author Website: http://www.patriciacornwell.com/ show less