Black Notice

The tenth book in the Kay Scarpetta series, and a reread for me - although I last read it back in 2000. I think it was one of the books which turned me off the series, as the formula was blaringly obvious, the villain of the story was even more ridiculous than the preceding psycho killers (fa fa fa fa), and the side-plot just seemed to heap ridiculous levels of jeopardy on Scarpetta. On reread, it’s definitely not one of the good ones, but I’m still going to carry on with the series. Black Notice opens with Scarpetta failing to cope with the loss of her partner (in the last book), and slowly setting fire to all her bridges. Then the body of a man is found in a container, one which has apparently been inside all the way from Belgium. show more But this is not people smuggling, the man was murdered. A second murder with the same trace evidence soon follows. Scarpetta contacts Interpol, and is flown across to Paris - where she learns the killer is the son of a powerful French criminal gang boss, who has killed many times in France but his father has protected him. Oh, and he suffers from some weird genetic condition. Back in Richmond, the new deputy chief - a very attractive woman (a lot of Scarpetta’s enemies are very attractive women) - is trying to set Scarpetta up so she’s fired. The novel ends in much the same way as the preceding ones - Scarpetta is targeted by the psycho killer, he breaks into her house… and is blown away. And the evil deputy chief who, it turns out, was running drugs, she gets killed off as well. There’s some good forensics, but the IT is a bit dodgy - but it’s AOL, so who knows, it might be absolutely correct. Hopefully, the next book will be better than this one. It too will be a reread - but I can’t remember any of the plot., so it’s not like it really matters. show less

Read: October 2016
Rating: 4/5 stars

The plot: Scarpetta is called in after a decomposing body is discovered in a shipping container. Meanwhile she is still grieving the loss of Benton, Lucy is behaving distantly towards her, and Marino has been demoted after a new deputy chief of police takes over.

What I liked:
- The hint of the supernatural with the 'Loup-Garou' even if it was debunked pretty quickly by Scarpetta
- I thought the sabotage of Scarpetta in terms of her work and online presence was an engaging plot even though we knew almost straight away who was instigating it.
- Marino being demoted down from detective, and he and Scarpetta having to almost work against the system to solve the crimes was a good way to keep the series fresh show more and interesting.
- I felt there were a lot of memorable scenes here; from Scarpetta's visit to the tattoo parlour to Lucy's harrowing account of her undercover actions with her partner Jo.
- The scenes set in France were very well written, and Kay's sexual relationship with Jay Talley after getting confirmation that Benton was truly dead provided some much needed progress in Kay's personal life and character development.

What I disliked:
- Why is it that in a lot of fiction I read that whenever we have a strong competent female protagonist, any other women in the general vicinity must be reduced to bitches (Diane Bray) or idiots (Rene Anderson)? Despite what the author must think, it doesn't automatically elevate our protagonist just because every other woman around her is deplorable in some way.
- Marino's behaviour towards Anderson at the shipping port when they discover the first body crossed a serious line yet Scarpetta didn't try and step in and stop what he was doing. Marino cornered Anderson against some crates, grabbed her collar and moved in so close to her that Scarpetta comments that she 'thought he might kiss her.' Yet this was somehow deemed acceptable because Anderson was an incompetent rookie cop.
- I found it a bit convenient that Bray ends up murdered. She could have provided a source of antagonism for Kay for a few more books. Likewise Anderson was quickly dispatched and sent away following Bray's death.
- Once again the killer comes after Scarpetta personally. I'm glad that Cornwell didn't drag that scene out too much but it is one of the most predictable things about this series - and many crime fiction series that I read - that the killer almost always targets our protagonist even if they are not their type of victim or have no prior connection to the killer. show less

This book was quite gruesome in places although I felt we had met elements of the story before. Obvious parallels could be drawn between the wounds left by Temple Gault in previous books, and those left by the killer we meet here. Relationships take a big turn in this instalment too, for all the primary characters. Poor Marino really needs to catch a break soon, I think.

A very odd book. I was with her until the whole Paris thing about 3/4 through the book. It just seemed so unrealistic in an otherwise decent plot. I really felt badly for the long-suffering Marino when Scarpetta decided to get her groove thing with some unrealistically young dude. Way far-fetched and out of nowhere.

I read several of the early Cornwell novels and enjoyed them. Kay Scarpetta was a unique addition to the crime-solving world. At that time Kathy Reich had not appeared on the scene with her own version of the forensic pathologist as crime solver. Eventually though, Scarpetta became a little too self-involved for my taste, with too much psychobabble and self-analysis.
Black Notice, tenth in the series, still has some of the same problems, but my favorite character, detective Marino, plays a more substantial role, and the crime is intriguing. Scarpetta is probably the unhappiest character I have encountered. Her niece Lucy, now an undercover ATF agent still reeling from the death of Kay's FBI agent boyfriend, is undercover in Florida on a show more very risky operation; she's also a petulant child more reminiscent of the adolescent she was in the first novel when her petulance was perhaps more believable.
A body is discovered in a sealed container on a ship from Belgium that was being unloaded in the port of Richmond. The corpse has assorted European coins in his pocket and appears to be covered with animal hairs. Typically, we learn a great deal about autopsy procedures and little gruesome details, such as sliding skin off fingers for fingerprints, etc., but I found the details concerning her use of e-mail quite unbelievable. That the state medical examiners office would use AOL as its ISP, and that the technical person would set up the accounts on AOL for each employee and assign passwords herself, strikes me as rather unrealistic, if not incredibly stupid. Because of this security-unconscious procedure, a treacherous assistant is able to intercept Kay's e-mail from her boss, and to assume her identity in a chat room on the Internet. He's in league with the new deputy police chief, Diane Bray, who has it in for Kay -- why is never made completely clear -- and Captain Marino, assigning him back into uniform. The weird animal hairs are then discovered on a murdered store clerk, and Marino and Kay are soon off to Paris on the trail of an international killer.
Marino is such a great character (he has the largest display of Christmas lights anywhere — he had to install three new fuse boxes), and the plot itself is so intriguing, I can overlook most of Kay's dour outlook and self-pity. But Lucy really needs to have a personality adjustment or get killed off. show less

Called to one of the most horrific crime scenes ever, Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, tried to hold it together as she surveyed her surroundings. Not only was her personal life in total shambles, after losing the love of her life, Benton Wesley, but her professional life was wavering also. Although she didn't know it at the time, but her next case and the crime scene before her, would change everything, regarding herself, and others close to her. Entering a huge container, Kay found a badly decomposed body, and it will not only cause alarming questions with a diabolical aftermath, but where it leads will make it even more terrifying. While in the middle of the autopsy, Kay had discovered quite a few things, but first, she had show more to figure out who was trying to ruin her. She not only had a traitor in her midst and under her employ, but someone was impersonating her on the internet, but who? Who had it out for her? Who wanted her fired in the worst way? One of her employees? One of her peers? Her enemies? She hadn't a clue but she was determined to find out. After pointing her in the right direction, Kay was once again, joined by homicide detective Pete Marino, and as always, they went where the evidence led them, in this case, Paris, France. When more murders are committed, both in France and the States, Kay and Marino head back home to Virginia, but when death knocks on Kay's front door, she looks through the peephole and sees the eyes of pure evil and cold calculation. Will Marino get to her in time?. show less

The 10th book in the series starts with the discovery of a decomposing body in a shipping container. While investigating it appears there is a serial killer on the loose whose violence is escalating out of control. Kay is also marking a year since the death of her boyfriend Benton and is not coping at all well. Her niece is working undercover and seems not to care about her own safety and there is someone pretending to be Kay online. As the story develops it becomes clear that everyone she loves is in danger.

I approached this book with an open mind as it has many negative reviews but I really enjoyed it. The interplay between Kay and Marino is written well as he struggles to protect her from herself.(the detective has been put back into show more uniform by the new chief of police who seems out to get rid of all those who oppose her)

This is a quick read but no less powerful for that. show less