Scarpetta

Good read by Cornwell. The characters develop and we begin to wonder if Cornwell is a Scarpetta wannabe? Maybe? It took me 17 books to figure that out and I'm slow? Again, the whodunit is mired in the minutiae of the character's lives and the story drones on until the final exciting conclusion...just like it was designed...and I couldn't put it down. I thought this one was an average work by the author--but now I'm hooked and onto the next one!

The 16th book in the series, and Cornwell really doesn’t like her characters, does she? The plot is, surprisingly, a standalone, with a man whose girlfriend has been murdered voluntarily committing himself to a mental hospital and demanding Scarpetta examine him. He suffers from achondroplasia, dwarfism, as did his girlfriend. He also thinks he is being followed, and his thoughts controlled, by some third party, perhaps the government. This puts Scarpetta in a difficult position, as what she learns during the examination is privileged. But it soon becomes clear the boyfriend was not responsible for the murder.

Everyone is now in New York, either working for, or with, DA Jaime Berger, but since Marino is unwelcome after the events of show more the previous novel, and Lucy is even more of a wild cannon than before, and Scarpetta herself regularly appears on CNN… Then they’re all dragged into the murder. Meanwhile an online gossip blog has been publishing lies about Scarpetta, but no one knows who the owner or writer is…

All of Cornwell’s core cast go through the ringer, and the supporting characters, with the exception of Berger, seem to be treated with disdain. Which, unfortunately, means the villain of the piece is pretty easy to spot only a handful of chapters in. From that point on, it’s a matter of waiting for the characters to catch up, and then see them gather enough evidence to see justice is done. Except he preempts them, and it all comes to a violent end.

On the one hand, I like that Scarpetta iss self-contained; on the other, the narrative seems to spend more time trying to obscure the plot than it does advancing it. Nor was I entirely convinced by some of the details - Cornwell tries for accuracy in her mentions of computing, and back in the day they were pretty close, but I’m sceptical of some of Lucy’s explanations in this book.

On the other hand, the writing has improved, Cornwell has a good handle on her cast, and she continues to present interesting mysteries. In fact, this novel scores better on the last than many of its predecessors - the puzzle presented by the opening murder, and the ones which follow, is quite clever - and very much predicated on the victim’s and suspect’s achondroplasia.

I’m not sure Scarpetta stands on its own, but it works well as part of the series. That may not be a good thing. show less

Scarpetta is summoned to NYC to do a personal favor for the DA and probably only accepted because it was Benton that asked her to come. She was to interview a suspect in a murder crime that refused to speak with anyone but Kay Scarpetta. His claim was that she could protect him and could prove his innocence. She came and was instantly and completely involved in a situation that she would have preferred not to be apart of. To top it all off, there were many surprises awaiting her, not the least of which was Mario's new job at the DA's office after disappearing out of her life. The four super sleuths of Benton, Scarpetta, Lucy and Marino are reunited in New York City.

After her last few books, I was on the verge of swearing off Cornwell show more for good. This one - "Scarpetta" - is much improved. Still not up to the quality of her earlier books, but she has toned down the infernal whining of her characters' inner thoughts somewhat and focused more on the story. She started down the path of undoing the almost irreparable damage she did in the last book to Scarpetta's sidekick Pete Marino, and gave the irritating Lucy more of a back seat. She would do well to focus more on the detective work and the forensics and give her books a lighter tone. show less

I have to confess that had I not had to finish this for my reading group I would have put it down after about 250 pages. To understand what is going on, you need to have read all the previous books in the series. Also, conversations go on for pages longer than necessary, characters have confusingly similar names (Marino and Morales) and Scarpetta herself, who appears to be a constant preoccupation for Wesley, Lucy and Marino, seems a cold and detached person. After the incredibly long winded exposition of the first two thirds of the book, the author seems to realise she has almost reached her contractually obliged word count and polishes off the far fetched plot in about three chapters. The first few in this series were good, but it has show more long since gone off the boil. show less

It has been a while since I read a Scarpetta novel. I used to read them all the time but for some reason I just lost my interest. So why come back to the novels after such a long absence? To be honest two things I was given a copy of The Bone Bed to read last year and I have not gotten around to it and secondly I wanted to go back and catch up with what had been happening.
So I picked up Scarpetta to find out where all the characters were at and to be honest I think I was rather lucky with this one. There has been a great deal of change in Scarpetta’s world, marriage, traumatic breakup with Merino, change of jobs and has become a minor celebrity amongst a few other things. I was given in this book a pretty good summary of where things show more were at and I must say I was surprised by some of the outcomes. I mean you do have to give Cornwall her dues, the background information was gradually teased out and you could read this as a standalone novel. Having said that, I have to admit that while it is still a solid procedural crime novel there was greater emphasis on the characters intertwining relationships. That was okay but I have been always more a fan of the authenticity Cornwell brings to the page.
The book is 500 pages long but really did not kick off for me until the last quarter when everything began to come together. The problem that I had was that by trying to give each of the characters their own story arc it really did remove from the overarching crime story.
I found Kay Scarpetta missing on the page; she is no longer that character that could be strong, bullish, infuriating, and human. I mean Scarpetta used strength as a façade, as the reader saw the real woman underneath who struggled with doubt and all those wonderful human foibles we all have. In this book she was the machine, who turned up, did her job, made her case and was not willing to stick her neck out. Scarpetta was no longer leading the charge she was just tagging along for the ride. She came across the page as defeated and I was surprised by that.
The key relationship has always been Scarpetta and Merino and this was just a mess. Partners fight, partners outgrow each other, partners do and say really dumb things but what Cornwall had Merino do (I presume in a previous book) to Scarpetta brought out the real nastiness of the drink. Through this novel the matter is never really addressed, never really examined by the two characters and it is pretty much resolved as let bygones be bygones. It did not sit all that well for me and after what happened you either write Merino out giving Scarpetta a new partner or Merino and Scarpetta need to resolve what happened.
I do not like Lucy and I am okay with not liking characters when that is what the author intends. I do not think that is what Cornwell intends with Lucy. For me I do not care that she is a lesbian and it is not the reason for my dislike it is her portrayal on the page. What annoys me is that she is a complete brat, with no boundaries, who always turns out to be right and is super rich. The flaws she are given do not make her human just a super hero without any powers. She almost has no redeeming qualities about her. How many times did I need to be told she owns her own helicopter! Seriously Cornwall should write a spin off series for Lucy and develop the character so we as can readers can finally figure out if we really dislike her or not.
Then there is Benton. He wafts in, gives us some psychological insight and wafts out. He is turning into the true man in brown, very bland and very boring. The emotional baggage that Benton is meant to be carrying just did not work for me.
Cornwall has tried to give us some emotional depth to the characters in this book and sometimes it does work. Yet that perfect insight into the reasons for their behaviour has the opposite effect the characters become somewhat simplified.
The other really disappointing thing was that the ‘mastermind’ behind the crimes – I really hate it when I meet the character for the first time on the page and know he is the serial killer. Unfortunately it was that obvious. show less

First read: January 2009
Re-read: January 2020

Scarpetta probably holds the record for the book that has taken me the longest time to read. I started reading it in September 2019 and didn't finish for another four months! In the book's defence though, I was going through one of the busiest times of my life and was barely able to pick it up at all.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it a real return to form after Book of the Dead. The murder mystery was compelling and the tense atmosphere Cornwell created during Kay's conversations with the alleged killer held my interest throughout the book.
Scarpetta is also the last book in the series that is a 're-read' for me - every book from now on will be a new read.

Ahhhhh! This was definitely more like the early Scarpettas. Thank goodness Cornwell has seemingly recovered from that preachy, naggy, bitchy funk of hers. This installment filled in the gaps appropriately, and gave Benton some human qualities instead of having him be the supersized superman he’s always been portrayed as. Marino gets a personality change as well, amazing what sobering someone up does. And Lucy—well, some are just late bloomers and she gives us a righteous scare at the end.