Patricia Cornwell is one of my favorite authors. I have tried to
read
everything she has written and loved all of it. I have followed the
thrilling cases of her ongoing
character, Dr. Kay Scarpetta who is
present in most of her novels that I have read and loved. So, when I
saw a
novel I hadn’t read yet, I didn’t read the inside dust cover to
see what it was about. I just expected Dr. Scarpetta to appear on the
first page and thrill
me with another tale of suspense and
crime. However, this was not to
happen. After the first 20 pages, I realized that my much admired
doctor was not going to make an appearance.
When you find a favorite author, especially one who writes a series
with one main character, I think it is sometimes hard to read other books
by the author that step outside what you have known them for. However,
having an open mind, I decided that I would read the book anyway. After
all, I like her writing style and the first pages were promising. I
would see where she goes with it. It was still a crime novel. Cornwell
developed the two main characters in the beginning very well. I settled
in for a good read, convinced that I would have another
great Cornwell novel on my hands. However, this was not to happen either.
As I turned page after page, I found more characters introduced. And
more, and more. And more
story threads were being woven in. Which would
be fine. There is nothing better in a crime novel to have tangled
threads interwoven throughout the tale. Too many suspects, too many
twists, those can be a great thing in a
mystery. However, Cornwell
missed one BIG point in this story. In the end, you have to wrap it up
neatly in a pretty box and actually resolve all of the strings that you
started. That is where this book sadly falls down, among other things.
Too many of the characters had no use and could have been left out.
Many of the threads she introduced ended up dangling at the end like an
annoying hang nail.
The crime itself in this novel seems to have been added as an
afterthought. There is suppose to be a serial killer on the loose.
However, the murders were not focused on and it appears that every
couple of chapters, Cornwell remembered it was suppose to be a crime
novel and kills off another business man. Add in a few crime scene
details and then get back to the mindless exploration of other
characters. There is little or no development of the serial killer’s
character at all or the crimes they commit. Instead, we meet a redneck
named Bubba who has nothing to do with the story. Or an old lady who
they have to arrest who is confused and drunk. Why in the world would
three pages be dedicated to this old lady? Why are we subjected to
several different episodes with Bubba., who wants revenge due to a
scene early in the book? Yet, he really has nothing to do with the
story. I felt that we would have been much better served if she had
gone into greater detail about the serial crimes that were present.
It also seems that Cornwell decided to use this book as a pet peeve
pulpit. Using her characters to take a stand on feminist outrages,
social injustices and stereotypical beliefs. Thrown in also are odd
story lines that seem sadly out of place. Cornwell’s use of description
usually is sharp and focused with purpose. Unfortunately, in this book,
her descriptions seem to be oddly placed on things such as the weapons
they use and a great deal of background history on unnecessary
characters. One of the worst occurrences was West’s cat, Niles. We are
subjected to several scenes where we were given insight into the cat’s
thoughts and actions. It seems at several points in the story we are
needlessly subjected to insight of the cat’s lineage and history. Why?
I have no clue. Now, there is a small part the cat played in supposedly
solving part of the crime, but it’s a real reach. It seemed that
Cornwell was clasping at straws to try and even tie in any of the loose
story lines, and failed miserably.
All in all, I seriously feel like this novel was a lost cause. With too
many story lines, too many characters, too much detail where it wasn’t
necessary I found myself reading on and on wondering if she was ever
going to make a point or tie up any of the strings. The sad part is,
she didn’t. Cornwell is so well known for her knowledge of crime and
the political and police system. She is also great at keeping you on
the edge of your seat. None of those skills were shown in this novel.
Instead she seemed to meander around with her characters and have very
little substance to the story. Compared to the other novels I have read
by Cornwell, this was a very pale shadow. I can say that I will never
again read this book. However, I have not given up on Cornwell, as I
feel she is one of the best American crime writers. I have just started
another book by Cornwell today. It once again stars my favorite
character, Dr. Scarpetta. So I am hoping this one will go much better,
but I’ll let you know.