Good, and yet !!!
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As always Ms. Cornwell has produced a brilliant piece of writing - solid stuff. No one could ever fault the way she researches, nor the way she portrays her characters.
The investigatiion keeps you on edge --- and yet there is nothing new. If this were the first book of Patricia's that I'd read, I would be thrilled, I would be captivated. She weaves and twists her way to the end, yet it is so similar to her other stories I felt a touch of having being there before.
Good but !!!
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Not the best
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'Cause of Death' is the seventh book in the Kay Scarpetta series from Patricia Cornwell and begins when a reporter is found dead in the icy waters of the Elizabeth River in Virginia. This then leads Scarpetta, Marino, Wesley and Lucy into the world of terrorism when the death is found to be related to an investigation into the terrorist group The New Zionists.
I've been reading through the Scarpetta novels in order for about a year now and this was the first one that didn't really grip me at all and in places I was even a little bored. The Kay/Benton relationship is also getting a little tiresome as well as Kay's over-protective relationship and over-exageratted problems with her neice Lucy.
The actual murder investigation is ok, if a little unbeliveable. I did find it interesting how forensics were becoming more advanced at the time that the book was written, as some of the procedures and equipment used are things that are fairly basic in this day and age and really made me think how things have rapidly progressed over the past 10 years.
Overall it is a fairly entertaining read for the most part that unfortunately does get a little boring at points, but is one that regulars to the series should read to keep up to date with the flow of the series. If you're new to the Cornwell books, I'd definitely start at the beginning (Postmortem) as the first six books are much better thank this.
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A book of two halves
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The first half of the book was quite good - Scarpetta was doing her job etc etc (although the reference to Lucy listening to Melissa Etheridge was a bit hamfisted). However, the second half of the book was ridiculous! Dr Scarpetta goes from being the literary equivalent of Quincy to become some kind of undercover CIA operative! I mean, I don't expect my fiction to be believable, but I don't expect it to be this unbelievable!
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Cause of Death
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After rattling through this, the seventh, instalment in the Dr Kay Scarpetta series, I had the blinding revelation that I'd done all this before. Although the book is just as solidly written and accurate as all the others, it is basically the same plot with slightly different scenery. Here you have Scarpetta on the trail of the perpetrator of the latest big news murders. Here you have Scarpetta verbally fencing with Marino in their own special brand of love/hate relationship. Here you have Scarpetta fretting and concerned about both her professional and personal relationship with FBI profiler Benton Wesley. Here you have Scarpetta playing both mother hen and fighting with niece Lucy as she struggles with her sexuality and her own professional life.
And to top it all, the book ends with Scarpetta saving the day as once again this medical examiner gets herself into the most unlikely of SWAT team action situations. As I say, don't get me wrong, the book is good. It ticks along nicely, the evidence and clues are intriguing and educational and as ever the supporting characters are great, Marino especially. I'm just happy to say that the next book is set in Ireland and I'm hoping for something with slightly different angles.
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Another Great Read
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Kay is called to a murder of a reporter, Ted Eddings on New Year's Eve. The body is found underwater, which gives the reader Kay's first underwater crime scene. This cases pulls together Lucy, Pete and Benton as further murders follow. The story weaves in the usual dectective work with the high tec world of Lucy. As with all Scarpetta novels, the lives of the characters have significantly moved on since the last novel, you are only given snipbits of information at a time to try and piece together what has happened in the intervening time period. Another great novel. The relationship between the key characters just gets better and better and there is a part of me that is routing for Marino and Kay to get it toegther - who knows....??
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