Trace by Patricia Cornwell, 0751530778, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Competent but still lacking the old spark

I am a faithful reader and follower of all Scarpetta's stories. I, like many others feel that at the beginning of this series (and we are now some 13 books in) Cornwell was a master in this genre. However, the series is now a little old and tired and I am finding that familiarity is indeed breeding contempt.

Scarpetta and Marino have now become a somewhat cranky and neurotic duo. They make decisions that are a huge step away from the character traits we have spent the last 12 books getting to know. It is quite frustrating that Cornwell appears to have gotten sloppy with her writing to the extent that she would rather sacrifice solid character foundations to suit her plotline. I was puzzled and amazed by some of the professional choices made (Benton primarily but I don't want to spoil the storyline for anyone else so I'll leave it there) and by the fact that Scarpetta put up with so much hostility in a situation where she could have just said `I'm outta here'. I'm not even going to go into Lucy's character who is richer and more unrealistic than ever.

The problem is the whole revenge angle is getting old - been there Cornwell, many times!!

That said, it was an improvement on Blowfly. There was a brief return to form in the middle of this book before the ending just fizzled out into nothing. This series can still be salvaged. Cornwell just needs to steer clear of revenge angles and a plotline that revolves entirely around someone being hacked off with Scarpetta, Benton or Lucy and deciding to kill other people or stalk them as punishment.

First and last

This is the first, and I have to say last, Cornwell book that I've read. I can see from reviews that the earlier books in the Scarpetta series are seemingly superior to this one - but I have to say that after reading this one I really can't be bothered to try any more. With its weird writing style, meandering plotline, random and seemingly un-connected characters, and wholly unsatisfying ending this book is really not worth the effort.

Disappointing

I really loved the Kay Scarpetta series, even when Benton quite unbelievably came back from the dead. But this is a world away from the previous books. The writing style is different and it does come across as if Cornwell has run out of ideas. I didn't even finsh the book and would not recommend it to anyone.

Trace

I start the review by saying this is better than 'Blowfly' but still this book stinks. There is no narrative drive to the story....things happen with no urgency or sense of importance.

Cornwell persists with her new narrative style. It is so irritating. Again she tells you everything that goes on, how the characters are thinking and feeling, but with no room for the reader to make up their own minds about the characters. It is patronising and rather lazy, hence this IS a very easy read. You don't have to think about any of it. A disappointment. Cornwell has done much better.

A rather sad attempt ...

I love the Scarpetta series and loved most other books but this one was very disappointing and reading it seemed like she only wanted to fill the pages to meet her quota.

The story wasn't very original and she often repeated the same sentence or wording within the same paragraph - did no one edit the book?

I have so far not rated any of her books with 1 star but this books was unfortunately really not good at all.

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