	Mystery

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell

Zoom

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell

(391 customer reviews)

List Price:
Our Price:	$20.00
You Save:
Shipping:	Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
*Shipping:

SKU:

978-0316733144

In Stock

Availability: Usually ships in 1 business days

Only 3 left in stock, order soon!

Condition: Used

1 used & new available from $20.00

Description

Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital's psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk-and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.

Product Details

Author:	Patricia Cornwell
Hardcover:	512 pages
Publisher:	Little, Brown
Publication Date:	2008
Language:	English
ISBN:	0316733148
Product Length:	6.46 inches
Product Width:	9.33 inches
Product Height:	1.77 inches
Product Weight:	1.77 pounds
Package Length:	9.29 inches
Package Width:	6.46 inches
Package Height:	1.73 inches
Package Weight:	1.76 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 391 reviews

Used and New

« Back to product information

All	Used ( 1 from $20.00 )

All
Price	Condition	Availability & Comments	Add to cart
$20.00+ $3.99 Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping* on orders over $25.	Used - Mint	Availability: Usually ships in 1 business days Comments: brand new.

« Back to product information

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 3.0

( 391 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

120 of 138 found the following review helpful:

Patricia Cornwell should be ashamed Feb 03, 2009 By K. Grimes "Karen Grimes"
I have always been a big fan of Patricia Cornwell, and have read all of her books. I was so excited when Scarpetta came out--I ordered it immediately. What a disappointment!!! I'm sure she is laughing all the way to the bank, but I have to say--if this was the first novel I'd ever picked up by Cornwell, it would be the last. It was initially boring, but I kept figuring it would get better. I managed to actually finish it after putting it down several times. Boring, boring, boring. What happened to the old Patricia?? Her first books were her best books. Now it's just blah blah blah, and very pretentious. The best character is Marino. Scarpetta has always been a snob, and frankly, I'm tired of her.

49 of 55 found the following review helpful:

Too long and too disjointed Jan 29, 2009 By Alexis Hawthorne "addictedreader"
I just could not get into this book. As many of you have said, I used to be a big Kay Scarpetta fan, but this one might have been the last straw. Way too much personal stuff clogged up the plot line. I really felt as if I had missed one or more previous books because I couldn't follow things. I dredged through this book. It might have ruined me for future Scarpetta books forever.

47 of 53 found the following review helpful:

DOA Feb 12, 2009 By N. King
All of a sudden, Scarpetta has gone from what seems to be a struggling, independent pathology "consultant" in South Carolina, bereft of an official position and attacked by Gorilla Marino, to a highly successful, MARRIED, Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner, CNN reporter, and - oh, yes - professor at CUNY (yes, there is such a place as John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in case anyone cares). All in the course of less than a year! Is there an installment I missed?

Frankly, I found this book deadly dull. After 135 pages (out of almost 600!), I still didn't know what was going on. I knew who the serial killer was from the moment he walked onto the page, and I have frankly grown extremely tired of Cornwell's dropping every acronym out there (and, of course, explaining what it means to all and sundry - who in heaven's name doesn't know what an ISP is at this point?), even though it breaks up the flow of her writing and has nothing to do with the plot line or story.

Scarpetta's (and Cornwell's) moral rectitude verges on the santimonious, Lucy is as unsympathetic a character as ever, Benton remains a self-conscious jerk, the novel's other chracters are not well fleshed-out as unique individuals. Only Marino is once again quasi-interesting.

Why did I finish this book? Well, the library lends books for three weeks! And it took me nearly that long to finally slam it shut. I guess I keep hoping that her novels will rise to her early writing again (I don't agree with some other reviewers that she's anywhere near her early best). But at some point, disappointment will trump curiosity.

60 of 71 found the following review helpful:

Winding road Dec 03, 2008 By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas"
The name of the latest Patricia Cornwell crime thriller is well-chosen -- "Scarpetta" revolves solely around Scarpetta.

Fortunately Cornwell seems to be attempting to get back to the roots of what made her series a string of uber-bestsellers, with a greater emphasis on the gruesome crimes. Unfortunately the first two-thirds of the book drag like a deflated balloon, and too often the book feels like an ode to psychobabble and Scarpetta's awesomeness.

Scarpetta is called back to New York when Oscar Bane, a man with achondroplasia (dwarfism), turns himself into the police. He's the only suspect in his girlfriend's murder, but he swears he didn't do it. So Scarpetta is forced to sift through the lies that Oscar tells her, as well as some truly bizarre evidence (a random assortment of DNA in the victim's vagina). Despite Oscar's obvious paranoia, she believes that he really didn't kill his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Benton is attempting to come to terms with Scarpetta's near-rape, especially since Marino has been assigned to the NYPD and an online muckraker has published a column about the event. As Scarpetta sifts through the evidence, Lucy's computer wizardry unearths some disturbing new information about the victim -- and the online Scarpetta impersonator that may also be a vicious sadistic killer...

In many ways, "Scarpetta" is a big sprawling step back in the right direction for Patricia Cornwell. Cutting edge technology, gruesome crimes and lots of sifting for clues are all included, and Cornwell successfully integrates some seemingly irrelevant plot points -- such as the victim and suspect's achondroplasia -- so that they become important parts of the solution.

Unfortunately, "Scarpetta" is slow. Very slow. The first two-thirds of the book just ooze along with virtually no revelations, except that Scarpetta is sorta-kinda-maybe sure that Oscar didn't do it. Instead, we're treated to a slow grind of speculation, psychobabble and therapy sessions for Benton and Marino. I do not read crime thrillers to hear about the inner angst of the heroine's husband.

As for the seemingly endless whining about tabloid stories about Scarpetta? Hard to care. It has only the most tenuous of connections to the main storyline.

Fortunately things speed up about two-thirds of the way in, when Scarpetta actually gets around to looking at the victim's body and apartment. And Cornwell inserts the creepy idea of being impersonated online, which is taken to eerie lengths that may involve murder. Unfortunately it's still punctuated by the perpetually obnoxious wunderkind Lucy's flirtations with the DA.

The biggest problem is, simply put, Scarpetta. Everyone raves about how beautiful/smart/awesome/brave/famous/kind she is, but here she seems robotic. Despite being newly married and coming face-to-face with her friend-turned-almost-rapist, she registers almost no emotions except a few token flickers. She just drifts through in a cloud of untouchable awesomeness, while everyone marvels at her. It feels like the author is bored with her self-insert.

In fact, Benton and Lucy don't really react at all to Marino's reappearance, except a bit of stiffness -- hardly the homicidal reactions Benton predicts earlier. Marino is the one who really comes alive -- despite Cornwell's contempt for his "blue-collarness", his wrenching journey of repentance and shame is genuinely touching. He's done something terrible, and is trying hard to put his life back together.

"Scarpetta" is a step in the right direction, but Patricia Cornwell's sixteenth Scarpetta book is hampered by a slow plot and increasingly unemotional heroine.

20 of 22 found the following review helpful:

Less than one star Jan 28, 2009 By avid reader "tippygeorge"
Sorry there isn't a rating lower than one star.

I loved Cornwell's earlier books, and keep trying to give her another chance. I'm sorry, though, they just keep getting worse.

I've been slugging through this one for a while, and the only reason I keep at it is because it puts me to sleep every night.

I really hate to write negative reviews, but Cornwell fans need to know this.

See all 391 customer reviews on Amazon.com