Category: Kay Scarpetta

From Potter’s Field
by Patricia Cornwell

Copyright: 1995
Pages: 352
Rating: 4/5
Read: Mar. 23-26, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2010
Yearly Count: 13

First Line: Christmas Eve was cold and treacherous with black ice, and crime crackling on scanners.

As Dr. Kay Scarpetta knows, holidays don’t stop criminals from wreaking havoc among the innocent. So why should this particular Christmas be any different for Kay? Unforunately, it’s not. This Christmas finds her in New York City dealing with what appears to be another murder by Temple Gault. By this point, Scarpetta just wants to end this nightmare that Gault has brought upon her life. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that she is at the center of Gault’s obsession; it is Kay Scarpetta that Gault intends to destroy -by taking everything away from her. No longer safe in her own home or office, she has to rely on her FBI and police counterparts even though she knows that it will be her alone who will have to face Gault in the end if any of them want this nightmare to end.

This is the sixth book in the Kay Scarpetta series and another great one! It had a slightly slow start, but once it picked up, it was really a great and fast read. I felt like this one was written a little bit better quality wise than the past two books were. It was like it flowed a little bit better honestly. Kay’s character seemed to get over herself a little more than she showed herself to be in The Body Farm. Overall I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to diving right into the seventh book 🙂

The Body Farm
by Patricia Cornwell

Copyright: 1994
Pages: 338
Rating: 4/5
Read: Mar. 19-23, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2010
Yearly Count: 12

First Line: On the sixteenth of October, shadowy deer crept to the edge of dark woods beyond my window as the sun peeked over the cover of the night.

Kay Scarpetta is back and she’s started in her new position as a consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI. When she gets the call about the murder of an eleven-year-old girl in a small town, she fears the worst. She has a really bad feeling that the killer is Gault – a man that got away during her last big case. While dealing with that, her niece Lucy finds herself in trouble with the FBI. An intern for the Bureau, she is accused of a very serious security violation. Although Kay is trying her hardest to come to terms with Lucy’s predicament, the theory that she finally arrives at in regards to her murder case will surprise her more than she ever could have imagined.

This is the fifth book in the Kay Scarpetta series. This one wasn’t necessarily my favorite, but it was still good. Personally I felt as though Kay was a little over-reaching in places. It’s kind of hard to explain what I really thought of this book. Overall it was good, bu I felt as if it could have been better in places. I’m definitely looking forward to continuing on with this series!

Cruel and Unusual
by Patricia Cornwell

Copyright: 1993
Pages: 409
Rating: 4/5
Read: Mar. 15-17, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2010
Yearly Count: 11

First Line: The Monday I carried Ronnie Joe Waddell’s meditation in my pocketbook, I never saw the sun.

“Killing me won’t kill the beast” were some of the last words that rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell wrote before his execution. The words didn’t mean much until Dr. Kay Scarpetta found Waddell’s fingerprint at a crime scene after his execution. Something strange is going on and it’s going to be up to Kay to figure out what is going on before her career and life as she knows it is completely wrecked.

This is the fourth of the Kay Scarpetta series. It was another great book. But I did have some reservations about it. The main thing that I have noticed (and this applies to the 2nd and 3rd books as well) is that when the next book in the series begins it seems as if the reader has missed something. Not to give anything big away but when this book started there was a pretty big revelation that came pretty much out of nowhere. I was confused and it took a while before the whole thing came together. Something similar to this happened in the beginning of the third book as well. I guess I expect the books to pick up where they left off a little bit more than these have seemed to do. Another gripe that I have (which again applies to the 3rd book as well) is that the lead-up to the overall climax is really wonderful and then the killer is revealed and the end result kind of falls flat. Maybe I expect too much, I don’t know. But overall I really enjoyed this book and am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

All That Remains
by Patricia Cornwell

Copyright: 1992
Pages: 382
Rating: 5/5
Read: Mar. 11-14, 2010
Challenge:  2010 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2010; Thriller & Suspense Challenge 2010
Yearly Count: 10

First Line: Saturday, the last day of August, I started work before dawn.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is up against a serial killer who is targeting young couples. Four couples have disappeared already, with their bodies to turn up in the woods months later. When the fifth couple goes missing the tables seem to turn – for the girl that was taken is the daughter of a very powerful woman in Washington – the new “Drug Czar.” Feeling the pressure from above, Kay is determined to finally catch this elusive killer once and for all.

This is the third installment of the Kay Scarpetta series and another great one in my opinion. It was very fast paced and action packed. I also liked the character development involved – I really got to know Marino. I’m definitely looking forward to continuing on with this series and I’m kicking myself for just now starting to read these books (they’ve only been on my shelves forever!!!)

Body of Evidence
by Patricia Cornwell

Copyright: 1991
Pages: 403
Rating: 4/5
Read: Feb. 20 – 23, 2010
Challenge:  2010 100+ Reading Challenge; Random Reading Challenge; RYOB 2010
Yearly Count: 9

First Line: Dear M, Thirty days have passed in measured shades of sunlit color and changes in the wind. I think too much and do not dream.

When reclusive author Beryl Madison is found brutally murdered in her own home, Kay Scarpetta is on the case. Kay knows that Beryl has been having some issues with some menacing phone calls. In fact, Beryl had escaped Virginia altogether in order to get away from the harassment. While away Beryl is thought to have been writing a tell-all memoir about her life and her relationship to another reclusive author. But Kay also knows that that is a book that there are more than a few people who do not want it to ever hit the presses. While trying to track down the only known copy of the book Kay finds herself mixed up with a man from her past as well as the same stalker that Beryl was dealing with.

I read the first book in this series last year and was not real impressed by it. So I wasn’t in much of a hurry to get around to this one. But I have to tell you – I am glad I did read it! This book was so much better than the first one. The story was better, the writing was better, everything was better. It has definitely made me look forward to reading the third in this series. As a side note to this review, I just saw on CNN that it has been confirmed that Angelina Jolie has been cast to play Kay Scarpetta in an upcoming movie based on this series. I have to say – this is really wrong! From the descriptions that I get from reading the first two books, Ms. Jolie is too young, too tall, too skinny, just too wrong to play this character. That’s just my two cents on the matter. You can read about this here. (Of course I also didn’t like Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme either….)