Dust

I\’ve read every Scarpetta novel, even during the \”lost years\” before Cornwell got her groove back. But as I read the first 9 chapters of this one, I was thinking it was time for Kay to retire. First of all, I was flabbergasted at how disingenuously Cornwell inserted Scarpetta onto the scene in Newtown. No doubt this was Cornwell\’s way of dealing with the tragedy, but to me it just seemed self-absorbed and completely unnecessary to this story. I was actually offended. Then interspersed with that we get more feverish poor-me-what-to-do-about-Marino crap. Self-absorbed much, Kay? And again, yet another unbelievable conspiracy against Scarpetta and everyone associated with her. . This book is at its best when it goes back to basics — Marino being a detective, Scarpetta doing forensics, Benton profiling, and Lucy doing her tech thing. That\’s what I loved about this series back when it was strong, and that\’s what continues to carry it. But so much time is wasted with all the other distractions. We don\’t even get to the body until ten chapters in. I don\’t need conspiracies in high places and \”everybody is against me\” angst. I understand that authors and their characters need to evolve, but I still want a good mystery with a bad guy who\’s kind of scary and good guys who use their knowledge and experience to figure out how to stop him. For a good part of this book I was thinking it might be my last.

As a Newtown, CT resident, the first chapter of DUST made me so angry, I put the book down (or, in reality, turned the Kindle off) for a week or so. That any writer of fiction would be so self-absorbed and insensitive to trivialize the horror of Sandy Hook Elementary by inserting a fictional character into such unspeakable loss is repugnant. Worse, that the author would presume to know how people felt – especially those that came from outside of Newtown to help families bury there children, sisters, brothers, and mothers – is presumptive and exceedingly disrespectful. As a long-time Cornwell fan, I will admit that I picked Dust back up some weeks later when I was past my initial reaction and thought that \”she wouldn\’t just throw Newtown into the book, she must have done it for a reason\”. Unfortunately, by the time I finished reading, the only reason I could think of for the inclusion of the murders on December 14, 2012 was that Ms. Cornwell had written a novel that was so boring and poorly written, her editors probably insisted that she go back and insert the tragedy into the plot just to sell the book. Whatever the reason, this is, sadly, the last Patricia Cornwell novel that I will buy.

Another spine-tingling and nail-biting suspense in book 21 by bestselling author Patricia Cornwell featuring her infamous characters………A body was discovered several miles from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which is turning out to be a PR nightmare. It was suspected that a body oddly draped in an unusual white cloth was twentytwo-year old computer engineering grad student Gail Shipton, who was last seen the night before at a popular Cambridge bar just meer weeks before her million dollar lawsuit against her former financial manager, and Chief Medical Examiner of Massachusetts Dr. Kay Scarpetta fears the evidence might very well lead to her computer genius niece Lucy. With all the evidence she was accumulating, Kay reluctantly realizes her suspicions were getting stronger when she not only suspects a sexual and sadistic predator, but even worse, someone who had a cold calculating intelligence with a decided purpose in mind, reminding her that he was a far more sinister enemy. More perplexing, was the odd fluorescent material discovered all over Gail Shipman\’s body deposited after death. Why? And where was she murdered? And most importantly,was the mysterious residue known as Dust an accidental transfer of evidence like dust in the wind? Or did her killer want her body found after all? With the help from her friends, colleagues, family and her forensic psychologist husband, FBI profiler Benton Wesley, Kay\’s intuitions continually speaks to her telling her that there seems to be a suggestion of organized crime or political corruption or maybe possibly both at the highest levels!……..

This is by far the worst Scarpetta book I\’ve read. It\’s talky, wordy, repetitive, overstuffed with needless description, lacking in focus, filled with faux pas, and, worst of all, uses a terrible tragedy to try to make itself relevant. It takes the full first half of the book before we even get to Scarpetta\’s lab! Then Cornwell spends a whole 50 pages tying up the loose ends — except that she doesn\’t tie them all, leaving gaping holes where explanations should be. Kay, Benton, and especially Marino have become tedious and boring. The use of the Newtown, Connecticut school massacre is gratuitous and, frankly, disgusting. It will be a very long time before I waste another penny and precious reading hours on another Cornwell book.

Being a long-term Scarpetta fan, I so wanted to like this book. It started well, giving me hope, but even allowing for Kay\’s flu, taking about 80 pages to reach the crime scene seemed overlong and made me wonder whether the first person monologue was going to be a good vehicle for the narrative on this instance. This was a low point for me and I was pleased when Kay could emerse herself in the forensic investigation. However, she remained at the scene for so long that, lover of procedural or forensic detail though I am, I began to feel the action was happening in real time and wondered if there was scope in the rapidly decreasing number of pages a full storyline. In the end, it wasn\’t a bad story, but certainly not a great one. Benton\’s arrival at the scene seemed rather unlikely – though admittedly useful for the plot – and I found the constant repetition of what Kay couldn\’t reveal to Marino an annoyance rather than an insight into the pressure and exasperstion of conducting the case in this far from ideal way. If you are new to the Scarpetta cases, this is not the best place to begin. Quite apart from the earlier novels being better, the characters of Kay, Lucy, Marino and Benton develop and the dynamics between them are constantly changing throughout the series. You will therefore miss a lot of the nuances of characterisation if you plunge in at this point.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member