Postmortem

This is my second time around with Caldwell\’s Kay Scarpetta series. The first time was about 15 or 16 years ago on my own. Recently we started a local book club and, as the next hostess, I decided to introduce those not familiar with them, to the first two books in the series. I chose these so they could be introduced properly to the characters, careers, and relationships. Some book club members have read some of the series before, and they are telling me they are enjoying them all over again. If you like murder mysteries coupled with forensic science, police and Medical Examiner\’s investigations, and some intense situations, you will enjoy this series and enjoy watching the relationships change and grow through the years.

Rereading this book of the first time in years (maybe even since it originally came out). I remember loving the series at first, but then getting disenchanted with it when the later books focused more on the main character and less on solving a crime. The first book still holds up, but is seriously dated. Dial-up modems, monochrome screens, pay-phones, etc.. Not that big deal for me (since I lived through that time), but I would imagine someone who hadn\’t would be turned off a bit. I\’m probably going to continue with the series, hopefully farther that I got before. Also listening to the Audible audio book edition of this book off & on, the narrator does a good job at the voices of the different characters. I\’d recommend it if you\’re looking for an audio book.

*Being Patricia Cornwall\’s very first thriller featuring the infamous Dr. Kay Scarpetta, she outdid herself because it was impossible to put down!…….. When Richmond is being terrorized by a serial killer, one thing chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta definetly knew with a certainty that after receiving and mostly dreading, the one phone call she wished she never got. The police were telling her that the killer struck again! Not being in her current role long, she was the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia and as yet earned the respect of the police dept. In her mind it was the work of the serial killer but a very difficult and tempermental homicide detective by the name of Pete Marino suspected the victim\’s husband. With their ups and downs, Kay tried her hardest to explain that this killer was cunning, highly intelligent, probably knew forensics and did not by any means pick his victims randomly rationalizing that these victims have well known employment. One being a school teacher, the next being a free-lance writer and now a medical doctor. What do these victims have in common? Is there a connection somehow? One thing is for sure though especially with the media in a frenzy was someone is trying to sabotage the case and this is one more obstacle for Kay preventing her from doing her work. Without warning, her samples go missing, her case files are being tampered with, evidence is deliberately being ruined and now an unknown nemesis has gotten into her computer data. What is going on and who is trying to discredit her work? The killer? Her enemies in government? Her employers who would just love to see her fall on her face? It\’s not until the fourth victim that Kay enlists the help of FBI profiler Benton Wesley and homicide detective Pete Marino who now sees Kay with the utmost respect that he failed to address earlier. Together, the three of them will set a devious game of cat and mouse that no one saw coming and trap one of the most clever and alarming killers yet, but not before they have unleashed the whole and ugly truth for all those concerned!…….An absolute thriller!……thank you!♡♡

I really did enjoy listening to this book so much that I couldn\’t wait to get back in the car and finish it but once it was over I kept thinking did I really like it that much or was I just ready for it to be over. I am torn on this one. I just can\’t make up mind on this one which is why I gave it 3 stars. I found the bad guy very amazing up until the end and then I found him to be very underwhelming. I did love the science (well my idea of science) on both sides — the computer side and the medical side. I also found her niece very annoying and felt they were tiptoeing around her about everything so she wouldn\’t get upset. The narrator did a good job on the book and the characters and I have to admit I have heard other books in this series but I felt the author kept the characteristics of the characters that I enjoyed in some of the later books. They sounded like the characters I already knew except the character of Benton which I found this version different than all the other versions I have listened to.

To be honest, two stars is being a little generous; I have a lot of trouble actually coming up with something I like about this book. It\’s quite possible that the later books in the series are better, and it\’s quite possible that the problem here is that this one has dated badly. Ultimately, however, Scarpetta is not an especially likeable character here and she\’s basically impotent. I could see exactly which cliché ending was coming from about the first page. That would not be so bad if various plot threads dangled the possibility that I was wrong. But no. Maybe the trope wasn\’t so common back when this book was written, but now just about every book or TV series with a female lead has done this to death. Like I said, it\’s aged badly.

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