Shoot me now.... I have just limped my way through "Port Mortuary" the latest offering from Patricia Cornwell and I am reminded why I don't buy her books.
Without being overly nasty, this was one of the most painful books I have ever attempted to read. Put in perspective; imagine being in the mind of somebody who suffers from a severe form of schizophrenia and then is trying to put their thoughts to paper.
The write up for the book reads:
Kay Scarpetta has been training at the Dover Port Mortuary, mastering the art of 'virtual autopsy' - a groundbreaking procedure that could soon revolutionise forensic science. And it is not too long before these new skills urgently need to be put into practice. A young man drops dead, apparently from a heart condition, eerily close to Scarpetta's home. But when his body is examined the next morning, there are stunning indications that he may have been alive when he was zipped inside a pouch and locked inside the cooler. When the revolutionary 3D radiology scans reveal more shocking details about internal injuries unlike any Scarpetta has ever seen, Scarpetta realizes that this is a case of murder - and that she is fighting a cunning and uniquely cruel enemy. Now it is a race against time to discover who and why before more people die. But that time is running out ...
But if you read the book you would think you are reading about the mental breakdown of Cornwells' "flagship" character Scarpetta.
If you are a Cornwell fan you can buy the book online from Kalahari for R204 by clicking HERE or from Loot for R201 but you are probably better off donating that money to charity.
We rated the book a lowly 1 out of 5
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Thank god there is an honest review about this book somewhere on the net! It was terrible. The flow was completely off-- I felt like she just threw it together; a "vault" book, to be used when an author has run out of good material and has a book due. I don't need to waste my time reading pages about Lucy checking her helicopter or what the greyhound eats--ridiculous. The first 2/3 were painful at best, the last 1/3- - too much info that quite frankly, never made sense. I would say more but I jut finished it, and my brain is numb! A waste of 4 hours.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this review and the comment. I am a third of the way into this rambling, nonsensical book and it is not getting anywhere. Scarpetta has become more self absorbed and I have considered ditching it all together. The Lucy/helicopter dialogue still has me stumped as to why that was in there and what it was all about - apart from allowing Scarpetta to brag she could land an aircraft if she had to........ YAWN!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad I wasn't the only one who thought so. Thanks for the feedback!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! An incredibly painful book to read. Almost put myself in the mortuary.
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