Sponsored by BoysStuff.co.uk

Book of the Dead

By Ian Urie



The legendary Ms Cornwell returns with the latest story of Kay Scarpetta.
Now, I have been a huge fan of this series.
The characterization has been superb and the stories suitably  impressive 
with serial killers carrying out their deadly calling and being brought to book with the help of Scarpetta and her cohorts.
The new book starts promisingly enough with a killer plying his trade.
This is more than her last novel (not a Scarpetta novel)did and it grabs the interest.
Unfortunately this quickly descends into her characters indulging what could best be described as navel gazing.
The killer is caught at the end,but I found the denouement rather unsatisfying.
It was as if Cornwell decided to concentrate on her principle characters and forgot all about the murderer.
There are flashes of her talent throughout the book, but I was left wondering what happened when she wrote the book.
Has she a grand scheme in mind (as seems likely), and forgot to include all the usual dissection and  investigation?
Or has she got bored while writing it, or treated her readers with disdain?
Read the book and decide yourself.
As I say the book is part of a continuing series, so the characters evolution is moved forward, and it will help
with the next book if you know what has gone before.
I hope the next novel quickly returns Scarpetta back to her place at the top of crime thrillers,
but it won't if she returns in another novel like this, I'm afraid.
Borrow the book from a local library, I really don't think its up to the standard expected