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The Scarpetta Factor (A Scarpetta Novel)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
How does Patricia Cornwell manage to keep her literary batteries charged? Long-time admirers always breathe a sigh of relief when (after various experiments and diversions) she brings her signature character Kay Scarpetta back to the fray. But the author is savvy enough to realise that it is (occasionally) a good idea to ring the changes, which she did successfully in such non-Scarpetta books as The Front, with a Massachusetts investigator assuming centre stage. But, let’s face it, it’s her new book, The Scarpetta Factor that is going to be the real crowd pleaser, with her single-minded forensic anthropologist back on the case.
Since the groundbreaking Post Mortem which introduced the character, there have been some ups and downs in terms of Cornwell’s achievement, but nobody could deny that the author has earned her poll position at the top of the crime-writing stakes by dint of her remarkable narrative skills. Are those skills on full throttle here?
In the week before Christmas, Kay Scarpetta, suffering (as are so many of us) from the credit crunch, decides to work on a pro bono basis for the office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City. But Kay finds the spotlight this puts her under is not a comfortable one, when she is asked (during a live broadcast) about the disappearance of a wealthy woman, Hannah Starr, who is presumed to be dead. This is followed by a strange call from an ex-patient of Kay’s psychiatrist partner, Benton Wesley -- and Kay finds a suspicious package when she returns home – is it a bomb? She finds that the missing woman had secrets she shared with Kay’s gay niece Lucy.
Perhaps this isn’t Patricia Cornwell at her most adroit, but it’s much more than a routine outing for Scarpetta. Admirers will want to pick up The Scarpetta Factor. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Cornwell has never written better (Evening Standard )
The Scarpetta Factor is a novel that has clearly engaged Cornwell in the same fashion as her vintage work (Independent )
The Cornwell phenomenon goes on (Daily Mail )
The Scarpetta Factor is a novel that has clearly engaged Cornwell in the same fashion as her vintage work (Independent )
The Cornwell phenomenon goes on (Daily Mail )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
95 of 96 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I loved the early Scarpetta books and reread them until the characters were like old friends. In the last couple, however, I no longer recognise these friends. Scarpetta Factor continues the trend. In fact, I question the title choice since Scarpetta hardly features in it. We have Berger and Lucy and endless technical jargon which would be boring even if I understood half of it! Benton seems to have undergone a metamorphosis where his vocabulary has shrunk to the f-word (whereas he never swore before). Marino is a lost soul. The plot revolves around victims we have not met and know nothing about. The hitherto fascinatingly repulsive Chandonne is now a pantomime villain. Patricia Cornwell has lost touch with readers who loyally buy her new books. She needs to get back in touch with the characters she created and who, like her readers, deserve better than this pretentious prose.
147 of 151 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I loved the first half-dozen Scarpetta books with their taut plots, the put-upon and appealing main character, and the complex mysteries. I hadn't minded the repetition such as Scarpetta always becoming the killer's chosen next victim, as that was the series' format. But gradually the stories became meandering and I stopped reading.
Having missed about six books I came back to the saga with a fresh mind, but I hardly recognized this story as belonging to a series that included such gripping novels as The Body Farm and Cruel and Unusual. It's very rare for me to give up on a book, but this one I couldn't finish. It's perhaps unfair to review a book I only half-read, but then again the author didn't care enough to write with due care and attention and I doubt a capable editor worked on it, so why should I worry?
The plot is hard to follow and what I could work out was the opposite of a page-turner. The set-up promises some celebrity satire, but the story is humourless and dreary. Scenes don't flow. Dialogue is just random chatter and whining. There's no tension as I didn't care about or particularly believe in the mystery, and the new format of multiple points of view just appears to make it easier to add irrelevant diversions. Everything is explained in a condescending manner that gave me visions of the author making notes for research assistants and them quoting unnecessary detail they'd found on the Internet. In the early books the detail felt real and necessary and gave the books authority. I believed in Scarpetta's world. Now I don't.
Worst of all, the characters are no longer the same people I last read about. The only link with the Lucy I remember is the name. Scarpetta herself is now insufferably smug. She didn't irritate me before, but she does now with everything she says and does. Perhaps that's by design, but it's not a design I like as I want to be able to empathise and care about the supposed good guys.
For me anyhow this series has collapsed under the weight of its franchise obligations. I'm sorry to say that as I really did want to enjoy a good thriller mystery. Judging by its position in the selling charts I assume lots of people love this meandering style of thriller and I'm in the minority with that view. In fact I checked the reviews here two days ago, wondering if my growing irritation was down to me being overly picky, and the glowing five star rating here and the huge number of reviews lauding this book on the US site encouraged me to give it another couple of nights. But it still didn't click. Please don't shout at me. That's just my opinion! It doesn't stop anyone else from thoroughly enjoying this book!
I rate the early books in this series as masterpieces, but as far as I was concerned this came over as a lazy contractual exercise that exists for no reason other than to get people to part with their money, and no matter if I'm out of line in not liking the current style of the World's Number 1 Thriller Writer, I won't be doing that again.
Having missed about six books I came back to the saga with a fresh mind, but I hardly recognized this story as belonging to a series that included such gripping novels as The Body Farm and Cruel and Unusual. It's very rare for me to give up on a book, but this one I couldn't finish. It's perhaps unfair to review a book I only half-read, but then again the author didn't care enough to write with due care and attention and I doubt a capable editor worked on it, so why should I worry?
The plot is hard to follow and what I could work out was the opposite of a page-turner. The set-up promises some celebrity satire, but the story is humourless and dreary. Scenes don't flow. Dialogue is just random chatter and whining. There's no tension as I didn't care about or particularly believe in the mystery, and the new format of multiple points of view just appears to make it easier to add irrelevant diversions. Everything is explained in a condescending manner that gave me visions of the author making notes for research assistants and them quoting unnecessary detail they'd found on the Internet. In the early books the detail felt real and necessary and gave the books authority. I believed in Scarpetta's world. Now I don't.
Worst of all, the characters are no longer the same people I last read about. The only link with the Lucy I remember is the name. Scarpetta herself is now insufferably smug. She didn't irritate me before, but she does now with everything she says and does. Perhaps that's by design, but it's not a design I like as I want to be able to empathise and care about the supposed good guys.
For me anyhow this series has collapsed under the weight of its franchise obligations. I'm sorry to say that as I really did want to enjoy a good thriller mystery. Judging by its position in the selling charts I assume lots of people love this meandering style of thriller and I'm in the minority with that view. In fact I checked the reviews here two days ago, wondering if my growing irritation was down to me being overly picky, and the glowing five star rating here and the huge number of reviews lauding this book on the US site encouraged me to give it another couple of nights. But it still didn't click. Please don't shout at me. That's just my opinion! It doesn't stop anyone else from thoroughly enjoying this book!
I rate the early books in this series as masterpieces, but as far as I was concerned this came over as a lazy contractual exercise that exists for no reason other than to get people to part with their money, and no matter if I'm out of line in not liking the current style of the World's Number 1 Thriller Writer, I won't be doing that again.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Very difficult to write about an author whose books have been so enjoyable for many years but there comes a point where you have to draw a line and say that, as a stand-alone book, this would struggle to get a follow-up and, as part of a successful series, doesn't deserve one. This gets a single star for loyalty across many wonderful books.
I thought it was just me and my high expectations but the last few books have been 500 pages of meandering plot followed by the quickest and laziest endings I've ever read, by any author, all inside a mere couple of pages. No tension, just the feeling of impending disappointment again as you realise you are within 5 pages of the end of the book with no direct action involving the baddie, just speculation. I am still reeling from the sense of injustice that I have fallen for this con a few times now, thinking she can't get away with it again. Mugged again and I won't spoil the finish because you won't believe me anyway.
If you've read the previous few, you know what I mean, a plodding plot, minimal character development and a sense of boredom in the writer that comes across in the text. I started the first few chapters of this book thinking I'd missed 100 pages of set-up and the sense of dislocation persisted throughout. I, like many others, probably bought this under obligation from reading all the others but, as a first read, I would not recommend it at all, stick to the first 6 books which are fantastic and Scarpetta spent some time at work and contributed to solving crimes.
It has been suggested before that Cornwell is profiting from the cash cow that Scarpetta is (always a concern when the character's name is in the title, a wrong committed by James Patterson too), under contractural obligation to produce a few books for her fans but a non-existent plot, lack of set-pieces, pointless tangents and no character development lead to one of the most disappointing and frustrating reading experiences I have ever had.
I understand that this will disappoint some and if you feel you need to buy it, wait for the paperback or borrow from another disappointed friend. A week of my life I won't get back I'm sorry to say.
I thought it was just me and my high expectations but the last few books have been 500 pages of meandering plot followed by the quickest and laziest endings I've ever read, by any author, all inside a mere couple of pages. No tension, just the feeling of impending disappointment again as you realise you are within 5 pages of the end of the book with no direct action involving the baddie, just speculation. I am still reeling from the sense of injustice that I have fallen for this con a few times now, thinking she can't get away with it again. Mugged again and I won't spoil the finish because you won't believe me anyway.
If you've read the previous few, you know what I mean, a plodding plot, minimal character development and a sense of boredom in the writer that comes across in the text. I started the first few chapters of this book thinking I'd missed 100 pages of set-up and the sense of dislocation persisted throughout. I, like many others, probably bought this under obligation from reading all the others but, as a first read, I would not recommend it at all, stick to the first 6 books which are fantastic and Scarpetta spent some time at work and contributed to solving crimes.
It has been suggested before that Cornwell is profiting from the cash cow that Scarpetta is (always a concern when the character's name is in the title, a wrong committed by James Patterson too), under contractural obligation to produce a few books for her fans but a non-existent plot, lack of set-pieces, pointless tangents and no character development lead to one of the most disappointing and frustrating reading experiences I have ever had.
I understand that this will disappoint some and if you feel you need to buy it, wait for the paperback or borrow from another disappointed friend. A week of my life I won't get back I'm sorry to say.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Absolutely dire
I didn't want to give this book even 1 star but it seems I have to otherwise my review will not be posted. Read more
Published 6 days ago by julia
Lacking the Scarpetta Factor
I vowed not to read Patricia Cornwall as her books got worse and worse but I thought I will give this another go, the blurb sounded good. Read more
Published 11 days ago by N. M. Mcdonald
Kay always delivers the goods
As ever with Cornwell the story gripped me from the start, Scarpetta never fails to deliver! The relationship between the players is as tense as ever with Benton continuing his... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steve P
Another demonstration of how much Patricia Cornwall knows!
I tried, I really did. I have read practically all the Kay Scarpetta books, though recently it has been hard work. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ann in Brittany
Boring plot and left hanging on personal issues
I loved the first Scarpetta novels but felt they began to go downhill once Scarpetta went from first person to third person. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ireland
very good read
As usual miss cornwall does it again,maybe i will be mobbed but u think she has overtaken Afatha Christie. Xannot wait to start the mexr one
Published 4 months ago by sheila brazell
Losing the plot.
Like others have said i thought it must be me when I struggled to finish this book,but apparently not. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ms. Kayleigh L. Green
Too Much Detail
I was a big fan of Scarpetta in the early books. Fascinating story lines with just enough detail to explain some of the more gory autpsy details etc. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Barrow Boy
Not classic Cornwell.
I'm afraid that I agree with many reviews here. The plot is hard to grasp and, frankly when you do, it doesn't grasp you. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. Peter Franklin
Truly Awful - Don't Waste your Money
So far I've read all the Scarpetta books and the last five or six have not been up to the standard of the earlier books in the series, I'd thought that had started to improve with... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Princess Mononoke
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