Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What's missing in all that remains?, 14 May 2004
A female pathologist, dressed in white overalls and rubber boots and carrying a heavy bag, raises the tape and enters the crime scene. Who is she? Well, she is one of a species of investigators that has become enormously popular in recent years. Writer Patricia Cornwell has depicted her in a highly successful series, calling her Dr Kay Scarpetta. With training in forensic pathology herself, and a string of awards for her books, Miss Cornwell's achievements have elevated her to the top of the queue of authors waiting to be read by this reviewer.
I found much to admire, in this my first Patricia Cornwell book. Plotting and planning have been meticulously done. A disappointing ending - so often the ruination of a good crime novel - has been avoided. The narration is in clean, plain sentences. Cornwell has her forensic pathologist character, Dr Kay Scarpetta, lead the investigation into a series of killings, and her knowledge of the forensic pathology involved is highly impressive.
Reducing my admiration, however, are several deficiencies. I happen to like crime investigation novels that mix some charm, warmth, caprice or eccentricity into the investigative proceedings. Cornwell keeps all these additives locked away in her cupboard. Dr Kay Scarpetta's life is a distinctly feminist, answering machine, laboratory gowned and masked one, at least in this book. Am I looking in the wrong place if I expect wit, warmth, vibrant male-female interaction or spruce dialogue as I follow a forensic pathologist investigating serial killings? As if she were aware of the need for these "cozy" qualities, Patricia Cornwell introduced a niece for Dr Kay Scarpetta in her first book which I am now reading, allowing something like maternalism to soften the otherwise strong feminist atmosphere that pervades "All That Remains".
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of her best, 17 Aug 2005
By A Customer
I have read all of Patricia Cornwell's novels so far and followed the life of Dr Kay Scarpetta avidly, this is probably one of her best. The main characters are given more depth and we learn a lot about mysterious Pete Marino and it materialises that he is in fact human and has feelings and these are brought to the surface in this book, as my favourite charcater of the Scarpetta series, this was the highlight for me. Overall, a great plot, Scarpetta faces a series of murders with unusual findings at the scene of the crime, only later do we realise important inofrmation has been held back and the suspense created in finding out who, makes this a real page turner, there is also involvement with many different law enforcement groups and it is hard to know who to trust, she even begins to susect her own collegues and friends. There is never a dull minute, murder, gypsies, politicians, media, stalking, this novel is one to grab your attention through the informative and realistic writing and I guarantee ,once you have started reading this, everything else will go by the wayside just so you can find out what really happened.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good read with interesting forensic details, 9 Nov 2000
By A Customer
This is the third in the series about the medical investigator Dr Kay Scarpetta. If you've read or even just heard of Patricia Cornwall's work you'll know what to expect: serial killer on the loose, the investigator on the trail against all odds. It's an extremely good read without being deep. It's better than the second in the series (which seemed rather formulaic).
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