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Point of Origin (Kay Scarpetta)
 
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Point of Origin (Kay Scarpetta) (Paperback)

by CORNWELL PATRICIA (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc; Reissue edition (31 Jan 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0425169863
  • ISBN-13: 978-0425169865
  • Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 10.6 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 313,388 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #62 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > C > Cornwell, Patricia > Complete List
    #62 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > C > Cornwell, Patricia > Scarpetta

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
When your everyday life is filled with death it's easy to find yourself a little edgy. The audio version of Patricia Cornwell's Point of Origin gives fans of her familiar heroine, Dr Kay Scarpetta, a little something extra, a chance to hear the deep hurt and burning cynicism of the chief medical examiner's biting words. "You don't put your hands inside their ruined bodies and touch and measure their wounds .... You see clean case files and glossy photos and cold crime scenes. You spend more time with the killers than with those they ripped from life. And maybe you sleep better than I do, too. Maybe you still dream because you aren't afraid to."

Perhaps because Kate Reading has also narrated Cornwell's Unnatural Exposure and Cause of Death, her voice conveys experience and the history of what has come before, allowing listeners to hear between the lines. Using a subtle but effective range of vocal inflections, Reading lifts the characters off the page and carries them along as the plot spins ever faster, tangling Scarpetta in a snarl of arson, deceit and psychopathic murder. With her nemesis making threats and suspicious fires leaving calcified corpses, Dr. Scarpetta's long-overdue romantic getaway has gone up in smoke. It's just one more day at the morgue and Point of Origin, another hit in the popular series of Scarpetta mysteries, finds the good doctor's attitude honed to a razor sharp point.--George Laney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Sunday Times
'One of the most interesting and singular bodies of work in popular fiction.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

46 Reviews
5 star:
 (17)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:
 (11)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (46 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Point of Origin, 19 May 2005
By Rich Milligan (Thatcham, Berkshire) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Point of Origin (Dr Kay Scarpetta) (Paperback)
Looking at the other reviews posted here, it's pretty clear that opinions of this book fall into two distinctive categories. There are those who loved the book and welcome it into the series of Scarpetta detective novels, and those that are really disappointed with it and feel that Cornwell is either not developing her characters enough, or developing them in the wrong way. Which is why I'm going to sit very firmly on the fence!

In fact I wholeheartedly agree with the later group of critics, Scarpetta has developed into such a driven and exacting personality that she is almost becoming robotic in he attitudes to all walks of life. The fact that she is career minded or practical about most things I can accept, the fact that she is becoming demanding, belittling, downright rude and unfriendly to all she meets is a little harder to accept. If I were her assistant Fielding, I'll tell he where to stick her sharpest scalpel and look for a new job. This woman must be the biggest nightmare in the world to work for!

Niece Lucy just hasn't developed at all. Professionally she changes from book to book, learning a new skill as determined by whatever situation Cornwell wants to place her is. One moment she's single handily created the first virtual intelligence robot, next she's flying helicopters for the ATS! What next? Developing a cure for cancer? Breaking the world 100 metres record? And anyway how can such a needy, moaning and winging person be such a professional success? "Ohhh nobody likes me!" weeps the young, beautiful, talented Lucy! "Someone as gifted as Lucy is always going to be lonely" pities Auntie Scarpetta! Well welcome to the real world ladies, now shut up or put up!

My other major gripe with Cornwell is the pages and pages of detailed technical information as if to impress us. She's bombarded us with enough post-mortem facts to cheese off even the most dedicated fan so she turns to a different aspect, in this book's case, Fire Examination and gives us enough reams of procedural particulars to sink a ship. Boring!

But, there again, I also wholeheartedly agree with the fist section of fans. This is still a book I whipped through in a couple of sittings. It never lost my attention and I was hooked to find out what happened all the way to the end, and I have no doubts that in a couple of weeks I'll be picking up the next one in the series.

I can only hope that now with old woman Benton out of the way, (sorry Kay, but let's face it you weren't exactly cut up about the whole affair) we'll be treated to a new and interesting character! Long Live Marino, she's single again now Pete, go for it Sunshine!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant as usual, 29 Jun 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Point of Origin (Paperback)
I loved this book and have read all of Patricia Cornwells books including Hornets nest and Southern Cross and the latest in the Scarpetta Series 'Black Notice'. I don't think that I could ever tire of the characters and hope that PC carries on the series for a long time to come
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Scarpetta yet keeps her ahead - just., 2 Jul 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Point of Origin (Paperback)
Each Cornwell novel seems to surpass its predecessor as she grows more confident, and Point of Origin is no exception. The forensic detail has always been gruesomely accurate, but what makes this book work so well is that forensic gore is allied to a real 'voice' for her heroine - world-weary, angry, determined - that conveys her character development more effectively than mere action. Her plots seem to get more complex and satisfying too, with plenty of twists in the tale. Kathy Reichs (see the brilliant Death du Jour) may be the pretender to the throne, but Cornwell is still the Queen. Forensic fans should also check out The Death Pit, by a male writer, Tony Strong, a page-turner mystery about a forensic archeologist. There's clearly still plenty of mileage in the forensic genre - keep the cadavers coming!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Back On Track.
Point Of Origin as you probably already know is the ninth in Patricia Cornwell's critically acclaimed Kay Scarpetta series. And I have to admit I really enjoyed it! Read more
Published 5 months ago by molko

5.0 out of 5 stars A slow start leading to an amazing second half
'Point of Origin' is the ninth book in the Kay Scarpetta series written by Patricia Cornwell and begins when a fire burns down a farmhouse, killing a woman and a stable full of... Read more
Published 18 months ago by KM

5.0 out of 5 stars How devestatingly exciting!
I have just finished reading this book and after a slow start, I was yet again completely gripped by Cornwell's story. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Marley T

5.0 out of 5 stars Point of Origin
Patricia Cornwell started of with Postmortem and has carried on to write in an enthralling, chilling, gripping and "can't put down" manner. Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2005 by G. Allan

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read
I enjoyed this book tremendously. It was much better than it's predecessor in the series. I found it difficult at first to get used to the idea that Lucy was no longer an FBI... Read more
Published on 27 Jul 2004 by R. MERCER

1.0 out of 5 stars A book too far
I have read several other Kay Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell. I started off thinking they were excellent, but they have worn a bit thin as I have read more. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Why so popular?
I've read a few of Patricia Cornwell's books and I have to say, each and every one has been pretty disappointing. This title is no exception. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars This book left me speechless
This is by far and away the best Cornwell book since The Body Farm. I am only 14 and have in three weeks, managed to collect and read every single one of her books. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars Sorry to loose a main charater
I was sorry to read about the death of one of the main characters of the book. However, I do think it was about time something like this happened. Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2001

2.0 out of 5 stars Is KS really so perfect?
I have read most of the KS books, and I am now beginning to find KS rather irritating. She is so perfect, in her impeccable behaviour, in the way she dresses, how/what she eats,... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2000

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