Isle of Dogs (Andy Brazil) (Paperback)

Here's what this book has in common with the Kay Scarpetta novels: It is located in Virginia; crimes, criminals, and bodies are involved; forensic medicine is explained from time to time; and medical examiners make brief appearances (pp. 230-230, 274-278, 291-301, and 319-321). Any other similarity is totally accidental. If your interest in this book is because you liked the Kay Scarpetta novels, you are making the same mistake I did.

Humor is very hard to do well. Only a few writers can carry it off in a crime genre. My favorite is Elmore Leonard. Ms. Cornwell, who is a fine writer in her other novels, does not seem to have the knack developed yet in this book.

"Unique First fit her name like a glove . . . ." This sentence opens the book, and nicely captures many of the book's problems. Each character has a joke name, usually wrapped up in a trite phrasing that over explains the joke, and then the book repeats the joke past the point of creating nausea. Most situations have a slapstick element to them, which are written in the following way: Slapstick is coming. Slapstick is starting. Slapstick is continuing. Slapstick is still continuing. You have just seen a slapstick scene.

With good editing, this book should have been about one-third this length.

Normally, I would not have finished a book this bad . . . but it got a little better beginning at page 178. So I kept going. But, Isle of Dogs ran out of steam in waves of predictability for me around page 342 and finished with a whimper of interesting material.

You will find a couple of plot devices in Isle of Dogs that will probable intrigue you with their potential involving the Internet, and if you are like me, you will look forward to another writer capturing that potential (which was mostly untapped here).

I would have graded the book lower, but there were a few cogent passages on Virginia history that were well written.

In humor, timing is very important. Take too long to get to the point, and peoples' minds drift. Move too fast, and people don't get the point. Start with something very visible and simply write about it, and it will lose its power. Where do you need to improve your timing and way of portraying key ideas?

The troublemaker in the governor's office is in collusion with a gang of road pirates, the leader of who has a score to settle with both Andy and his boss. On a lighter note, the people of Tangier Island, fed up with governor's antics, kidnap a dentist and declare their independence from the state of Virginia. In a dazzling climax, all problems are resolved in a most original manner.

Although ISLE OF DOGS is nothing like the Kay Scarpetta medical thrillers, it is a fine work that deserves equal praise, as the author's more renowned tales receive. Ms. Cornwell has written a satirical police procedural that allows the audience an insider's look at the workings of the police department. Andy is wonderful as an Internet writer ferreting out corruption in high places and some really low ones too. There are actually moments that readers will laugh out loud at a dark criminal scene. Read this superb book to understand how this is possible.

Harriet Klausner