Customer Reviews

The Front (Winston Garano Series)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

I wish I had read the other reviews before i purchased my copy. This was possibly the worst book Cornwell has written. I was disappointed with her previous book but decided to risk this one. The plot was sketchy, if there was a plot at all and it skipped from character to character without fleshing any one of them out. The investigation by Win appeared to be superfluous to the story, and why were all the characters so abusive to each other yet at the same time appeared to convey a sexua overtone.Not one of the characters rung true and i couldn't understand why they would even bother to talk to each other, lete alone get into each others beds'. I would not recommend this book to anyone and wish Cornwell would go back to her best loved characters ie Scarletta, Lucy etc. I will hesitate to read any more Patricia Cornwell books in the future. What a shame.A good author gone bad.

I have been an avid fan of Patricia Cornwell since book 1 but of late I have been extremely disappointed and this book was no exception. It lacks everything that made her earlier books so gripping and I can't help but think that maybe this was written for the money. The plot is poor, the characters feeble and well, I did read it through to the end but only because I had paid good money for. I think that in future I will be giving her books a wide berth.

As someone who's always enjoyed Cornwell's novels, her books are always among those I pick up when I see a new title in the book store.
I picked up a copy of "The Front" and having recently completed it, I can say is that it is definitely the worst of Cornwell's titles; in fact I'm not sure how it ever came to print.

We re-join the main characters introduced in "At Risk" and start with the premise of re-opening an old murder case where the victim may have been the first to meet their end at the hands of the Boston Strangler.

So far so good.

However the investigation of the case covers a scant few pages. The remainder of a novel (which is thankfully short to begin with) is fleshed out with poorly developed characters which you never feel any affinity with and a couple of clumsy plot devices that only serve to introduce one-dimensional FBI and Scotland Yard characters who bring nothing to tale.

After reading to the end, I was hoping for some twist, some moment of tension or drama to grab my attention and make it all feel worthwhile.
I haven't included any spoilers; but frankly even if I wanted to I'd struggle - there's no real story to spoil.

In some fictional works a lack of interesting plot and drama is compensated for by engaging character development or witty dialog; but this book is completely bereft of any redeeming features.
It's even more irritating as Cornwell has proved several times that she's a very capable writer.
It certainly feels like a project that's been rushed out to meet a contractual obligation to her publishers - some half-developed story that's been pulled out of the trunk and mailed off on deadline day.

I really don't like being negative about someone's efforts and always try to find something to enjoy in a book. But try as I may, I can't think of one good thing to say about it.

If an unknown Patrica Cornwell had sent this off to publishers for consideration I'm pretty sure the response would be a universal "stick to the day job".

Enormously disappointing.

As mentioned by quite a few reviewers, this book is a huge disapointment. I have read all of her novels & have been getting increasingly annoyed when her books have got shorter & shorter with less and less substance. This book is just 180 pages long (compared to nigh on the 400 pages of her first few, and incredibly superior, novels).The plot just starts to get going when, in a blink on an eye, the crime is solved and you are looking at the dust jacket in disbelief. None of the characters are developed enough to care anything about them (good or bad)and the plot is as thin as can be. I have given PC the benefit of the doubt for too long now and I will not be buying any more of her novels as I get as little enjoyment out of them as she obviously does writing them. Please Kathy Reichs, I beg you, do not go the same way and sell out to fame and money, losing sight of the reason you made money in the first place - entertaining people! Nuff said. :-(

I have been an avid reader of Patricia Cornwell in the past. I've read all her other novels and have given her a glowing recommendation to any friends who were looking for a new author. However her last few books haven't quite been up to her usual high standard. I read At Risk last year and was sorely disappointed. Thankful that I'd only spent 50p reserving it from the library - I found it lacked depth, the characters were sketchy and the plot was half hearted, rushed and quite frankly pointless. I feel that Cornwell has been dining out on her early successes for too long now - its almost as if she's not trying very hard now and just knocking them out on a yearly basis. This is an insult to all her loyal fans. Its about quality, not quantity dear....

So you can imagine I had mixed feelings when I received an advance copy of the sequel to At Risk - The Front. Part of me felt honoured; excited at being given such and opportunity, but at the same time wary as I desperately wanted Cornwell to return to form.

The Front is a slight improvement. It sees the return of State Investigator Win Garano, who is called into resurrect the unsolved case of an English woman who was murdered in Massachusetts in the 60s. Win's beautiful, ambitious, boss, the ball-breaking Assistant District Attorney Monique Lamont has a hidden political agenda for reopening the case, and yet again she uses Win as a pawn in her games. The deeper Win delves, the more it becomes apparent that all is not what it seems...who is investigating who, and who is setting up who?

The last four books I've read have all been written by British authors, so I had to get my head round reading American English rather than English English again. However, the grammar is atrocious at times! The Front does have the makings of a good crime novel, yet it lacks depth. I'm not a particular fan of short stories - which is what this effectively is. I prefer to invest time in seeing the development of characters and a good juicy plot. I think the only reason I enjoyed this more than At Risk is that I have been introduced to the characters before. Win Garano, not as well rounded a male protagonist as Andy Brazil, but reasonably likeable. His Nana, the White Witch, is probably the most likeable of all the characters. Monique Lamont is a sort of Wilhelmina Slater from Ugly Betty type of character, complete with her very own male assistant and insatiable sex drive. Win is paired up with a female cop to help investigate the case: Stump, another example of the now apparently staple Cornwell character - strong female, slightly masculine, can probably beat the all the men in bench presses...but still sexy and desirable - see Lucy Farinelli; Virginia West etc.

The plot's ok, and in a full length novel could be great if really developed properly. However, its just all a bit rushed. Win solves the murder over about 5 pages, then inexplicably covers up for his superbitch boss in a pantomime twist at the end. We even get treated to a bit of amateur psychology in the last few pages, possibly in an attempt at explaining the motivations of Lamont's character.

I think it's time for Cornwell to take a break, get back to the roots of what originally inspired her to create one of the best and most popular crime series of recent years - and stop succumbing to commercial pressure by releasing work that is beneath her previous high standard and just comes across as amateurish.

Can I just make this appeal? "Whoever has kidnapped Patricia Cornwell...can we have her back please?"

Was looking forward to reading this but very disappointed. Glad only reserved it from the libray. Have read all previous books and agree with a lot of reviwers, that her writing isn't as good as it used to be. Try Harlan Coban or Steve Hamilton instead

If you want a very boring read, buy this book. Patricia Cornwell is trading on past glory.

I have read all the Scarpetta books and once started on them I couldn't read them quick enough and eagerly anticipated the next in the series.

However 'The Front' was a real disappointment to me. It had no real depth to the story and felt like a half-hearted attempt by Cornwell to push out another book. I really had to force myself to read the book to the end. Very flat.

I like the story depth of Scarpetta's life, Lucy's wild and clever lifestyle and the humour of Marino.

More Scarpetta for me please!

Sally :-)

Wish I'd read the reviews before I bought this offering from Patricia Cornwall, but failed to resist the offer in WH Smiths for this book at half price - that'll teach me - obviously trying to shift the overrun of copies they have of this book.

The plot summary on the back of the book is very misleading; the case of a British woman murdered 40 years ago, a cheap reference to the Boston Strangler and the promise of uncovering new evidence through modern technology is supposedly Win Garano's "most challenging" case.

However, the actual case is barely explored until the second half of the book. The characters of Win, Stumpy and Lamont are two dimensional, and the ending is ludicrous.

By the end of the book I felt cheated, and having read all of the Scarpetta books, feel that Patricia Cornwall is just cruising her time through some publishing contract. The editor and publisher should be very careful about misinterpreting the contents of her books. I won't be bothering to buy any more of hers now.

I bought this book to take on holiday and wish I hadn't bothered. It is so disappointing that Patricia Cornwell has lost her magic. The plot was sketchy, the characters incomprehensible and she seemed to give up at the end with a lame solving of the 'crime'.
I wish I had read these reviews before buying.
I really liked Cornwell's early books and thought she lost her way with far fetched plots and characters by the end of the Scarpetta novels, so thought that this novel would be a fresh start - wrong.