Rating: 
Summary: A note to ALL reviewers
Review: I have actually not read this book yet, and now probably won't because of what I've just read in some of your reviews. I am an avid reader and I would like to remind all who send in reviews that many times potential buyers (like myself) read these reviews to see if this is a book worth purchasing. By revealing endings and pertinent facts/events in your review, you ruin it for those of us who might otherwise have purchased the book. If you feel you MUST include these things in your review, please be considerate and alert the reader first, so we can stop reading and not get information that would ruin it for us, possibly causing us to miss out on a book we might otherwise have gotten great enjoyment from. Thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: An Incrediable Book!!!!
Review: This book kept me personally on the edge of my seat. It was refered to me by a friend and I thouroughly enjoyed it. It was an action packed mystery that included "adventures" of Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her Antagonist Carrie Gretchen. It really puts you ine setting...(It kept me up at night). Point of Origin was the first Cornwell book i have read and it led me to enjoy others such as From Potter's Feild and Bodycount. I inquire those of you who are Mystery or Patricia Cornwell bluffs to read it. ~A new found Patricia Cornwell Bluff in Arizona
Rating: 
Summary: DARK,GORY AND HEARTBREAKING
Review: THIS IS THE THIRD PATRICIA CORNWELLBOOK I'VE READ. THERE'S NOT A WHOLE LOTOF HAPPINESS IN KAY SCARPETTA'S LIFE.BUT SHE DID HAVE BENTON'S LOVE. UNFORTUNATELY MS. CORNWELL DECIDED SHEDIDN'T DESERVE EVEN THAT AND SO, SHEKILLED HIM OFF IN A GRUESOME MANNERNEVER TOTALLY EXPLAINING HOW, FOR A MAN SO SMART AND INCITEFUL, WAS LURED TO HISDEATH.I ENJOY ALL THE DETAILED INFO ONFORENSICS AND SUCH BUT COULD DEFINETLYDO WITH LESS DESCRIPTION ON THE SURROUNDING FLORA AND FAUNA. AS FOR THENIECE LUCY...SHE'S GOT MORE PROBLEMS ANDATTITUDE ENOUGH FOR 2 CHARACTERS!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor plot and product placement = never again
Review: I'm using my Compaq V75 to write this negative review as I drink my Coca-Cola... I got so tired of brand names as I forced myself through this! Other reviewers here have accurately mentioned that the fires were poorly explained, the horse issue is never clarified. It's fairly obvious that, since Carrie's body was never recovered, that she'll rise from the dead in the next book. Ho hum. I was so consistently annoyed with the lack of craft in this book that I'll never read another of her books again.
Rating:
Summary: There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for Kay
Review: I enjoyed this book a lot more than the previous installment to the Kay-Lance-Carrie death triangle. It was darker and grittier and dealt with more personal issues. I enjoyed the technical details and did not find it any gorier than any of her others. I do not think that it would be a good place for newbie fans of Cornwell to start their association with Dr Scarpetta - start at the beginning and follow the character development and see what you think. I am looking forward to the next book as I am dying to know (no pun intended :-) how they take up the story after all the traumatic events in Point of Origin but I am hoping that things are going to be a bit more upbeat and positive for Kay. I would hate to walk around as depressed as herself and Lucy seem to be all the time! All in all, a good read with as satisfying an ending as could be expected in the circumstances. PS. Delighted with the Irish reference!
Rating:
Summary: MAIN CHARACTER DIES, SKIP REVIEWS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!
Review: The following reviews give away HUGE plot details. Skip them if you want to enjoy the book. I read the reviews, and was really upset that so much of the plot was given away. This is a good book, darker than usual, and much more depressing. I have been a Scarpetta fan, and I liked it.
Rating: 
Summary: Warning to Kay and Pete fans:
Review: I am still reeling from this book. Truly, the most dark and depressing book I have ever read. I like others who read and reviewed, I only finished hoping that "all was not doomed". Not so. I really like the "Sipowitz-type" character of Pete Marino and the honesty he and Kay Scarpetta shared. This book was morbid and forboding with numerous loose ends to questions never answered. What happened to Kenneth Sparkes? How did that colt survive and why? This book focused so much on the lesbian relationship of Lucy. Do all aunts get this involved with their niece's personal lives? Why kill off Benton when it was the only bright spot in Kay's life? I am not a forensic pathologist, but Kay definitely needs to find another line of work. The blood and gore is getting to her. I will not be reading Cornwell's next novel. I read for escape and frankly, these characters have gotten way too depressing for me. Something in Ms. Cornwell's personal life must be very dark and tragic. It shows in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Characters seemed tired, old and angry.
Review: I was disappointed in this book. I've loved the Kay Scarpetta series, but this one felt old, angry, and tired. Lucy should be beyond the rebellious years, and her constant struggles with Kay are a bit too much clash for my liking. It feels as if the series is in decline. Although the storyline was intriguing and the plot intense, I am not looking forward to the next (if there is one) Kay Scarpetta novel.
Rating:
Summary: Amateurish
Review: I'd heard of Patricia Cornwell and her medical examiner protagonist before, but hadn't read one of the series until this one. Perhaps the previous books were better, but frankly, I don't think this book would have been accepted by a publisher if it wasn't "Halloween XVXIII" so to speak. Nothing really made sense. Why was one colt spared the fire? How did the fires start anyway (we learn that they're ignited with magnesium, which is conveniently incorporated into cuts on the victims, but not what continues to feed them). What ever becomes of Kenneth Sparkes? What about the morning phone calls (Scarpetta "just knows" all of a sudden that they're from the parents of a boy who died for lack of medical care, and that clairvoyant knowledge is meant to satisfy us as much as it evidently satisfies Scarpetta). And so on. And so on. To say that the plot is weak is too generous - it scarcely has a plot at all. Nor is it a novel of character. Benton shows up briefly, smelling good, and then vanishes again. We're told he's too samrt to get careless, but although he knows that he's being stalked by a psycho killer who has a male accomplice, when a male calls and says he has info about the psycho killer, Benton goes off to meet him in a dark and lonely place. "Hey, Benton! When you hear something eerie in the basement in a horror movie, don't go down there"! But this is all third hand - the man only has two brief scenes and about three lines of dialogue. Then there's Lucy, who just walks around in a sort of perpetual huff. And Marino, who sweats mostly. And finally there's Scarpetta, who has Dark Emotion. We are told so, more or less, just as we're told that she's a genius. But she never thinks any particularly ingenious thoughts, and her insight into her own or any other emotion is about as deep as Dr. Laura Schlesinger's - mostly, she disapproves of stuff, just in general. And although some readers seem to find "the technical details" compelling, all of them are extremely superficial, and amount to little more than canned quotes pasted onto the page. As "Legends of the Fall" demonstrated, there is an audience that is content just to be given stage directions. "Kay is suffering. Kay feels pain. Kay has a brilliant insight". But if you expect to be convinced or instructed rather than just told, and if you like a plot that makes a bit more sense than a disorganised morbid daydream, skip this book.
Rating:
Summary: A warning: both disturbing and disappointing
Review: Fair warning to Cornwell fans: I have enjoyed the Kay Scarpetta series for years, but this one was so excessively gory that I won't buy another Cornwell book. If you're new to reading Patricia Cornwell, I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series and skipping this one.
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