Rating: 
Summary: Dropped Without an Ending
Review: I thought it was difficult to get into. Then it was hard to follow where it was going with plot, and relationships. Finally when I thought I was following to the end, there was none. I turned the page for the ending and found I had just read the end. Horrible! Read the whole confusing book to be dropped with no ending!
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the world of novelized soap operas.
Review: While there is nothing wrong with a well established mystery novelist writing two or more different serials concerning completely different sets of well established characters, Cornwell is obviously demonstrating at her fans expense the fact that she can't handle it. With this novel we have her rather sickly version of a soap opera in print. It plainly doen't work. First of all, a mystery novel is the wrong place for a soap opera. Secondly, Cornwell doesn't even clean up the soap opera's act well enough to make it worth the effort. And thirdly, who does Cornwell think she is insulting our intelligence with this nonsense?
Rating: 
Summary: Not Enough Suspense & Lacking Scarpetta
Review: I have read several of Cornwall's Scarpetta books which I have enjoyed very much. Hornet's Nest lacks the suspense and focus of the others. It seems to drag on in too much detail without moving toward a conclusion very well. It was ok, but well below the quality or good read characteristics of the others.
Rating: 
Summary: hornets nest
Review: i enjoyed this book it was full of suspense i have read most of patricia cornwells other books with dr scarpetta in them i think that this new series is going to be just as exciting as the last one but i was disapointed in the ending
Rating: 
Summary: I loved it!
Review: I loved this book and look forward to reading more about Andy Brazil and Deputy Chief West... I see a romance coming up :)
Rating:
Summary: It's not even worth one star
Review: It's a good thing that Cornwell wrote other books before getting this one published ---- or she would have seen the rejection slips pile up. The characters were cardboard stereotypes, the dialogue unbelievable, and the plot boring. What a waste of my time. It's an incredibly bad book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: This was the first Patricia Cornwell book I read, and it made me decide to never read another one of her books (thankfully I changed my mind later). It is confusing, has too many dead ends and unanswered questions. The Andy Brazil character must be schizophrenic he has so many conflicting personality traits. The relationships between the characters goes hot and cold at the drop of a hat. The search for the killer is haphazard and slow. He might as well have jumped out in front of them and said "I'm the killer" at the end. Essentially the plot was stupid and the book frustrating to read.
Rating:
Summary: Please don't stray from Scarpetta again!
Review: Hornet's Nest is a complete disappointment.As an avid reader of Cornwall's books, I had to keep glancing at the jacket to be sure this was written by Patricia Cornwall and not someone else. The book seems to have been written to meet a deadline - the story is flat, the characters are flat and the editing is nonexistant! Either this was ghost written or Cornwall has a multiple personality disorder and this personality never took an English or Composition class. Cornwall seems to have forgotten everything she learned about run-on sentences, syntax and punctuation. Don't bother.
Rating: 
Summary: The first...and I liked it.
Review: Let me start by saying I hadn't read any of Patricia Cornwell's other books. (The Scarpetta Series) I will, however, pick the first up and begin to read it immediately. I've been reading the other reviews of this book, and I think the issue is that it isn't the same format of all the other ones. This one isn't about forensics. It's about police procedures itself. There is a HUGE difference. I quite enjoyed this book. The characters were great, the plot was great, everything was GREAT! I sat at home imagining a guy like Andy Brazil. I thought I knew a woman exactly like Virginia West. The author did a fantastic job of describing every detail, playing out every scene. I was glued to my seat and didn't get up once until the book was finished! I look forward to reading Southern Cross. I give this book FOUR stars! Keep 'em coming!
Rating:
Summary: Hornet's Nest: writer's manual on how NOT to write a novel.
Review: You know, I used to love Patricia Cornwell's books. When the first "Kay Scarpetta" novel arrived, I devoured it in one sitting and eagerly awaited the next. The first several were great, but then the law of diminishing returns set in. And now we have HORNET'S NEST (a non-Scarpetta book). Sigh. What can I say? This is the most dreadful novel I have read in the past twenty years. And I read a book every two days or so. The only redeeming quality that can possibly save this rambling, inconsistent, tedious piece of work is the fact that it is a veritable "how-not-to" book: namely, a treatise on how NOT to write a good novel. For example, the characters are cardboard, the plot is dull, there's no dramatic tenstion, and the point-of-view (POV) meanders all over the place. Now, there's nothing wrong with shifting POV per se, but you have to know how to do it properly. In HORNET'S NEST, you not only get the POV of the three main characters, you get the POV of almost every single other person who even makes an appearance. If the chapter is being told from John Doe's POV, then we shouldn't be getting the inner thoughts of some guy crossing the street in front of John Doe. It's confusing. It's irritating. It's just plain bad writing. Clearly Cornwell has become such a populist bestseller than no one dares edit her work any more. This is a shame, as she is, or rather, WAS, a gifted writer. Remember, no book is inviolate. Not even the Oxford Dictionary. And there isn't a writer, dead or alive, whose work couldn't have been improved, even a little, by the input of a good, thorough, diligent editor. That said, I think one star is too high a rating for this book, but there isn't a lower option. However, HORNET'S NEST should be purchased by every beginning writer, just so they can see how it shouldn't be done.
| 
