Southern Cross

Rating:
Summary: Insulting!
Review: Does Ms. Cornwell actually live in the south? Southern traditions,our race relations, our industry, personal and group intelligence, our education system, and our religion are all on Cornwell's hit list. Does she intentionally insult southerners or is it her poor attempt at humor which leads her to attack the south? Not only is the book poorly written, I took offense to her broad generalizations and incorrect assumptions concerning southern culture. Don't bother reading this book unless you would like to partake in a little "South-bashing".

Rating:
Summary: Relax, Carl Hiassen
Review: This is such an awful book. CH should sue her for the flagrant copying of his style, but it's okay Carl, don't even bother. The attempt is so laughable. I threw it out half way through. And she should have done so too.

Rating:
Summary: Short on sanity, long on description
Review: This book is a lot like the Rain Man: very little hold on reality, but provides a detailed, descriptive list of the surroundings. If you'd rather not be bothered with the facts, if you've been looking forward to the next volume in Cornwell's Super-intelligent Pet series, read this book. If you can't stand flat characters and blatant technical mistakes, better stay in the real world and avoid the Richmond, VA of _Southern Cross_.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to snuff
Review: First, Patricia Cornwell is a great writer! I love all of her other books I have had the time to read. As I recall, Hornet's Nest received many bad reviews and I could not figure out why: loved the story and loved the 3 characters. HOWEVER, this book was just plain bad. Hoping to get a great continuation on Hammer, West, and Brazil, the characters were shells of their former selves. Too many incredibly unreasable things going on and far too many characters scrunched into a very lame ending. Worse yet, these folks are high level police personnel in Richmond, VA (why couldn't they stay in Charlotte anyway?) and there was no run-in with Scarpetta or Moreno? Lord knows I couldn't do it any better myself, but still, Cornwell could have. I do hope the big three appear again, however, I definitely hope it is better than this. PEACE

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: Those expecting the type of story and character portayal we have come to love from Ms. Cornwell through her "Kay Scarpetta" series will be VERY disappointed with this book. Ms. Cornwell has missed the mark by a wide margin. Kay Scarpetta, where are you?

Rating:
Summary: Comedy is toughest
Review: As almost anyone connected to theatre knows, comedy is the most demanding. Many top comedians make it as serious actors, but few do it the other way around.

Cornwell has not proven herself to be a good comedic writer. I couldn't take more than 44 pages of Southern Cross, before I thought to open up my computer to find out if I was marching to a different drum. I have too many other good authors awaiting me, and at 67, I don't think I should waste time on more of this book. I hope Cornwell gets back to what she does so much better. As a former arts/entertainment writer, I frequently told painters that writers had the good sense to toss bad stuff into the garbage. I guess Cornwell can't (or doesn't want) to do that with stuff nicely stored in her Macintosh.

Rating:
Summary: Southern Cross
Review: This book is really bad - badly written and plotted and juvenile. I have no idea why it was published. It seems that each book she writes becomes sillier. Sorry to be so negative.

Rating:
Summary: A Cross too Hard to Bear
Review: I'm a big Patricia Cornwell fan. But this was absolute drivel. A real disappointment over all the other titles of hers I've read. The story line was stupid and the characters were as tasteless as dishwater. If I wasn't on Christmas vacation with lots of time to kill I would have chucked it after 50 pages.

Rating:
Summary: different but entertaining
Review: Although this is a departure for Patricia Cornwell, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting, especially the young boy Weed. The twists and turns and suspense made the book difficult to put down. I liked how she cleverly weaved the characters together, and the ending was great. I would definately recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: save time & money
Review: shame on ms. cornwell for writing such trash. this book was so slow & boring i could hardly get off the ground with it. i am a big fan of her writing & feel she owes her fans more than a story for high schoolers. give us a break & get back to your high standards. shame-shame-shame