Southern Cross

Rating:
Summary: Terrible, banal, unbelievable, unfunny
Review: I quite enjoyed Hornet's Nest so looked forward to reading this. However I couldn't get into it - what little I read was appalling. No sense of character, reality, or story. It appears to be an attempt at humour but I didn't find it remotely funny. Quite banal.

Rating:
Summary: Fair story line but bad editing by publisher.
Review: The story line was only fair but I did finish the book in a couple of days--so something in it held my attention. The main complaint was the publisher's editing of the book. I honestly felt this was an illegal reproduction even though it was purchased at a major book store.

Rating:
Summary: Cornwell gets worse and worse
Review: If that's real life in Richmond, I won't stay there for one minute. The police is joke, according to this book. And I haven't red such nonsens about Internetvirusses ever before. Its boring, with no plot at all. After a few brillant books, every new book of Cornwell is now more worse than the one before . Try Kathy Reichs instead. .

Rating:
Summary: Only read 3/4 of the way through it!
Review: This book in my opinion wasn't very good. There were no serial killers. Just some punks spraying a monument and gettin' in trouble. Cornwell start thinking about what your fans want. Stick to Scarpetta and you'll do great!

Rating:
Summary: Bubba meets the Keystone cops.
Review: Patricia Cornwall firmly puts tongue in cheek in this good ole boy version of the Keystone cops. Ready for a little kitsche? Ready for a little high camp? Then join Patricia as she assembles an all-star cast of Southern stereotypes, freshman English style characters, and an out and out escape from the rigors of a Kay Scarpetta novel. After having seen some of the worst of Richmond life myself (I once worked for VCU), I can only say that she really succeeds in bringing comic relief to a depressing situation. Her sense of exageration is a mite week, but she emparts the slightly-off flavor of the oh-so-Southern eccentric. My only regret is that she missed some of my favorite stereotypes. This somewhat Sophomoric read is just pure escapism--and what, I may ask, is wrong with that?

Rating:
Summary: Had potential, but fizzled out somewhere in between.
Review: I normally LOVE 99% of all Patricia Cornwell's books. I did enjoy Hornest's Nest, and found it refreshing. but I did not like the endeared pets, of the main characters to play such a major role. It took away from the realism of the characters, and story line. Ending came swift, and predictable with no climax, I was very disappointed. Title started off with a bang, and cooled off quicker than my first marriage.

Rating:
Summary: REALLY DISAPPOINTING
Review: Such a disappointment. Not even in the same ballpark as the Scarpetta novels. It is quite evident that the Scarpetta series is something that Patricia Cornwell knows inside and out. However, this was not the case in Southern Cross. It was hokey and read clumsily (if that is a word) for about the first two thirds of the book. It is glaringly apparent that gangs are not Patricia's strong point and really should be left alone. I imagine she may get tired of Kay Scarpetta at times, but it is TRULY what she is a master of. I wait breathlessly for each new installment and am crushed when I run out of pages. Then I run to the bookstore to see if they have any idea when the next installment is going to be released. The thrill of the wait is never anticlimactic. Patricia - stick with what you know. It comes from your heart.

Rating:
Summary: good
Review: the dog views were quite stupid but the person below saying that mrs cornwell is satirizing southern society is right. critizing limits yourself and sublimily places yourself better than the subject you are critizing. you have the power, you gain the pleasure. aspire to inspire.

Rating:
Summary: An incomplete novel from a master.
Review: The characters never develop until the last chapter. Weed, a lost youth in today's world of computers and violence, is the only likeable character, but we never get to know him. Patricia Cornwell never gives Brazil, Hammer, and West a reason for their existence in the novel. Too wrapped up in their own personal worlds, they never seem to be able to interact with the other characters in the novel. Cornwell gives her animals the ability to think rationally and with emotion.....perhaps they are the only intelligent beings in the novel. The other characterizations are sketchy at best and the reader never connects with any of them. The one murder scene is described in detail and then dismissed from the plot. A true disappointment from an usually exceptional author.

Rating:
Summary: I seem to be one of the few who enjoyed this one
Review: I couldn't believe all the hegative reviews of this book. I enjoyed reading about Hammer, Brazil and West again and look forward to another in this series. I do agree that the views of Popeye and Niles was a bit ridiculous, but other than that I thought it was a great read. I am a much bigger fan of the Scarpetta series, but in my opinion this was a worthy effort on Cornwell's part.