Rating:  Summary: CORNWELL'S SCARPETTA IS THE BEST! Review: I MUST ADMIT THAT I STUMBLED UPON ONE OF PATRICIA CORNWELL'S BOOKS QUITE BY ACCIDENT. I PICKED UP "FROM POTTERS FIELD" OUT OF BOREDOM AND READ THE WHOLE BOOK IN ONE SITTING. I LOVED IT! SINCE DISCOVERING THIS SERIES, I HAVE READ SEVERAL. EVEN THOUGH I SOON DISCOVERED THAT I WAS READING THEM OUT OF ORDER, ONE BOOK NEVER REVEALS THE PLOT OF THE NEXT. THE STORIES ARE RIVETING! I JUST FINISHED "THE BODY FARM" AND LOVED IT TOO. I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE NEAREST BOOK STORE TO STOCK UP ON ANYTHING OF CORNWELL'S THAT I HADN'T READ. I PURCHASED "POST-MORTEM" AND "BODY OF EVIDENCE" AND I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO GET STARTED!!
Rating:  Summary: Not as interesting as it could have been, but OK. Review: The most interesting thing about this book is the fact thatthere really is a body farm in Knoxville, Tennessee. It isthe brainchild of Dr. William Bass, a world-renowned forensics expert and retired University of Tennessee professor. The exact location of the farm is unknown except to forensics students, police, and others. The farm recreates, with dead bodies, different scenarios of death, and its research has been invaluable to the science of forensics. I hope in future books Cornwell uses the real-life laboratory of the Body Farm to help Dr. Scarpetta.
Rating:  Summary: A real grabber that prepares you for her next book. Review: This time Lucy (her niece) takes up
a much larger (adult) role in the story
line. Very good story, but slightly
disappointing ending. Patricia makes
up for that by picking up the loose
ends in "From Potter's Field". Enjoy,
I did!!
Rating:  Summary: 1st Kay Scarpetta book I read, got me hooked! Review: I picked up this book after reading about it in Dr Bass's book "Death's Acre" (he's the one who started the real "Body Farm"). I haven't read fiction in awhile, and have never read anything of this genre, but I loved this book. In fact after reading through this one, I promptly went to the store to by the first book in the series, "Postmortem", and I'm now on my fourth "Kay Scarpetta" book. I definitely recommend these books to anyone interested in forensics, they are quite realistic as Cornwell puts a lot of research into her works of fiction.
Rating:  Summary: The Body Farm Review: The Body Farm is a well developed book that I trully recomend. It's characters, setting, and plots are well developed. The Body Farm is an interesting and exicting crime book that once you start reading it it will leave you on suspense, and makes you keep on going to the next chapter. Cornwell's books are truly an inspiracion for those people who have any kind of fear on crimes. It also makes people see crime in a different way. The Body Farm is one of the best books I'v ever read. I gave it 5 stars, because I really think that any reader shouldn't miss this book.
Rating:  Summary: Only Paid a Buck for the Book Review: If you can find this book used and need kindling to start a fire, then I could recommend it. I was lucky enough to only invest a buck in this book. Authors who write in the first person shouldn't; those whose protagonists use or otherwise have to interface with computers ought to spend a little more time understanding the terminology.
I realize that this book was published in the middle 90s, but the author's command of computers and the incipient internet seemed as though she had spent an evening with one of her friends doing her research over cocktails. No clue..
..it was at that point that this book became kindling.
Rating:  Summary: Not her best Review: This was an entertaining book, but definitely not one of her best. The characters didn't feel real somehow, and although the story line had good possibilities, somehow it never came to much in the end afer all. I expected more somehow.
Rating:  Summary: Another brilliant book with twists and turns on every page! Review: I am reading all of the Scarpetta novels in order and this is my favorite so far. I love having a heroine/main character who is not perfect but tries to be. She is what we all want to be in so many ways. I highly recommend this book but you need to read Cruel and Unusual in order to understand the plot of this one. Read this book if you love true crime or adventure!
Rating:  Summary: First Cornwell book Review: This was the first I have read of Patricia Cornwell, but it will not be the last. I picked it up used and figure it was a bargain. When I started it I was at a Dr's office waiting and couldn't wait to get home to finish it. Actually I couldn't sleep and read all night and did finish it that very night. I can't wait to go back and start the first of the series.
Rating:  Summary: An average book Review: Readers of a series of books such as the Kay Scarpetta series may become oblivious to the flaws in the series and they read book after book. The Body Farm is the first book I've read by Cornwell and it has its strengths and many weaknesses.
Since I haven't read any Scarpetta books, its hard to decide where to begin a series. I chose the body farm because of the plot described on Amazon. An 11 year old girl is found murdered in the woods and the FBI is trying to solve the crime. The opening scene with all involved personal discussing the crime is quite interesting.
Then Scarpetta, her married lover Benton Wesley and Captain Marino travel to the town of the crime to try and solve it. Cornwell throws in a character from a past novel Temple Gault as a possible suspect, but that never rings true because he never gets enough development to be a suspect in this book. The fun part of the book was try to sift through the evidence to find out what actually happened to the little girl.
The downside of the book is the niece Lucy, who is a lesbian, and who really cares about her internship. An investigation into Lucy's work at the FBI is stretched to tie into the case of the dead little girl, but most of it is there just to stretch the length of the book.
Cornwell does little to establish the characters in this book, so I have no sympathy or reason to know why Scarpetta is sleeping with a married man or why Wesley is cheating on his wife. He seems like a jerk who is leading Scarpetta along just to get some action on the side.
The actual "Body Farm" has little to do with the novel. The ending and the identity of the actual killer happens to quickly or to easily. The only think we hear about the killer is Scarpetta's fears of how she is scared of this "evil" person. Since we don't learn of the evil first hand, its hard to feel to much about what happens at the end.
Sometimes when you read a series you feel like you have to read all the books in the series because it is so good. The Scarpetta series had its chance and blew it, because the Body Farm isn't that good of a book.
|