Once upon a time I was a real fan of the Kay Scarpetta series. I had to be the first to read her latest release and then distribute it on to a list of Scarpetta fans that I knew. But something happened. The murders got too weird. It seemed like Cornwell was trying to outdo herself with every story. The serial killers were stranger and stranger and the logic behind the plots began to stretch beyond believable. As a result I haven’t read the last book, and therefore I may have missed some details as I went through the new book.
As is usual for Cornwell, the latest book takes up where the last one finished. Her friend Jack has been killed and Kay only just escaped with her life. But a trip to Georgia and a visit with Jack’s mother promises to provide her with answers that she needs to put everything to rest. However, the trip somehow gets a little more complicated and before long the whole team is working out of a hotel suite in Savannah to solve a string of murders that started nearly 10 years before.
For most of this book I was starting to think that this book was going to return to Cornwell’s old style, where the story focussed on the people rather than ‘extreme’ crime. The various murders appeared straightforward and Scarpetta’s involvement seemed sensible and logical. It wasn’t even too hard to put together a short list of suspects. Then at the end, the story simply got weird again. Why is it necessary to make everything an international terrorism plot? And I’m sorry, but the way the guilty party simply appeared from nowhere was just too convenient.
If asked to review another Scarpetta novel, obviously I will. But if I were forking out hard earned money to buy this, or her next, I for one won’t bother.
