Trace | Patricia Cornwell | My first Patricia Cornwell

Trace | Patricia Cornwell | Unlucky 13?

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Trace

	Trace Patricia Cornwell Berkley, 2005 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 340 reviews view larger image
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Now freelancing from south Florida, Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns to Richmond, Virginia, the city that turned its back on her five years ago. Investigating the death of a young girl, she must follow the twisting leads and track the strange details in order to make the dead speak-and to reveal the sad truth that may be more than even she can bear.

My first Patricia Cornwell

I'd never read a Patricia Cornwell before, but someone had recently recommended her books. So when I saw TRACE for sale, I bought it and read it.
The story was quite good. But there were so many holes, like "uh, did I miss something" where I guess that's her style that you're just supposed to figure things out.
I really hated the character Lucy and wished the murderer would kill her too. Oh well. Maybe these are characters that loyal readers have come to care for, but I wanted to push Lucy off a cliff, Benton & Henrietta too for that matter. How does a smart woman like Kay Scarpetta get all these losers in her life?
Very good plot, satisfying murder mystery, interesting characters. I'd read another of Cornwell's books, but I think I'll start at the beginning.

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Unlucky 13?

This is Cornwell's 13th Scarpetta novel and while some of the old magic is still there in terms of her accurate descriptions of how the medical examiner's office works, the characters are less than likable. Marino is slowly becoming self-destructive; Scarpetta seems weary of everything pathology-related; and Lucy mopes, much as she does in the previous 12 novels.

I really wish the author hadn't branched out into writing nonfiction about Jack the Ripper or other fiction series (the Andy Brazil novels) and just stuck with Scarpetta and company. When Lucy became self-destructive in earlier novels, I felt bad for her; now I just want someone to slap some sense into her. Marino, one of the best fictional sidekicks ever, is slowly disintegrating in Cornwell's hand.

Even the plot in this novel, which concerns the death of a 14-year-old girl whose family has ties to Homeland Security, plods along without any of the urgency of previous novels. It feels as though Cornwell is just going through the motions and, as a loyal reader of her work, it's ultimately disappointing.

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