Blow Fly (Scarpetta)
by Patricia Cornwell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Patricia CornwellEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-07
ISBN: 0425198731
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Berkley
Book Reviews of Blow Fly (Scarpetta)
Book Review: A Blow Fly Death
Summary: 1 Stars
A friend asked me about reading Blow Fly, as an entry point for the world of Kay Scarpetta; she is intrigued by CSI--as are many--and wanted a writer who could provide more details about Forensic Science in an entertaining and fictionalized manner. Blow Fly is not that book. I referred my friend to my following review.
Blow Fly may well be a metaphor for the writing career of Patricia Cornwell in the Kay Scarpetta novels. What began as a riveting series centering on Kay Scarpetta's determination to solve the latest death that comes into her morgue, her career seems to be ending in a type of literary death; hence, the Blow Fly metaphor which refers to a fly that sucks on dead or dying flesh. The previous novel in the series, The Last Precinct, began a few hours after Kay Scarpetta was attacked--and nearly brutalized--by the Loup-garou; for some reason, he became attracted to Kay Scarpetta and pursued her. Unfortunately, The Last Precinct contained only four crucial plot developments, which could easily have been told in as many chapters. The rest was extensive introspective rantings and revelations by Kat Scarpettta as she relived the death of her lover, Benton Wesley, and the smells and appearances associated with the brutal attack by Jean-Baptiste. There was, also, no end to the story of the Loup-Garou, except that he was captured and about to be tried for murder. Of course, the escape of his twin brother, the handsome Jay Tilley (In reality another member of the Chandonne crime family) allows for yet another extended exercise in a storyline that should have ended with the Last Precinct. In Blow Fly, Jean-Baptiste is awaiting execution in Texas; his twin brother (the former lover of Kay Scarpetta known initially to her as Jay Tilley) is a serial killer (why, is unclear) on a rampage in the bayous of Louisiana; Marino's corrupt attorney son is killed; and Kay Scarpatta is still in some nether land of doubt, uncertainty and loss. Yet, Cornwell manages to have other characters write about how determined, attractive, firm and sexually arousing she is, and does so in the most unnecessary places and for no apparent reasons, except to allow the author to insert herself into the novel. NOTE: The descriptions of Kay Scarpetta match the pictures of the author. Most crucial, the book shifts from the First Person point of view of the previous novels to the Third Person. It seems as though Cornwell is getting tired of Kay Scarpetta and doesn't want to bother with her inner demons anymore. The author uses a short, terse writing style, brief chapters and a disrupted sense of structure, in the style of James Patterson, not her extended and complex style. It as though the book were written by someone else. And the storyline doesn't end; seemingly good people are caught up in murder (Although the reasons aren't really clear); a father has little regret over the death of his son; and Kay Scarpetta appears as a minor character in a story that should revolve around her. Then, of course, there are her lost lover, her niece and Marino...all evolved into unbelievable characters, but, why give away anything. Suffice it to say, try the early Scarpetta novels; they are tighter, clearly written, with the purpose of the heroine solving crime through the use of forensic science. The trials and tribulations of Kay Scarpetta, as seen in Blow Fly, need to be treated quickly, before rigor mortis sets in.Also recommended: Anything by Andrew Vacchs...
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