Patricia Cornwell

[layne67]

Patricia Cornwell’s ‘Trace’ is surprisingly not a bad read. I said surprisingly because I went off her stories some time after the 3rd or 4th novel. But that didn’t stop me from buying her books even though each time I finished one I’d swear I would never ever buy another one of her books again. Habits I guess. I love her earlier works very much and Dr Kay Scarpetta is hard to shake off from your system.

Now what is it that I do not like about her books lately. Well, for one thing Dr Scarpetta’s personal life and that of her annoying niece, Lucy seemed to take over the stories themselves. And her murder plots are usually very interesting and suspenseful. But much to my irritation the main stories would gradually be taken over by these two ladies’ not very interesting personal problems , usually leaving the murders themselves unresolved, or if they are solved, they’re done in a very unsatisfactory manner, leaving me wanting for more. Her sidekick Marino is not much help either.

But as I’ve said ‘Trace’ is not bad. Much better than her stories have been lately. Her love life is kept to a minimum, much to my relief. Lucy and Marino are still their annoying selves unfortunately.

Still, I wish that Cornwell would return to her ‘Postmortem’ days. Now that is one hell of a crime novel which is the reason I still read her novels.

I’ll be rereading ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ next. I read that one a long time ago when I was a kid. And I must finish it before the movie comes out. I vaguely remember Aslan, a favourite character. Hope the movie won’t disappoint!

Comments

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Cornwell is a thriller writer, right?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

And a very good one too. Her plots can be very spine-chilling at times. But her sub-plots suck :(

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

I couldn't figure out why I stopped liking Cornwell's books, but now I realize why. She started writing soap opera instead of crime novels. I quit reading them quite a while back.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I wish I could quit too. And I wish that Cornwell would concentrate on Scarpetta's professional life only. Her personal life makes me want to go 'aarrghh!!!' and most of the time I'd just like to throttle Lucy and Marino.