Chaos
by Patricia Cornwell
Harper Collins
Patricia Cornwell is incredibly popular, having sold over 100 million books and appearing on the New York Times’ Best Seller List 29 times. This is the twenty-fourth thriller featuring forensic pathologist and lawyer Kay Scarpetta. I remember enjoying some earlier books in the Scarpetta Series and was looking forward to the latest instalment.
Unfortunately I found the book frustratingly slow. As Scarpetta waits for her narcissistic sister to arrive on an uninvited and unexpected visit, the body of a young woman is found. It takes forever to erect a tent around the body and I was bored by Scarpetta’s tedious musings on her perfect husband, her narcissistic sister and annoying womanising work colleague. The most bothersome thing that happens in the first 100 pages is that Scarpetta gets a run in her pantyhose and obsesses endlessly about it.
There does appear to be a stalker who is sending obscure poems containing personal information via the internet and making untraceable phone calls but halfway through the book there still hasn’t been an actual identification of the body, a gathering of evidence or talk of any suspects. The biggest personal dilemma for “shop-worn and halfway blown together” Scarpetta seems to be that she won’t be able to collect her sister from the airport.
The body count increases to three and there is some intrigue about the possibility of possibility of a new killing apparatus. Scarpetta’s self-doubt and paranoia is incessant drivel which increases until suddenly a suspect appears seemingly out of the blue to connect three mortalities and the cyber threats.
Actually Out of the Blue would have been a better title for the book that might interest long-term fans revisiting her established characters, though they would be horrified by a heroine who continually questions her competence. The only chaos was throwing together all the loose ends and tying them to a one-dimensional foe in an improbable ending.
Lezly Herbert
