|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Dr Kay Scarpetta returns once again, this time to New York City, in order to assist in New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and to offer her expert commentary as the senior forensic analyst for CNN. She is disturbed by a case involving a young woman found dead in Central Park. She was thought to be jogger who was surprised by her assailant, attacked, raped, and murdered. However, for Dr Scarpetta things do not add up to the exasperation of her colleagues and she believes that there is more here than would appear. Also making the rounds, is a case involving the disappearance of a young woman named Hannah Starr, who has disappeared without a trace and has a connection to Scarpetta's niece, Lucy. The case has been fodder for the tabloids and is another irritation that she does not need. This is one of the major problems with THE SCARPETTA FACTOR - there is so much going on in Kay's personal and professional life that the main story tends to get lost amidst all the unnecessary drama that has been plaguing this series over the last six years. She's dealing with a mental patient obsessed with her, bomb threats, professional jealousies, a forgotten enemy, and the trials and tribulations of Lucy, her brilliant niece, who just cannot seem to lead an uneventful existence without having a meltdown of some sort or another. The book may start on a promising note, but by the time you reach the halfway point there is too much going on, and it is easy to get lost in the book's multiple plots. What the book needs is some form of credible stability within the character's life that makes sense with the story. Instead, Scarpetta is involved in too many unlikely situations, even with her connections to most forms of law enforcement, so that it tends to get tiring after a while. As much I tried to like this book and the new direction the series is taking, it is hard. I wish I could be more optimistic about its future.
Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, December 2009
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
