Southern Cross (Andy Brazil, #2) by Patricia Cornwell

Southern Cross (Andy Brazil, #2) Reviews

• 
  Jennifer Oddo

  The second Cornwell book I ever read was Isle of Dogs. I hated it so much that I donated it to the book burning event my friends host annually. Each person is supposed to bring the worst book they've ever read. Isle of Dogs earned that privelege.
  
  Southern Cross was only slightly better than Isle of Dogs, and that's being generous. I'm not much into rednecks, and this book is full of them. Mostly, I hate this type of book, in which a series of completely unrelated folies collide at the end in a very transparent way. In this case, most of the follies come from irritating characters who are too stupid to be in a book. Also, I really dislike when animals are given thoughts. I don't need to read an entire chapter about how the main character's cat feels about her owner.
  
  I would have given this 0 stars, but I was afraid people might think I forgot to rate it.
• 
  William

  I'll start with the best: narrator Karen White was a pleasure to listen to.
  This a prime example just throwing some ideas towards a wordprocessor.
  -language was not suitable for young adults
  -all the characters were sterotypical
  -the plot was disjointed as to be irrelivant
  -and really, an anthropomorphic substantial character?
  This is not literature for anyone that considers themselves educated.
• 
  Bex

  Set in Richmond Virginia, "Southern Cross" is Patricia Cornwell's sequel to "Hornet's Nest" and features the three main characters of that novel, Police Chief Judy Hammer, Deputy Chief Virginia West and Officer Andy Brazil. The story also includes a raft of criminals and border line crims with endearing names such as Bubba, Fluck, Muskrat, Divinity, Smoke, Beeper, Sick, Dog, Pigeon, Weed and Weed's late brother Twister. Plenty of animals featue in this book too with almost more-human names than some of the actual humans. Try Half Shell, Tree Buster, Niles and Popeye.
  One of the charms of this book is the easy-to-read and fascinating historical backdrop of the city of Richmond and the state of Virginia. Going back to 1607 we hear about British explorers, local Indians, African slaves, Thomas Jefferson, tobacco and the American Civil War to name just a few.
  
  However, this is a crime book and a sad tale of young no-hoper gang members, middle aged "simple" characters who enjoy nothing more than huntin', fishin' and guns, and middle class citizens of Richmond whose characters are all delightfully painted by Cornwell. Cleverly, the paths of all these characters including our 3 police officers, become crossed in the final few chapters as the story reaches its climax.
  
  This book has a delightful comedy style in one way and yet contains its fair share of murder and violence. The plot is well thought out and presented and should provide plenty of entertainment to new and established Cornwell readers, although those expecting to find a Kay Scarpetta type thriller may well be disappointed.
  
  
• 
  R. Michael

  If I could give this disaster of a book zero stars, I'd be tempted. The "plot" is a mishmash of nonsense that depends upon absurd coincidence and supposedly intelligent characters making genuinely idiotic leaps of let's-call-it-logic that none of the people around them bother to question or even wonder about. Because they're so implausibly dim, none of the protagonists are even remotely sympathetic or interesting. Add to this the author's ham-handed, blunt instrument use of language -- by turns cliched, dull, and absurd -- and you have a book with nothing I can think of to recommend it. I haven't read any of Cornwell's other books and after this travesty, I don't plan to.
• 
  Miranda Sikorsky

  This book was at hand in the best moment!
• 
  Belinda Vlasbaard

  3,5 sterren- Nederlandse hardcover
• 
  Roderick Hart

  This book is a sequel to Hornet’s Nest and it would be best to read them in order of publication. But if you don’t want read both, Southern Cross makes sense on its own and would be the one to go for. Hornet’s nest is good, but Southern Cross is better. It features the same three main characters, Chief Hammer, Deputy Chief Virginia West and Andy Brazil, now a fully qualified police officer.
  
  The plot involves a planned mass shooting by a character named Smoke, and the efforts of the police to prevent it. The scene is now Richmond, Virginia, and the ‘low life’ elements of that city are well represented, including Smoke and his gang, the Pikes. Smoke has recruited Weed into his gang, though Weed – who has both artistic and musical tendencies – is reluctant.
  
  Another important character is Bubba, who is into all things DIY which, unfortunately, includes firearms. Smoke happens to discover this when he overhears a conversation at a garage and later steals the entire collection.
  
  Although Patricia Cornwell is famous for her handle on forensic pathology – sometimes in extreme detail – there is almost none of that in Hornets nest and Southern Cross. The interest lies in the interaction of the characters. Theses books are still well plotted, it is just that their plots do not depend on forensics.
  
  But what is most amazing about Southern Cross is the humour. Reading the Scarpetta books you would not suspect that the author had a sense of humour, but here it is deployed to such effect you have to wonder why she hasn’t given us more of it.
  
  One example of many is Chapter Five, where Bubba, having a problem with his vehicle, takes it to Muskrat’s garage to have it repaired. Muskrat has the measure of Bubba and doesn’t try to conceal it. He knows that Bubba, as usual, has made matters worse by trying to effect a repair himself. The characters of the two men come out very well in this chapter, and though there is a lot detail concerning vehicles and vehicle repair, it works well. It might have come across as research but in fact it places you at the scene. And the humour runs all the way through.
  
  Cornwell’s handling of detail is worth looking at. Another example occurs when Bubba, having had his guns stolen, goes to a store to buy another. Bubba loves guns, just as he loves the tools he uses for his forays into DIY. The scene is beautifully written too and without the detail his love of guns wouldn’t come across.
  
  It is also worth mentioning Lelia Howell, a well-intentioned but tiring individual with an unusual take on the English language. Dealing with her in real life would be a trial, but reading about her is amusing.
  ______________________________________________________________
  
  I have read some negative reviews of this book on Amazon suggesting, for example, that it should never have got past the editor’s desk. I find most of these reviews strong on assertion and weak on analysis.
  
• 
  Erin

  Southern Cross depicts the experiences of big-city police in Richmond, Virginia. Police chief Judy Hammer has been brought in to clean up the force, bringing with her deputy Virginia West and good-looking rookie Andy Brazil.
  There is a bad guy, some suspense, and way too many characters. I found myself irritated with a lot of things early on in this story:
  1. Tons of characters, most of them minor who don't seem to have too much to do with the plot. The most annoying thing about them are their names/nicknames. Weed, Smudge, Smoke, Muskrat, Twister, etc. Worst of all, Butner Fluck IV. Seriously?
  2. Written in the 1990s, it contains numerous pop culture references that are now just distracting. Take the opening line of the third chapter. "Puff Daddy & the Family were rapping on the CD player and air was blowing through a stuck back window of Smoke's Escort."
  3. As if there weren't enough characters, the dog Popeye and the cat Niles become characters, too. The author tells us what they are thinking about their human owners.
  4. Virginia is a place I'd love to visit, but not after reading this stereotypical description of a city full of rednecks, juvenile delinquents, and stuck-up oldtimers.
  I will say the story got better towards the end. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a "funny" crime book? I am disappointed. I've heard good things about this author. Can anyone recommend a book by her that IS good?
• 
  Marianne

  I read the 3 Andy Brazil books against advice from more than one person. I wanted to see for myself if they really were that bad. I liked the Scarpetta books (although I thought that the endings of some of those books were too rushed, too contrived). The Andy Brazil books are nothing like those! Hornet's Nest is probably the best of the three, although the characters are shallow and unconvincing and the plot is weak and implausible. There is some humour and some sexual tension which is frustrating for lack of relief. 5/10. Southern Cross degenerates from this. Ms Cornwell seems to be having fun at our expense, but the result isn't really funny or vaguely satisfying. 3/10. Isle of Dogs, well, how much lower can you go? What were you thinking, Ms Cornwell? Or what drugs were you on? This book was ridiculous! I persisted to the end of these books because I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Not sure why I bothered. Even if one reads these as tongue-in-cheek romps through the workings of a Police Dept, the final book is hugely disappointing. 1/10. Scarpetta fans who pay full price for these books will feel angry and very much cheated. Luckily I bought mine 2nd hand. Readers whose first taste of Cornwell is one of these books will never buy another. Whatever you do, don't pay full price for these books!
• 
  Bibliophilic Word Nerd

  Defies categorizing - maybe satire?
  
  I have no clue what Patricia Cornwell was thinking here. The title means nothing. The characters are wholly unlikeable (well, maybe Bubba was okay, kind of). And their names are ridiculous. Chief Hammer. Andy Brazil. Virginia West. Then there is Weed, Bubba, Smudge, Smoke, Divinity, Mr Pretty. I could go on, but I'll spare you that.
  
  There are a couple of passages in which pets do the narration. No, really. The story is all over the place and leaves plot holes a mac truck could drive through.
  
  I grabbed this from the library thinking, "I like Patricia Cornwell. Never read this one. Score!" That's not what I'm thinking now.
  
  Don't bother.
  
  
• 
  itchy

  why do most of my recent reads feel read already? #dejavu
  
  lelia's grammatical shenanigans deserve an additional star
  
  p149: "appears a spiders basketball uniform was painted on the statue of jefferson davis," hammer explained.
  brazil was stunned. he started laughing and could not stop.
  "and i'm afraid his race was altered," she went on.
  "you mean, he got michael jordanized?" brazil choked.
  
  p158: "he probably alibied his way from there to here and you take it at fact value."
• 
  Eleni

  Σαφώς κατώτερο της σειράς Scarpetta,η δεύτερη ανάγνωση με απογοήτευσε περισσότερο από τη πρώτη,δε βοήθησε και η αφήγηση,2 αστεράκια γιατί αγαπάμε Patricia.
• 
  Carole Hazell

  Is this by the same Patricia Cornwell?
  Not-bad kid gets beaten up by bad kids. Cops get bad kids. The End.
• 
  Kristin

  I'm cursed with the foible that I need to finish every book I begin, no matter how painful. This was one of those books that emphasized that foible. I felt absolutely nothing about this plot while reading this: no humor, no anticipation, no sympathy. Instead I felt dread at plodding through it and questioned whether any character was going to grow into anything more than a stereotype. The answer was a resounding No. The plot was senseless and the time spent by the characters trying to figure out Fishteria made me question whether they deserved to be paid let alone be part of a police force. The passages with anthropomorphic pets made me groan. I do not plan to begin any more novels by this author for fear of having to slog through another.
• 
  Sam

  Although Cornwell has a few very good series, this one is not satisfying. It features two infuriating characters and a cast of stereotypes. The story relies heavily on a character that is a teenager. Additionally, it is clear that Cornwell does not want to kill off any of the characters because they are all necessary/likable in their own ways. Therefore, although the primary threat is built-up as scary, he doesn't even deliver. The reader also knows who he is from early on in the book and so that isn't even a mystery.
• 
  Ellen Willmore

  A whole bunch of characters with little plot. If this is your introduction to Patricia Cornwell, it's a really bad place to start.
• 
  Frank

  Good thriller from Cornwell.
• 
  Giuliana Unlibropersognaregiuly

  E' il secondo libro che leggo della Cornwell, e sebbene non rispecchi appieno il mio gusto in fatto di indagi poliziesche, ho trovato questo libro decisamente migliore rispetto al primo (A rischio). La storia parte un pò lenta e ad ingranare ci mette un pò,per fortuna da metà libro in poi diventa più avvincente e coinvolgente.
  
  Una squadra del dipartimento di polizia si trasferisce da Charlotte a Richmond per cercare di riportare l'ordine in città. Infatti negli ultimi tempi l'escalation di reati è arrivata a livelli insostenibili. Un ragazzino con la passione per la banda della scuola e per il disegno si ritrova invischiato proprio in mezzo ai fatti di cronaca nera peggiori. Viene avvicinato da Smoke, teppista della peggior specie che cerca di farsi un nome con reati sempre più gravi. Ha creato una banda, i Lucci, e costringe Weed, il ragazzino, a farne parte.
  Sarà una lotta ad armi pari tra il dipartimento di polizia e la banda di teenager senza scrupoli, con Weed preso tra due fuochi in cerca della propria identità.
• 
  Julie Tyuk

  I guess my thoughts will be shorter than the blurb for the book. It was even lamer than the first one. And while I enjoyed some the main characters in the first one and was laughing from time to time; this time I could not make my mind how this book was even published. It is really random ideas poorly developed and poorly connected.
  
  First, this gang, which not a gang but a psycho with some strange plot; then this boy, who is slow, but not slow but a genius, bringing down the whole psycho's plot down just like that; and then this relationship between Andy and West, who are behaving like two teens in their early puberty - not able to communicate single messages to each other... Really strange badly told story with a lot of unnecessary details and detours.
• 
  Julie Ditton

  Although I enjoyed the first Andy Brazil book, "Hornet's Nest" except for the ending, I found very little to redeem "Southern Cross". The interesting main characters of Brazil, West and Hammer have been transplanted to a new city. But this time the characters shallow cardboard cutouts with no substance at all. The book is overpopulated with stereotypical characters and the plot is ludicrous. After reading the first book, I wondered why the series only had three books. Now I am surprised that there was a third book.
• 
  Crystal Toller

  Andy Brazil
  
  In this second book of the Andy Brazil, West, Hammer and Brazil have moved to Richmond temporarily to set up Comstat in Richmond and get a handle on crime. When West and Hammer are on the phone they hear another conversation and think they are hearing a murder being planned which turns out not to be the case. There are also a series of ATM robberies happening that have the police very worried. How West, Hammer and Brazil solve the ATM robberies and discover who has hijacked the comstat computers makes for a good story. Highly recommend this book and the series.