| Title | : | From Potters Field (Kay Scarpetta, #6) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0425204693 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780425204696 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 383 |
| Publication | : | First published August 2, 1995 |
The body was naked, female, and found propped against a fountain in a bleak area of New York's Central Park. Her apparent manner of death points to a modus operandi that is chillingly familar: the gunshot wound to the head, the sections of skin excised from the body, the displayed corpse - all suggest that Temple Brooks Gault, Scarpetta's nemesis, is back at work.
Calling on all her reserves of courage and skill, and the able assistance of colleagues Marino and Wesley, Scarpetta must track this most dangerous of killers in pursuit of survival as well as justice - heading inexorably to an electrifying climax amid the dark, menacing labyrinths of the New York subway.
From Potters Field (Kay Scarpetta, #6) Reviews
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Book Review
3 of 5 stars to
From Potter's Field, the sixth in the Kay Scarpetta thriller series, published in 1994 by
Patricia Cornwell. After five books, you begin expecting more and more from a series, wanting it to up its game, thrown more mystery and character depth... and you get that in this book; however, you also get a bit of a different perspective this time. A few things about this one:
1. It picks up from a previous book with the same killer who still hadn't been caught. It'd be helpful to read the previous one so you are fully up to speed.
2. Potter's Field is a real place. It's where all the bodies of unknown identity have been buried in NYC.
3. Involves a murder in Central Park. Hits a little too close to home, given what happened in CP years ago.
4. The ending is just... bang... killing spree over and let's fly back home.
5. The killer is directly after Scarpetta... finding victims beforehand to get Scarpetta to find him.
6. You learn a lot about the underground. And a killer's lair.
7. Scarpetta never learns. She won't partner with someone the way she should.
8. This was probably the take off point in the series where the author became quite famous. She had recognition before this book, but the series was widely known when this one was released.
That said... it's a solid read but a bit more focused than previous books. When you have some history from earlier reads, you feel more connected. But in the end, it was more or less just a good thriller book for me. Still enjoy the series... and this was the most relate-able to me given the location.
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Book 6 in the Kay Scarpetta series published 1995.
I’ve been a bit uncomplimentary with some of my review on the Kay Scarpette franchise but not so with Potter’s Field. I really enjoyed it. That’s not to say that there are still aspects of Dr. Scarpette’s unrealistic attitude to law enforcement and her personal safety that still gets up my nose.
But for the most part it was a book that once started was hard to put down.
Continuing on from the previous book Kay’s arch nemesis Temple Gault is still having fun with his bizarre murder sites.
When his latest victim is found naked and dead from a gun shot to the head in Central Park NY all the appropriate law enforcement agencies get involved.
Gault is well known to the NYPD and the FBI and the fear is that Gault’s psychosis is escalating and he needs to be caught before anyone else dies.
Everyone knows that Gault is fixated with Dr. Kay and as a result a great deal of care is given to her safety. But Kay, being Kay, ignores all the efforts to keep her safe and goes after Gault on her own, as you do.
Apart from the incredulity of this highly intelligent woman taking such needles risks this proved to be an absorbing read.
One last comment.
Kay you need to sort out your relationships. For a smart woman you do some really silly things.
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Boy! This booked pissed me off!
Normally I would give this book a better review, but no. This book has all the angst and mystery that you expect from a Patricia Cornwell novel. The plot is a continuation of a storyline started in a previous novel, the pursuit of Temple Gault. Gault is just as dark and manipulative as in the other books and you race to the climax of the book to see if he will get away to torment Kay Scarpetta in the next novel, or will this chapter finally reach its conclusion?
After 350 pages of taut writing and involving narrative, the whole book resolves in two paragraphs! And they aren't even long paragraphs. After the investment in time that I spent with the characters I had hoped for something more, a lot more.
Maybe there will be more resolution in the next book, but this one just left me feeling cheated. -
A gruesome but oddly familiar modus operandi for a murder in New York, sees signs that Scarpetta's nemesis has returned!
With some significant character and situational development Gault comes back all guns blazing! It could be argued that the Gault cases are when this series was at it's best, although it might just be the familiarity. Anyhows another pretty good installment in this rather good ongoing series. 7 out of 12. -
I've read a lot of Cornwell's books. The one thing that irks me the most about Scarpetta is that she doesn't let people help her when the big baddie is determined to fuck her shit up. They want her to temporarily move to a safe house, and even when she lets people stay over- it's like pulling teeth. They aren't being unreasonable, because Kay, this person wants to target you and they know where you live.
This happens in every single book.
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If you're not already reading this series then get into Kay Scarpetta. This was a great next book in the series and I loved the dynamics of the characters, the villain, the mystery and Kay's willingness to always get to the bottom of things.
This had a great mix of personal relationships on top of a truly killer.
I did a mix of audio + book book and yes, just binged another one! I've been listening while I go for walks and clean up around the house....killer thrillers are a great motivator to get me outside and get my house into shape! -
Ugh. Worst series ever. I gave Kay Scarpetta a heroic try, dragging myself through 6 awful books waiting for things to get better, but they never did. At least the boring Temple Gault (horrendous name by the way) is over and done with. I have so many gripes about this series it's hard to know where to begin.
First off, isn't she the medical examiner? Shouldn't she be doing more corpse examining? Why is she always running off somewhere to go investigate? I understand the consultant forensic pathologist role for the FBI, but she doesn't just give lend her knowledge about the body she has to try to be a profiler and an investigator too. I don't know why the FBI has Benton or Marino when they could just keep Scarpetta full time.
Second, the characters suck. There is not one likeable person in this whole series. NOT ONE.
-Kay Scarpetta, rages and whines all day long about everything under the sun. Is snooty and moody, bitches about everything and puts herself in the dumbest situations I have ever read a main character doing. It is unbelievable to me that a medical examiner would have to kill so many people within their career much less in 6 years.
-Lucy, the niece. Totally gets her moodiness & bitchiness from her aunt. Her smart ass attitude and Kay's bragging about her genius (which only works for computers because in commonsense that girl is a dud - also something she inherited from her aunt) is tiresome. And of course, she must be a lesbian because her mother is an asshole. *eye roll*
-Marino, grumpy, overweight, overprotective and unattractive. 'Nuff said.
-Wesley Benton, emotionless adulterer who not only cheats on his wife (who is friends with Kay also) but cheats on his wife with his dead best friend's lover.
Thirdly (is that a word?), the stories all get so boring and long winded. There's so much talking about what they're going to do that when it finally happens it takes about 5 paragraphs and the whole thing is over. The books end so abruptly and begin the same way I always have to double check that I didn't miss a book in the series.
All in all I am done with this series for awhile, if not forever. I would much rather read Kathy Reichs. At least some of her characters are decent human beings. -
SPOILERS
30/3 - Like The Body Farm this book's title is false advertising. An even smaller portion of the book was dedicated to what's named in the title - the first victim is originally a Jane Doe and is buried in Potter's Field (her real identity is later discovered and she's moved to a family plot). Thinking about the plot of the book I can't think of an appropriate title off the top of my head, so maybe Cornwell had a similar mental block and at the last minute just pulled the title from an interesting (though barely mentioned) location that she had used in the book, not even considering how little it had to do with the story. Or maybe the publisher thought the idea of a book with a storyline that featured Potter's Field (and the body farm, previously) would make it a bestseller and didn't consider how it fit with the plot... Either way I think it backfired because it just leaves me scratching my head as to what Potter's Field really has to do with anything.
I do think Cornwell's endings tend to be a bit rushed. 400 pages of build-up and escalating tension and then everything's over in a chapter and a one page epilogue (if that), it all feels a bit abrupt and like she gets to the end of her books and after all that time and effort she just wants to get the book over and done with. After all the work I think the endings should be savoured, maybe steal 30-50 pages from the build-up and really give the end the time it deserves and add a decent epilogue (where appropriate) so we know how everything wrapped up properly.
Because the inappropriate title annoyed me as much with this one as it did with The Body Farm I had to deduct that same star, but fortunately there were no confusions with Lucy's age versus how many years were supposed to have passed. As soon as I finished this last night I picked up Cause of Death and read 100 pages of that before I could force myself to put it down and go to sleep. I'll likely finish that one tonight, very nearly a one-sitting read as Cosmopolitan suggests. -
From Potter's Field is yes another brilliant psychological thriller from Patricia Cornwell. The body of a homeless woman is found propped into a sitting position in the freezing cold. Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner of Virginia is called in and immediately recognises the handiwork of Temple Brooks Gault, a serial killer never caught. Except this time, his target is none other than her.
In From Potter's Field, Patricia Cornwell explores the different relationships between the characters as well as mental illness. The events that occur in From Potter's Field are much of what we could be seeing on TV the next day, insanely realistic. She explores Temple Brooks Gault's game with Kay Scarpetta well, tempting and taunting her at every move.
Dr Kay Scarpetta is the narrator of the series. She has a great character, and her flaws really showed in this book. Her inner sense of justice and honed instincts are a very great asset to her. Some complications from earlier books remain, including her tangled love life.
One of my other favourite characters is her niece, Lucy. Lucy has a very high IQ, and is the mastermind behind the Criminal Artificial Intelligence Network, more commonly known simply as CAIN. Her sexual orientation and young age make many doubt her ability, but I really admire her.
Patricia Cornwell really is one of the best crime writers ever. Her mysteries are ongoing, explorational, and very real world. She allows her characters to face many hardships, further strengthening the storyline and plot. If you love Murder Mysteries, Patricia Cornwell is for you. -
"An unidentified nude female sits propped against a fountain in Central Park. There are no signs of struggle. When Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her colleagues Benton Wesley and Pete Marino arrive on the scene, they instantly recognize the signature of serial killer Temple Brooks Gault. Scarpetta, on assignment with the FBI, visits the New York City morgue on Christmas morning, where she must use her forensic expertise to give a name to the nameless—a difficult task. But as she sorts through conflicting forensic clues, Gault claims his next victim. He has infiltrated the FBI's top secret artificial-intelligence system developed by Scarpetta's niece, and sends taunting messages as his butchery continues, moving terrifyingly closer to Scarpetta herself."
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I am liking Kay Scarpetta less and less. She seems bossy, intolerant except to her neurotic niece, and anything but a team member. She chooses to ignore some evidence which is painful to the reader. I felt like shouting at her at times. Why is it that so many main characters do so many stupid things in their investigations which land them in grave danger? I realize that the danger is part of the plot, but there are plenty of danger spots in a real investigation without doing something that your average citizen KNOWS is going to be trouble? This may be my last Cornwell book. (I think I've said this before...but I keep hoping she can get back to the level of her first books.
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I wouldn't rate this at the top of the Scarpetta series but Cornwell is great at what she does and this is no exception.
If you don't know the Scarpetta series and read this on it's own, there are probably a few too many previous references to be comfortable as a standalone novel.
That aside, there is plenty of action and any novel with a wintry setting will always have my heart.
A high 3 stars. -
Marino remained misogynistic, homophobic and rude. Why is he in every book???
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Loved the reading! Watching the tangled web become unwoven!!
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I'm probably being generous with a 2-star rating. I didn't think much of this book. A few good scenes, but overall it wasn't very thrilling or suspenseful and the climax was a let down. This is my second Cornwell read, and I didn't particularly like the Scarpetta character in the last one ("The Body Farm") and I really don't like the character now. And I don't like Cornwell's writing--which goes hand in hand with not liking the Scarpetta character since she writes in the first person. There's self-righteous and arrogant qualities to the character and writing style that I can't get past. Not recommended.
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3,5/5 αστεράκια.
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3,5*
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"From Potter's Field," by Patricia Cornwell, is the 6th book in the Kay Scarpetta series... a series that is increasingly frustrating for me as a reader.
There are some things that Cornwell does really well, and some things she does poorly. The scene were an out-of-control and panicked Scarpetta tries to regain control and calm by making dinner for everyone despite not having groceries? That's a wonderful scene, emotional and true and very in character. The increasingly dark and gross portrayal of Marino as the Designated Male Chauvinist Pig as opposed to rough-around-the-edges working class good guy? Is getting grating, especially as he's a dick to EVERYONE and Scarpetta limply defends him. Dialogue of minor characters is bright and lively and full of personality, while Scarpetta's and Wesley's dialogue is stiff, stilted, overly formal, eschewing contractions. It clunks along like a living example of how not to write engaging, fluid dialogue.
The Scarpetta books, more and more, are fluff. They're popcorn books to consume in one sitting, slightly formulaic, entertaining. They're not books to mull over or treasure. They're entertaining, though. And the most interesting thing about them is how they rely on actual science and technology and not future tech like most television and movie crime procedurals. This book is liberally littered with conversations about computers, programs, modems, UNIX, etc but in a way that feels organic and understandable. It's not computer jargon for the sake of computer jargon, and it isn't presented in info-dump ways.
I'm also enjoying the female relationships Scarpetta has, especially with her lesbian niece. Scarpetta's attitude towards her sexuality seems to be changing from Nice White Lady Liberal Tolerance to actual acceptance, just as her character has quit smoking and cut back on drinking. She's extremely over protective of her, which I know many readers find irritating, but I find very in character. I also feel it's presented as a character flaw.
This book was a pretty meh book. I didn't feel a lot of threat from the Big Bad, Temple Gault, other than Because It's In The Book ie, everyone talks about how bad and evil and devious he is and acts scared of him. But his actual actions, while fucked up and awful, aren't earth-shattering evil. I mean, they are, but... there's so much worse than him wandering around the really real world. However, it was still entertaining, and I'm about to reserve the next book from the library. I do hope the series picks up a bit, and I'm interested to find if the series goes back to different bad dude each book or if there'll be another long arc. -
Listen, I'm a fan, right? But, man, that ending sucked! Just saying. What happened? For 400 pages there is an exciting build-up of anxiety and anticipation, and then....it is as if Patricia Cornwell got a phone call from the publisher telling her to send in the manuscript NOW. So she concluded it all in one paragraph. Thud.
Anyway.
Gentle reader, this is the not the book where you want to start reading, if you are interested in the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series. You should start here:
Postmortem. There are intense ongoing personal and family issues that are carried forward from book to book. Plus, this particular book in the series, #6, is the third in the series which has been about a particularly vicious psychopath who has been stalking Scarpetta. He was introduced in
Cruel & Unusual., #4.
This is a fantastically fun mystery series, and I love it. It IS graphic, but not gratuitously. I don't know what happened to cause the ending in this novel to be so obviously truncated as if the last chapter got chewed up by a dog or something (maybe Cornwell had a personal emergency?) but this isn't typical at all of the books. -
Li os primeiros cinco livros da série "Kay Scarpetta" em Abril de 2012 e depois parei. Na altura entusiasmava-me muito com séries de policiais e queria lê-las assim seguidas, mas acabava por me cansar de ler sempre sobre o mesmo. O que é perfeitamente normal. Hoje em dia gosto de variar nos géneros e autores. Aliás, não lia um policial há algum tempo, por isso decidi continuar esta série moderadamente.
Sinceramente, tantos livros diferentes depois, só tinha uma ideia dos livros anteriores. No entanto, este livro faz várias referências ao passado e foi fácil apanhar o fio à meada. Kay Scarpetta é uma médica legista com uma personalidade forte e valores bem definidos. É uma mulher independente que vive quase exclusivamente para o trabalho. No entanto, nesta fase da vida dela, tem a sobrinha a trabalhar perto.
Neste livro, Kay persegue um assassino em série que a tem vindo a atormentar. Achei curioso passar-se na noite de Natal, foi uma daquelas coincidências. É uma história interessante, porque a Patricia Cornwell tem um dom para contar histórias e mantém-nos sempre em cima da ação. Não ficarei tanto tempo sem ler esta série novamente. -
Foi a minha estreia com esta série e com esta autora e, talvez em parte por minha culpa, soube-me a pouco.
Assumo esta parte de culpa uma vez que li este livro isoladamente mesmo sabendo que é o sexto de uma série, o que pode ter contribuído para nunca me ter conseguido sentir suficientemente envolvida com as personagens e com a própria história (até porque, já depois da leitura, vi em algumas reviews que o caso que aqui se resolve já tinha "aparecido" em alguns dos livros anteriores). No entanto, o próprio desfecho ficou aquém das (minhas) expectativas...
É um livro leve, de leitura rápida, e reconheço que conseguiu, em alguns momentos, aguçar um pouco mais a minha curiosidade, mas por agora não sei se me apetecerá ler outro desta série. -
The at-least-three novels that were all "about" Temple Gault (birth name, srsly) showed an obvious progression, or is it digression when it gets worse? The problem was less that I have a dozen of those books, it's that the two I bought outside the series are now spoiled to me. I had really liked Hornet's Net and thought it smart and witty and showing a different type of m/f relationship, so I ran to get the follow up - then never read it. NOW I see how Cornwell went from her first novels (which I consider standard, most consider best, critics consider that start of something exceptional which I still try to figure out) to the disjointed jump-scene multi-plot style of the Andy series. I still do not want to join the many critics who hated these off-side novels, I want to still think they are more Cornwell and really good, but having just finished Scarpetta 7 I still cannot say if Cornwell is having a piss, attempting the most subtle subtext of all time, or just truly bad. I had accredited odd similes to an original imagination and the complete lack of any showing to a tight pov where the heroine keeps huge facts from us as well as the others but - no, the Scarpetta series really is so utterly bad that I should drop that hope. Which means I misunderstood Hornet's Net after all?
I've neglected to write reviews, which I regret, but I wanted to wait and see how an overview would shape my perception. As usual (with books that are fairly popular) I can't help wonder about and react to critiques I've read. The blurb recommendations make no sense. There is nothing extraordinary and there is no way to claim each book as as good. The cover work is great, the titles raise interest - and there's the problem. As said before, Body Farm and Potters Field are actually false advertising. There is nothing harrowing, since we are never with the victims or the killers. There is no psychology, but then there can be all types of crime novels and Cornwell's are procedurals - she has Wesley for a bit of psychology/profiling, but Scarpetta's job is medical.
If we see this series as procedurals, we can take it like any of a number of modern crime shows on TV, most of which I cannot watch because they are so boring, now having lots and lots of extreme gore but not actually that much more plot than stuffy oldies. Scarpetta could be a TV show, but AFAIK only her rival Bones has one. These shows generally have the same small amounts of private moments, jokes and romance decorating the crime plots as Cornwell has in her novels, BUT novels are a lot longer than a 40 min show, and having trawled through 7 x atleast 370 pages I have to concede that it's way too little - and nothing progresses. As mentioned I was initially unsure if significant events happening between the novels was meant to be a sort of smart trick, but no, -i- must must must accept it just isn't, just like her buying a new house, buying a new car, in every book isn't, because they never feel different, there is never a sense of surrounding or private life, and to have her put out a cookbook is ridiculous for that matter as well.
The cars should matter more simply because she spends most of the time in every book inside one. She still seems to do nothing but travel, back and forth, take planes a few times a day, spend millions on journeys one would expect to be made by another or instead her phoning the other person. Where in the first six books the last of each journey led her to Key West or Miami or some other warm ocean site where she has a 4 hour holiday and gets vital info from some recluse no police contacted, she seems to have abandoned that as well now. While still making an annoying fuss about mynieceLucy, which gets more grating the older this FBI agent becomes, Scarpetta then singlehandedly kills the murderer. When she did in Gault I actually laughed, not because I'm a convert to gore but because it was so ridiculous - that guy was not a monster, he was the least sadistic of serial killers I ever heard about, but that's mainly because she never found a reason for him to do anything, let alone a real signature or grah anything.
But what Gault had done to his sister ages ago was more in the line of true evil - something Cornwell believes in, sadly with more lauding of church (and army; and police). Again one could say she is not setting out to write psychologically, it should be ok to give no reasons and motives for bad men becoming murderers, but the tiny glimpses were Cornwell was good was precisely when she made apt observations. To hide behind Scarpetta, to claim that the heroine is misunderstood because she hides her pain, that falls flat after so many books. To repeat someone is a monster and that a body had been dumped somewhere does not make it any more harrowing - to have a body slightly mutilated after death simply isn't monstrous or shocking, and one can't feel upset if one never knew anything of the victims or how their loss destroyed others lives. Scarpetta saying that in the past she had gotten hives does neither make her more sympathetic to me nor more convincing - I never thought her cold, but the books don't describe tragedies, aren't even evoking any emotion.
When one has to point at someone like Elizabeth George, who also got very very bad, and say that that's still some proper writing, it's sad. But when Cornwell decided not to focus on the victims, not to focus on the criminals, she had to focus on the detectives. And to have those just be told about in increasingly unconvincing snippets does not turn a series of descriptions of laboratories from a guide or hand-book into a novel. -
Excellent book. Once again Cornwell has produced a fast paced action packed book. You can just feel the tension. Two books ago Gault (the bad guy) was introduced to the series and finally in this book it comes to a close. The only thing I didn't like was it left you hanging on whether or not Carrie (Gaults accomplice and Scarpettas niece's ex lover) was caught. If she hasn't been then I am quite sure we haven't seen the last of her. Once again Scarpetta is still having her affair with her colleague, Special Agent Benton Wesley, and in this book they both admit to each other that they are in love with each other but don't know what to do because Benton is married. I don't like that. I like Kay Scarpetta's character a lot so it was really disappointing when she began the affair with not sign of remorse. But I guess Cornwell is showing that her main character is human and subject to imperfections and mistakes like the rest of us. It just bothers me that the mistake she is making is so immoral.
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4+ stars
#6 in Dr. Kay Scarpetta series AND, more importantly, the last of the little mini-series/trilogy within the series (installments #4, 5 & 6). I really like this series, and was pretty satisfied with the wind up, or what at least seems to be the wind-up of the Temple Gault/Carrie Grethen-related trilogy (but you really never know with them). This was a stronger installment than some others I have read (before & after it in the series) and me tense throughout worried that something would happen, although there is a little more waiting for something to happen than actually does happen. This one takes place in VA (Richmond & Quantico) and NYC and the usuals are back: Benton Wesley (FBI); Marino (a Capt now, what?) and Lucy (Dr. Kay's niece; computer genius; intern at FBI). Lucy's age progression and timing of book doesn't add up, but I complained about that in #5's review, plus there were a lot less glaring procedural or common-sense errors that it was easier to enjoy the better storyline and intensity of this installment. -
I read this a while back but slowed down from reading more in the series. The later books had taken more of a depressing turn and even though I liked the character of Kay Scarpetta, I needed a change.
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Dr.Scarpetta keeps on mixing the personal and professional.. there is no way she can stop doing it,isn't it?
This is one of her decent works-neither very good not bad.. there isn't any of the classic detective work,if you are looking for one. Even the killer do not have a well-developed psyche. If a profiler tries to work on Cornwell's killers,he would end up nowhere. Psychology is almost non-existent in this work and so it sort of feels hollow considering we are talking of a serial killer here. This book is something which you should go for if you have a few hours stuck somewhere and do not have anything else to do. -
Šesti deo serijala, a sve bolji i bolji intenzitet trilera. Čita se brzo koliko je napeto, i ostavlja te gladnu za još takvih tenzija u knjigama. 10/10
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3.5 rounded to 4
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This book just felt so lackluster. Then after getting through the entire book and taking time to get invested in what is going on and who the characters are the end wraps up in less than a page, which at that point I was already skim reading because it just wasn't holding my attention. There are characters flaws with the main character that I don't agree with and I don't know if I will be continuing this series even though I thoroughly enjoyed the first few. If she stuck with simply the forensic murder mystery side these books would be great it is all the other stuff that drags the book down.
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Disappointed with the abrupt ending but wonderful book overall
