Flesh and Blood: A Scarpetta Novel (Kay Scarpetta) Mass Market Paperback – June 30, 2015

As a fan of this series, there have always been things that bugged me. The complete dropping of characters book to book, plot holes, the morphing of Lucy's business from her own personal MI6 to a school to a quasi-official agency... Most of this is forgivable. (The two dropped characters that deserved better were Lucy's ATF boss who she partnered with to start her business and her injured ATF girlfriend Jo who is literally waiting in the driveway for Lucy to nurse her back to health at the end of one book and broken up with and dispatched to her parents at the start of the next.) The weakest point in the series, which began with the all time worst book Blow Fly, featured third person narration, Lucy's absurd James Bond period, and the unreality of Benton's return to the world of the living. (They'd found his skinned off face and it's never explained.) Getting them back to more official investigative work, returning to first person narration, and settling into a more permanent set of locations, characters, and relationships has greatly helped the series. Though not as satisfying as Dust, Flesh and Blood is another entertaining entry. Unfortunately, my biggest pet peeves with the series have yet to be addressed.#1. Scarpetta continues to doubt, question, and mistrust her niece. There was hardly any action or words spoken by Lucy that wasn't met with a "I wonder what that means..." discussion from Scarpetta. (Her conclusions seem way off much of the time.) This constant suspicion is bad enough coming from others. For all the talk about damage done to Lucy by former girlfriends and her mother, the questioning and doubt from her aunt seems far worse to me.In one of the early books, Lucy is accused of a crime. (Not uncommon. Lucy is frequently in the suspect pool, this book included. It's getting old.) Instead of taking the opportunity to say, "You're my niece, I know you didn't do it, we'll find out who did," Scarpetta accepts it as a possibility until it's proved otherwise. She's improved somewhat since, but all of Lucy's actions are still met with questions. ("Why the new car? Why'd she park here? What does this mean?" She borders on paranoia. She's a hypocrite too since she gets angry when info is kept from her but she hides things from Lucy she doesn't think she can handle.) Scarpetta clearly believes her niece has limitless potential and is capable of anything, but she continually fears what that might be. Lucy's tortured herself over whether or not she's a good person and Scarpetta has made it worse not better. Lucy is often secretive, but so is Benton and she rarely questions his motivations. I'm sick of Lucy constantly being a suspect and even the main characters doubting her. The reader never believes her capable of it, even if her family does.#2. Janet needs to play a bigger role. Since her reappearance in these books, she has been "onscreen" for five or six pages per book if that. Involvement in the plot would be nice since it would allow for some character development. A pretty momentous event for Janet happens in this book, yet she only appears in the last chapter and has no dialogue. Granted these books focus on the cases and even Benton frequently finds himself on the periphery. Still, there should be a way to get her more involved so we can actually learn something about her as a person. She's Lucy's partner, she's pretty, she's good at the job we don't see her do, and Scarpetta thinks she's the only thing keeping Lucy in line (more doubting her niece.) Add to that the smattering of family detail we learn in this one and it's still not much to hang your hat on.Cornwell could kill two birds with one stone by involving Janet more and getting her and Scarpetta to spend time together. Ideally, Janet would be someone who unconditionally trusts and believes in Lucy. Seeing that in her, Scarpetta could face the doubt she harbors and address it directly. We have tension between Scarpetta and Lucy, Scarpetta and Marino, Scarpetta and her staff... Enough already. They face more than enough outside pressures. They're a family and I'm hoping, in future, a more trusting and functional one.#3. Scarpetta has terrible taste in associates. I can't remember how many of her employees, co-workers, and law enforcement friends have turned out to be criminals, involved with criminals, dishonest, or incompetent. How long does this have to go on? She has Benton, Marino, and Lucy. Everyone else going back to the beginning has failed her. Plus she doesn't particularly trust Lucy and Marino tried to assault her. For being at the top of her field for as long as she has, Scarpetta sure has a horrible record of working with others. The first time we meet the woman who replaced Marino we're treated to a whiny complaint about how she made a horrible mistake but now they're stuck with her. Later, problems arise because of other unreliable PD and lab people. Is this because Cornwell wants everything to be done only by the main characters and making everyone else they work with incompetent, annoying, or a bad guy ensures that that will happen? By this point she should have a good group she can believe in. The only person she seems to completely trust is Benton and that's just not good enough. In the book she says she doesn't forgive carelessness or incompetence. Since she's been surrounded by that and worse her entire career, I'm not sure I believe her.Those are my big annoyances and this book not only didn't fix them, it emphasized them. Scarpetta's constant questioning of Lucy and wondering at her thoughts and motivations really annoyed me. And she shouldn't always be a suspect, we know Lucy didn't do it. Janet undergoes a big impactful event in this book that will greatly affect them going forward, yet she's barely seen. Even when it's important, she hardly shows up. If she's here to stay, she needs to play a bigger role at least occasionally. Lastly, Scarpetta's continued run of poorly chosen associates reminded me again of the long string of horrible people who have worked with her. For such a smart group of people, they frequently have terrible judgment. (Scarpetta, Marino, and Lucy have all slept with murderers, and virtually all of the series' villains were people they once trusted. That's some pretty bad judgment.)In the future, I hope she addresses the problem areas. I can't imagine having invisible Janet, Lucy eternally viewed as an unstable sociopath, and every single associate causing them problems for another 20 books.

My first Patricia Cornwell book. I found it enjoyable, and suspenseful. Just seemed to drag on and on, then no closure

Entertainment

This was a nice offering by Cornwell, which dyed-in-the-wool Scarpetta fans will likely relish. Character development seemed to be the priority in this book, rather than plot ... which isn't necessarily a bad thing, if it serves as the springboard for 'plot' in the next installment.After all these years, we see Lucy and Marino, Kay and Benton and even Bryce in the full light of day, with fresh insights into their complex personalities and their relationship with each other. With this book, we are allowed to see personality nuances and characteristics which were not evident in the past. I realize that not every reader wants to get so close to the core, but for those who do, this book will be a winner. And one would hope that Cornwell will utilize these revelations about her characters as a foundation for enhanced plot development in the next release.The first-person narrative technique in this latest book is particularly effective. I felt as if I was inside Scarpetta's head, listening to her think the way that people with agile minds really do think and analyze situations, i.e., oftentimes in run-on sentences, segueing into a related and compelling new angle of thought .... unconcerned with the proper punctuation required if one was speaking these thoughts aloud.My only significant disappointment in this book is the reappearance of the historical nemesis, Carrie - once again as the evildoer. I would have opted for a more creative and surprising adversary - someone fresh, to add complexity to the plot and the crimes at hand. My reaction was along the lines of 'Her? Again?' Further, Carrie's reappearance almost inevitably led to a cliffhanger ending. Parenthetically, was that really a good idea?Other than the lack of a 'fresh villain' and the cliffhanger, I liked this book a lot. But with a cliffhanger ending like this, Cornwell had best write 'fast and furious' to get the sequel out there quickly, if she is to secure her audience. Perhaps that's where a fresh antagonist will emerge. Whatever, it's time to get back to 'plot'.

Do you know, I can't help thinking the world's had enough of Dr Kay Scarpetta. When Cornwell's Scarpetta novels first started coming out I thought they were great: gripping plots and good characterisation that made you want to read the next one. However, I've just finished 'Flesh and Blood' and it was a real slog: a confused plot, too many set-pieces - pages and pages about how guns work or how to put on scuba gear - and O my god, no more about the George Clooney-esque FBI husband or the genius niece who flies helicopters and drives huge cars, please!! It's all become a bit repetitive and tedious, frankly. And if I hear the name Carrie Grethen again I shall say very loudly, do something new now, Cornwell!

I've loved Scarpetta for years and cared for all the wonderful characters; Pete, Lucy, Benson but the books have become formulaic and tedious. I'm sick of someone always being out to get Kay, sick of her inability to hire normal, well-adjusted members of staff. I'm tired of her and Benton never just getting along without her being suspicious or him hiding something. It's just the same old thing over and over again. Why can't they just solve a crime without all the repetition? Why can't Lucy just be brilliant instead of (yawn) having another secret or another car crash relationship. I don't if I can even be bothered to finish this book. Cornwell messed this series up when she stopped writing in the first person for a while - it allowed the stories to go right off track and they started to resemble the cringingly bad Brazil series. I was delighted when she readopted the old style of writing but the stories are all too similar now.

I'm really glad I only paid 99p for this book. I keep coming back hoping that the old Kay Scarpetta will return and I keep being disappointed. 10 pages into the latest book it was clear Kay was a pretenious stuck up cow and I couldn't read any more. Not only has Kay's character changed for the worse, Cornwell's writing style is chaotic, overly descriptive, and doesn't flow at all. I'm baffled as to why Cornwell would turn Kay's character into such a snot. I keep saying "this is the last chance" but really, this is it, I can't even bear another page let alone another book.

Not quite as good as some of the earlier Scarpetta novels, which are really outstanding, but still a good read.As usual, we given an insight into Scarpetta's psyche (achieved all the more effectively when the narrative is in the first person, as here) and the relationship between her, Lucy, Marino and Benton is explored further. I have always felt that the depth of the characterisation complements the detective aspect of the novels in the Scarpetta series.Some reviews have commented adversely on the detail included about guns: identifying the arms used and the method of their deployment was an essential part of the investigation, so I feel that we would have been cheated had we not been allowed to share this with the protagonists.

I love Patricia Cornwell novels and have read them all.i always feel a bit disappointed when the stories do not stand alone however and I reach the end knowing it will be at least 6 months to a year until I can finish the story.having said that I really enjoyed the character details and reminders in this novel and the slow reintroduction of Carrie Grethen one of Cornwells most sinister killers since her earlier novels.it has been many years since we met Kay,Lucy,Marino and Benton.it helped to be reminded of their earlier roles,plot involvement and characters.looking forward to a Depraved Heart.i re read Flesh and Blood so that I can go straight into the new novel .my memory isn't what it was-hopefully this will allow me to get into the new story easily!would recommend all Cornwells books to anyone who enjoys a good psychological thriller with sometimes gory murders but always totally up to date forensic techniques.over all the years Cornwell has never let the research side of her novels slide even if it's just describing Lucy's latest cars,bikes,watches,computer advances.i suspect if Patricia Cornwell keeps writing her novels I will be reading them for many years to come.the characters all feel a little bit like family after all these years!And each new novel feels a bit like revisiting fond family members I have to say though, my own family are a bit less inclined to get themselves into terrifying situations!not sure I could handle Scarpettas stress levels!