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Book of the Dead (Kay Scarpetta, No. 15) | 
 enlarge | Author: Patricia Cornwell
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $0.99
You Save: $25.96 (96%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  602 reviews
Sales Rank: 820
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 0399153934
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399153938
ASIN: 0399153934
Publication Date: October 23, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Visible shelf wear -- may have some notes/markings on pages
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Product Description
From America's # 1 bestselling crime writer comes the extraordinary new Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel.
The "book of the dead" is the morgue log, a ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to take on a new meaning. Fresh from her bruising battle with a psychopath in Florida, Scarpetta decides it's time for a change of pace, not only personally and professionally but geographically. Moving to the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, she opens a unique private forensic pathology practice, one in which she and her colleagues-including Pete Marino and her niece, Lucy-offer expert crime-scene investigation and autopsy services to communities lacking local access to modern, competent death investigation technology.
It seems like an ideal situation, until the new battles start-with local politicians, with entrenched interests, with someone whose covert attempts at sabotage are clearly meant to run Scarpetta out of town. And that's before the murders and other violent deaths even begin.
A young man from a well-known family jumps off a water tower. A woman is found ritualistically murdered in her multimillion-dollar beach home. The body of an abused young boy is discovered dumped in a desolate marsh. Meanwhile, in distant New England, problems with a prominent patient at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital begin to hint at interconnections that are as hard to imagine as they are horrible.
Kay Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones confronting her now. Before she is through, that book of the dead will contain many names-and the pen may be poised to write in her own.
The first name in forensics. The last name in suspense. Once again, Patricia Cornwell proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 495 more reviews...
 What Is She Doing??? July 6, 2008
Well I just don't understand what Patricia Cornwell is doing with this series. I'm going along with the ride for a little while longer but it's getting harder and harder and harder. I read the Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. Those changes I can somewhat understand...but with Kay Scarpetta and her crew. I don't understand. Does everyone in the series have to have something deadly wrong with them? Do we have to kill all of them off? If Ms. Cornwell is getting tired of writing about them then don't...or at least take a break from them.
This book wasn't the tight snappy writing style that I like from her. There were times she was rambling on and on. There was some progress on Scarpetta and Benton but then it was like they just forgot about it. As for Marino, he's totally changed but Ms. Cornwell hasn't really delved into it. She isn't explaining why the total change in how and what he believes. Lucy is almost like a total secondary character that just pops in to break the law then leaves. I thought since Scarpetta had moved to Charleston, SC that it would also become a character in the series. The city is beautiful and has a life to itself but it seems like Ms. Cornwell is missing that. I'm just very disappointed in this book. The ending felt rushed and didn't make a lot of sense in the series but did for the book itself. I don't know. Just feel like I wasted some of my time with this book and I don't normally feel like that with Patricia Cornwell books. I wouldn't recommend this unless you are staying with the series. It's not a good stand alone book.
 i kick myself for buying this book June 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
the kay scarpetta series should've ended with the last precinct. the rest of the novels have just gone downhill. scarpetta was a strong female character who knew what she wanted and did not let anything stand in her way. she fought hard for what was right and the story lines were believeable and the characters were likeable and played off each other like a orchestra. this book? come on...marino attacking kay? going off drinking and within a week falling that fast? give me a break. lucy actually seemed more like an adult in this one, but benton? and this psych doc/tv host reeking havoc? please ms. cornwell stop writing this series...you have officially killed scarpetta in the eyes of your fans and the series cannot be saved.
 Book of the Dead June 20, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have read all of Patricia Cornwell's books and this is one of the best if not the best. Book of the Dead is Kay Scarpetta at her best. I absolutely loved it. It is a page turner from beginning to end. I hope that she will add to the Scarpetta series.
Pat Bounds
Loosely constructed, but not bad. June 20, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The first half is a pretty good page turner and leads the reader to expect an exciting denouement, but the book just flickers out. There's a lot of forensic detail, but this book appears to be more about Scarpetta and her personal entanglements, with the serial killer intruding when things need to pick up. At the end the killer is apprehended and carted away without much ado--it goes by so fast you could easily miss it. The title is only tangentially connected to the plot and the killer's modus operandi is very far-fetched. This may not be up to the level of the others in the series, but I've read worse.
 This smells like the "dead" June 19, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is absolutely awful. It starts out basically as a pseudo-inquiry into the murder of a tennis star, but is really an excuse for bickering between "Kay" and "Benton". By page 70, they are still bickering and "Kay" is wallowing in hurt feelings, jealousy, petty rivalries, god knows what else. I can get these infantile, borderline personality rants from my own family members. I don't have to read about them. The plot (if there is one) is undeveloped. Maybe something happens in the remaining 300 pages, but I don't have the patience. Doesn't G. P. Putnam have editors?
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