Here we go then. Back to one post per month as I didn’t really get through much last month. I’ve read one book, albeit an omnibus, and it didn’t grip me as much as the Harry Potter stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it, but if I didn’t pick the thing up and read a bit of it on any given day then I didn’t feel I was losing out on valuable reading time.
Postmortem
Jane’s been reading this series for as long as I’ve known her, always keeping an eye out for the latest “Doctor Lady” (Jane’s pet name for the star of the series) book. Well, here’s where it all starts as this one introduces us to the “Doctor Lady” herself, the infamous Kay Scarpetta. As far as characters go, she’s pretty well realised – all ambition and very focused on her work, not having gotten around to having a family of her own just yet. Reminds me of someone…
As for the story, well it was an interesting CSI-style yarn – I can certainly see how this series inspired the various CSI TV series. It leant on the forensic side of things a bit too much for my liking (I think I prefer Jefferey Deaver’s action style). The ending was a bit of a letdown, it was all over too soon and the first-person narrative made it all a bit hazy as to what actually happened. I do hope Kay doesn’t end up confronting the killer every time though, that could become a little tired.
Body of Evidence
This one was really slow to start – I found myself wanting to skip pages quite early on, and I even stopped reading mid-chapter, which is very unlike me. I like to be neat, even when it comes to reading, and that means I always stop reading at the end of a chapter regardless of whether it’s convenient or not. Sadly, it didn’t really pick up until very late on – it was a very long, confusing mystery that didn’t seem to gel and by the time it did pick up I had hardly realised that I’d nearly finished it.
Too many characters, too many puzzling elements pulling the story in different directions, and once again our hapless heroine is targeted by the killer. Sigh. So, two books in, and we have two killers who end up dead at her feet. I really hope this trend doesn’t continue. She’s the person who looks at the dead bodies, not a patrol cop or the detective! They are more likely to come face to face with the guy, surely?
All That Remains
Well, this was much more like it. I was into the story form the start as the premise and set-up was pretty interesting, and there weren’t too many random characters introduced for fun. This one started much better at least. The middle was quite tedious, with long conversations between Kay and various people. This is really my main annoyance with the series – Kay Scarpetta is a coroner, not a detective. She’s supposed to examine the dead bodies, not go out and interview people. And then there was the ending.
Three books, three dead suspects, three unsatisfying endings. If I do read more then I hope the stories don’t always follow this formula. Jane has the rest of the series (there are 14 more Scarpetta books after these three), and she did say to me that all is not as it seems in these earlier books, and that they tie into later ones in intriguing ways, so that’s got me a little more interested in carrying on. I’ll slowly work through them when I’ve nothing else to read. It just so happens, we did pick up some other books during the month, so I’ll take a break from Scarpetta during May.
