As the first month of the year is already at an end and time seems to be flying past I decided to sink my teeth into a new book immediately after finishing my little local history project. I went back to one of my old favourites: Patricia Cornwell.
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Patricia Cornwell - The Scarpetta Factor
I am sorry to say that this one was a bit of a disappointment for me.
I did not find the story that interesting or tense and the outcome was sort of flat and slightly predictable. Of course they were all going to end up in the same place, of course weird stuff happened and Scarpetta was going to be targeted by some psycho and of course they would all survive and live to fight another day.... well not the bad guys... only the good guys.
First of, the good thing about the book: all the characters are familiar and they act exactly in the way you would expect them to. Scarpetta is the hardworking Medical Examiner doing work that she should not even be doing, not quite at ease with herself or her environment. Something is simmering in her moods and you are not quite sure when it is going to bubble over and how that is going to impact those around her (this theme has been going on for a few books now). Then we have Benton Wesley - grey, steely eyed profiler, apparently still looking very good for his age. He is dealing with some weird and wonderful patiens and cannot really talk about them even when those around seem to be under threat. Marino is still in "look how I have cleaned up my act"-mode, good for him! Lucy is angry, capable when needed, uncommunicative at times, highly intelligent, loaded and in a relationship that is complicated and looks like imploding about two thirds of the way through the book.
The basic story is about a woman who has died and Scarpetta is trying to find out how and why. Things do not seem to add up (why would they?!) and before you know it the world and his dog seem to be involved with her death and the whole thing gets very complicated. In the end all of it is a ruse to hide the fact that some guy from 6 books ago is actually out to destroy the Doc and Benton... what, no..., really,.... again.
A lot of the books seems to be more about the past than the present. Benton does a lot of thinking about the past, about how he had to play dead for years, how that affected him working for the FBI and his relationship with Scarpetta. Also what Marino did to Scarpetta a couple of books ago still bothers him and he has some issues with Marino he cannot seem to get past. Then there is Scarpetta who is also thinking about the past but then just about how the two main men in her life now interact after what happened. Marino seems to be thinking a lot about how his relationships used to be in the past and how they were better.... well until he attacked the Doc. The good thing about Marino is that he has cleaned up his act and seems to be doing okay. He is sober, off the crazy pills and learning new tricks. Lucy is connected to the case at hand in some way because of what happened to her in the not too distant past. Oh, and she lost a couple of bucks on the way because of some bad investments. Lucy also seems to spend quite some time over-analysing her relationship with Jaime.
This whole looking back at the past is a very human trait but actually not that interesting to be reading. I read all the other books. I know what you all were like then, I know what happened to you all, how you tried to deal with it and are probably still influenced by it because you told me in the past few books how much time it was going to take to process... well yeah, it's all in this one! Some things are worked out in this one and others will probably take another book or two to be resolved.
The way Cornwell tries to make the story more interesting is to bring back an old enemy of Benton's - a member of the family that drove him underground and temporarily ruined his life. However, I had completely forgotten the guy still existed or how much of a bad seed he had been. Apparently very bad as he has managed to change his looks, his life and identity to infiltrate a well to do family. Then he gathers some weirdos around him and begins executing his plans for revenge. Unfortunately weirdos are just not as reliable as policemen or scientists so the scheme falls apart. What amazed me is that even though Benton keeps saying that the guy (Chandonne) can really only hold himself together for so long before he will go off the rails, he seems to have managed to keep it together long enough to set up a most elaborate ruse to create a chance for himself to get at Benton and Scarpetta.
As I said earlier the bad guys almost get hold of Scarpetta in the last 10 pages of the book but Benton ends up saving the day and they all live to eat another bowl of pasta. The whole thing of them going through evidence in one place and making it clear that Scarpetta is in danger is getting a bit old and not really that surprising any more. I kind of new that someone (either Lucy, Marino or Benton) was going to turn up at some point just after she got grabbed and that she was going to be okay. Red herrings abound as well - characters that seem to be out to get Scarpetta and or Benton, some weird fouls smelling bomb and a disappearing heiress, Benton's patient and his old enemy from the Bureau Warner Agee. Now, about mr Agee. I have to say I have no idea what purpose his character serves if only to fill a few pages and serve as a mini red herring. There's is no way that he would be able to organise anything let alone an intricate plot to kill a woman and exact revenge. He is written too "small" to be any one's enemy except his own.
The pace of the book is good and it is an easy read but this one has left me wondering where it is all going to go from here. I have known these characters for years now and have been following their adventures and lives. They have become very familiar to me and comfortable. Yet at the same time they seem to be a bit stuck in the past and living there more than dealing with the interesting cases that could live in the present. There is a new Scarpetta one out and I will probably read it too. In a way it's a bit like the Harry Potter thing - you've read all the books so now you kind of have to go and see all the films to see what they have done to your characters even if you are some times disappointed with the story of at how your fictional friends are developing.
Title: The Scarpetta Factor
Author: Patricia Cornwell
533 pages
Sphere
ISBN nr 978-0-7515-3876-2
Books bought: 0
Books to be read: 69
For my next book I have just started on a Raymond Chandler one. Philip Marlowe is sooooo cool.
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