I can’t read another Patricia Cornwell book! I used to like her work, I had to skim most of this book. They are all the same, same formula. The characters don’t evolve, all the boring dialogue, the completely ridiculous and beyond belief storyline. Just can’t and won’t waste more time or money, so many better authors out there. Goodbye Scarpetta.

While I gave the book a 4, I am a little disappointed that the books have gone away from more of the forensic puzzle solving to more of a family drama. I still like the writing and the pace of the books, but would like more of the "case" rather than the personal conflicts.

Finished but frustrated

It’s not that it’s not well-written, or not suspenseful, but I am sick of all these characters. Enough with psychopath Carrie Grethen.

Great book!!! This author never disappoints! If you are a fan, you will love being back with old friends again. If you have never read the books, you might want to start at the beginning of the series and read. You can figure out how everyone is related without doing that, but understanding the history and the relationships of the people will give you a much richer experience.

I need Carrie Grethen to die or go away or anything so that Kay Scarpetta can go back to doing her job of solving murders. (And, yes, I realize that isn't her real job. But it is her role in the series.) I need the paranoia to stop. I realize murder mysteries are not warm and fuzzy books but this series has gotten way off track. It is now more the Carrie Grethen series rather than the Kay Scarpetta series.

3.5 stars

3.5 stars. Book was dragged out with a lot of the same scenes. Least favorite of Cornwell's books. Book ended abrupt too. What happened with Lucy? Carrie?

Lovely way to start a new year of reading! Same old Scarpetta, with the whole story spiraling out of control. It has the feel of the eighth season of a favorite TV show where you're having a hard time understanding how the main character has married an Italian Mafiosi but is actually pregnant with the baby of the cleaner.

I can't honestly recommend them, but I can't walk away from them either. Looking forward to seeing where Scarpetta goes next.

4 Stars

Depraved Heart (Scarpetta, #23) by Patricia Cornwell

Review to come.

Whhhhy?! Why do I keep coming back to these books? Everyone is on the precipice of danger/death/ruination, nobody trusts anyone anymore, add formulated killer and a twist (in this case one that is decades old and exceptionally convoluted) and bam. You've got the formula for writing a Kay Scarpetta book. 10,000 monkeys in a room with laptops could bang out better criminal twists than this book. I swear - even the meals and dialogue is repeating book-to-book. And 400+ pages, most of it taken place off-site of the ONLY murder Kay shows up to investigate?! Really? I loved these novels when they first came out and they were about the crime and the twist and there was anticipation and excitement, and you could tell that Cornwell was passionate about the narrative as much as she was creating it for us to read. Now, it's like Cornwell is just too bored to be bothered. But like a dope, I keep coming back hoping that this will be the occasional book she hits out of the park. I'd be luckier winning the lottery these days. This gets 2.5 stars only because I'm giving them to ME, for reading the whole damn thing.