The Bone Bed Author: Patricia Cornwell | Language: English | ISBN:
B0083P1QUM | Format: PDF
The Bone Bed Description
A woman has vanished while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada. Somehow, the only evidence has made its way to the inbox of Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, over two thousand miles away in Boston. She has no idea why.
But as events unfold with alarming speed, Scarpetta begins to suspect that the paleontologist’s disappearance is connected to a series of crimes much closer to home: a gruesome murder, inexplicable tortures, and trace evidence from the last living creatures of the dinosaur age.
When she turns to those around her, Scarpetta finds that the danger and suspicion have penetrated even her closest circles. Her niece Lucy speaks in riddles. Her lead investigator, Pete Marino, and FBI forensic psychologist and husband, Benton Wesley, have secrets of their own. Feeling alone and betrayed, Scarpetta is tempted by someone from her past as she tracks a killer both cunning and cruel.
- File Size: 747 KB
- Print Length: 513 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0751548170
- Publisher: Berkley; Reprint edition (October 16, 2012)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0083P1QUM
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Medical - #5
in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Medical - #35
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Women Sleuths
- #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Medical - #5
in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Medical - #35
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Women Sleuths
What can I say about Scarpetta number twenty? I didn't dislike the book, but in my opinion, Cornwell has yet to produce a follow-up book that is in anyway comparable to the quality of her first six to eight books. This review does contain a few mild spoilers!
Before I air my complaints, I will give credit where credit is due. Bone Bed reintroduces readers to the Kay Scarpetta they met in Virginia. For the first time in I don't know how many books, Scarpetta is back in her diving gear and working the crime scenes like she used too. That is the one thing I really appreciated about this book. Kay is sharp. I had forgotten what an impressive investigator she could be. As she goes through a crime scene, very little escapes her attention. Her intelligence, ambition, and compassion are magnetic. I can't speak for everyone, but that is the character that captured my attention and held my interest in 90s.
With that said, I found her supporting characters highly annoying and redundant. Marino and Benton are still stuck in a downward spiral of regret and resentment. I know that real life issues (you know, your average faked death and attempted rape) don't go away over night, but I think Cornwell has taken it to a level that is entirely unnecessary. I for one, am very tired of hearing the sad song that refuses to end. Benton played dead; Mario got drunk and tried to play hooky. Naturally, these flaws in character will keep the two of them from being best friends and undoubtably leave some skeletons in the closet, but Cornwell has strung it out to the degree that she has allowed it to monopolize the chemistry that made the characters so captivating in the beginning.
Another issue I had with this book is that I felt like I had read it already.
Cornwell's Scarpetta books have always had their flaws, like Kay's enemies never getting their comeuppance, and Kay's addiction to being betrayed and the world champion victim even as she is supposed to be so awesome smart and powerful. Other annoyances are continual buildups to climaxes that never happen, for example Marino threatening to stroke out over every little thing, and Lucy's non-stop drama over nothing (geez Lucy is obnoxious), and characters and subplots that get introduced, are a big deal, and then are dropped and never resolved. But the complex plots, good action, and complex trails of clues were enjoyable and interesting. Then along about "Point of Origin" the Scarpetta series slid off the rails and never made it back. Benton Wesley died, but then miraculously came back in "Blow Fly." But in the interim anything that was halfway interesting about him was lost, and he became a stiff wooden bore.
In "Blow Fly" Cornwell changed from writing in the first-person from Scarpetta's viewpoint to a weird present-tense third person. It's a rambling shapeless stream-of-consciousness, and "Blow Fly" is the last Scarpetta book I read to the end. I've tried every one since, and they all lose me in the first few chapters.
"Bone Bed" is billed as a comeback, a return to the old Scarpetta, Cornwell getting back on track. Nah. Don't think so. It's back to first-person Kay, but it's still rambling stream-of-consciousness. It starts out with Kay working alone in her sleek new office, and she's all agitated and freaked out because it sounds like someone is prowling in the building, and nobody else is supposed to be there. So does she get up and look? No, she just sits and frets. Then Lucy comes in, and Kay freaks out some more.
The Bone Bed Preview
Link
Please Wait...