Issue #6

Blog #3-2015

Section: Book Reviews

Blogger: Joseph Clay

The first thing I noticed was the cover, trying to figure out if it gave me a clue about what was inside.

The middle of the cover was dark, with strands of red matter streaming up from a black abyss, I took as blood in water. The words were different shades of pink, representing at one time they were white but had become blood stained.

In the very middle in small type were the words Scarpetta Novel .

After a quick internet search I knew I was about to read the twenty-second installment in the Scarpetta series, who knew. I was hoping that Flesh and Blood wasn’t the tail end of a story I knew nothing about, it wasn’t.

Flesh and Blood, can be read by its self, the story starts fresh, at no time did I feel the need to check out the earlier books to find out what was going on. I do admit that the history between the main characters is a little sketchy. I’m assuming some of them have been together for several books if not the entire series. Once again it didn’t take away from this story, just makes you wonder, if maybe they saw this coming sometime ago.

The story line was solid, lots of suspense, unfolding throughout the plot, with interesting sub-plots. The players in Flesh and Blood all had a unique personality, some I liked, some I hated, while others I was hoping would get killed. That’s not a bad thing, if you want somebody dead in a book, the writer has done a heck of job with that character.

The dialog between each another was spectacular, the back and forth banter gave you the feeling these were real people, with issues of their own. These troubles sometimes spewed over, causing conflict between friends, while trying to band together to solve a baffling series of killings.

I also think Socks, a Greyhound, the family dog was a nice addition to the story, having a family pet makes the characters and story relatable. May favorite character besides Socks, would be Lucy, something about that girls attitude hits home with me.

One of the issues I had with the book is a small one.  I had to adjust to the ‘M’ and slow down when I ran across it due ti two characters whose named began with a “M” and were close in spelling. Marino, who I take has been around a while, since at one time he was Kay’s Chief Forensic officer, and his friend Machado, who talked Marino into going back in to policing, I’m figuring in an earlier book.

At times it was confusing who was who, I would have to re-track to get it straight. Thank God toward the end, one dropped out of the book.

The other issue, not really that big either, after all this is fiction, but she is so detailed in her writing and the terminology she uses, is right on. I may also be wrong in what I think happened, didn’t happen that way at all.

The first crime scene they visit, Kay and Marino, the body is face up, two entrance wounds, one to the eye, one to the base of the skull. I’m not going to say where they think the shooter was located, don’t want to give it away, but if it’s where they suspect the shot came from, the body wouldn’t be in the position she found it in, not in less it had been moved. One again I could be wrong.

The book flowed well with a couple of lulls, one needs time to breath. The characters, Lucy in particular, I want to learn more about, I will be searching for book one, Postmortem, and get to know everyone better and caught up, hopefully before the next book is released. I’ve read some reviews that hated the way the book ended, I’m not one of those, as I thought it was perfect. Thank you once again Patricia Cornwell for a great story of suspense and mystery.

[Bloggers note: The book review of Flesh ans Blood was originally published on 2-13-15 on Joseph Clay – Author Official Blog. The review was moved to this site 5-18-18.]

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