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calliejaneg's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
milindbapat's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
theresa_mysteries_and_mayhem's review against another edition
3.0
I took a quick glance at previous reviews for this book on Goodreads and found an abundance of deep hate for Point of Origin (book nine of the Kay Scarpetta series). I was actually surprised. I didn't love this book, and I'll elaborate on that in a minute, but I certainly didn't hate it!
You know how some long book series can be read out of order? The Kay Scarpetta series is like that - with a few exceptions. This book is one of those exceptions. Much of what happens between the pages of Point of Origin relies heavily on characters and events in the past eight books. If you don't read the previous books, you won't be confused. But you certainly won't feel invested in this story in the slightest, which is where I think at least some of the hateful reviews are coming from. Meanwhile ... my personal thoughts on the book are below.
I feel like I learn something new in every Kay Scarpetta book I read. This time I learned a lot about how fires work. I always find the little tidbits fascinating. I love to learn. Patricia Cornwell is very good at filling her books with little bits of academia without talking over my head or making me feel like an idiot. That's a skill that many business writers could learn, actually! Kay always finds interesting little artefacts in her autopsies that seem to come back to be really important later in the story. She found one in Point of Origin and I knew exactly what it was and why it was there. I kept yelling at her that she should know this, meanwhile hoping I was wrong because wouldn't it be an amazing twist to be wrong about something I felt so sure about? But no. I was right. I think Cornwell might have played down Kay's intelligence a bit too much in this regard. I was a bit disappointed. Also, in the beginning chapters of the book one key question was how did the fire burn so hot so fast with no catalyst. I'm not sure that question was ever answered, unless I missed it somewhere.
Another disappointment came at the end. While Cornwell is very good at building the suspense, throwing in the red herrings, detailing the evidence; she doesn't seem so good at the big action scenes that conclude the story. This is the second book in the series where I'm prepared for a big showdown at the end (equivalent to a "boss battle" in a video game) and I'm left feeling like the action scenes were glossed over. I hope this is improved upon later in the series!
And then there's the things I can't get into because they involve key points in the overarching series. Let's just say there were some emotional scenes that nearly broke my heart. I still believe Pete Marino is my favorite character of the series. And even though she tries to come across as cold and clinical, I still wanted to give Kay a great big hug.
In conclusion, I give Point of Origin 3 out of 5 burning stars. There were a few disappointments that were too big to warrant more stars. But I still have a deep attachment to the characters and want to continue the series in the hopes that future books will be back up to 4 or 5 stars. They all can't be perfect when there are so many to be read, after all!
You know how some long book series can be read out of order? The Kay Scarpetta series is like that - with a few exceptions. This book is one of those exceptions. Much of what happens between the pages of Point of Origin relies heavily on characters and events in the past eight books. If you don't read the previous books, you won't be confused. But you certainly won't feel invested in this story in the slightest, which is where I think at least some of the hateful reviews are coming from. Meanwhile ... my personal thoughts on the book are below.
I feel like I learn something new in every Kay Scarpetta book I read. This time I learned a lot about how fires work. I always find the little tidbits fascinating. I love to learn. Patricia Cornwell is very good at filling her books with little bits of academia without talking over my head or making me feel like an idiot. That's a skill that many business writers could learn, actually! Kay always finds interesting little artefacts in her autopsies that seem to come back to be really important later in the story. She found one in Point of Origin and I knew exactly what it was and why it was there. I kept yelling at her that she should know this, meanwhile hoping I was wrong because wouldn't it be an amazing twist to be wrong about something I felt so sure about? But no. I was right. I think Cornwell might have played down Kay's intelligence a bit too much in this regard. I was a bit disappointed. Also, in the beginning chapters of the book one key question was how did the fire burn so hot so fast with no catalyst. I'm not sure that question was ever answered, unless I missed it somewhere.
Another disappointment came at the end. While Cornwell is very good at building the suspense, throwing in the red herrings, detailing the evidence; she doesn't seem so good at the big action scenes that conclude the story. This is the second book in the series where I'm prepared for a big showdown at the end (equivalent to a "boss battle" in a video game) and I'm left feeling like the action scenes were glossed over. I hope this is improved upon later in the series!
And then there's the things I can't get into because they involve key points in the overarching series. Let's just say there were some emotional scenes that nearly broke my heart. I still believe Pete Marino is my favorite character of the series. And even though she tries to come across as cold and clinical, I still wanted to give Kay a great big hug.
In conclusion, I give Point of Origin 3 out of 5 burning stars. There were a few disappointments that were too big to warrant more stars. But I still have a deep attachment to the characters and want to continue the series in the hopes that future books will be back up to 4 or 5 stars. They all can't be perfect when there are so many to be read, after all!
jimbowen0306's review against another edition
2.0
Having commended Patricia Cornwell for bringing some humanity to Kay Scarpetta in book 7 of the series, and just about keeping there in book 8, I'd like to take the commendation back, given what happened here. Not only is Dr Scarpetta back on the anti-social buffoon kick, this book is just plain stupid.
Let's start Scrapetta's personality change. I don't know what happened. It actually felt like Scarpetta was working on being likeable a couple of books ago. Now, she's back to being unpleasant again. I have no idea why. Maybe Cornwell found it too hard to write. Or maybe books 7 and 8 didn’t sell was well. Whatever the reason, however, she back to being not very nice.
Okay, so let's turn to plot now. Two books ago, we learn that Kay is a homewrecker. She's just had an affair Benton Wesley, whose wife has decided to leave him. He says his wife doesn't know about them, but then he's from money, so he probably would say that. Anyhow, they've gone from secretive "hot and horney" to "staid and boring" in less that 2 books (so presumeably less than 2 year). That's never a good sign in a relationship.
Secondly, plotwise, Lucy Farinelli (Scrapetta's neice) was a bit of an FBI "girl wonder", writing phenomenal computer programmes, while gearing up to be a wall scaling wunderkind. She too has changed. She's been bounced out of the FBI completely, and been moved to the ATF in Philadelphia. She's changed too. The experience has hardened her, while at the same time makes the reader think "Wait what now?" Doubly so because of the hardening of Lucy's personality.
Thirdly, when it comes to the relationship between Farinelli and Scarpetta, there's this creepy scene between where Scarpetta realises that Farinelli has "filled out, and grown up." This can be fine, but it actually felt wrong here.
Then it comes to the actual story. It actually felt like a hold over story. Someone gets killed in an arson. As the Scarpetta gang investigates, we find out more of their backstory, and discover how the back story relates to what happens in this book. This would be fine, but for the fact that it felt a like Conwell thought "Oh that story I wrote a while ago. I'm going to write a sequel to it. If you've not read that book, it'll feel a bit bad though."
To make matters worse, the ending wasn't all that credible either. There was no reason for the baddies do what they did, except that I suspect that the read would have thought "Oh for God's sake." if it hadn't have happened.
The worst part of the story, however, is what happened to Benton. Cornwell has a history of doing things to her characters, so this should come as no surprise to her readers. The big difference here was that I couldn't see a reason for it. With her other characters, there was some logic, but here, not so much. Oh, and another thing. She (Cornwell) bottled it. Maybe she got blowback from readers, but she finds ways to address what happens in later books.
So, all in all, not good. I didn't enjoy it if you haven't guessed.
Let's start Scrapetta's personality change. I don't know what happened. It actually felt like Scarpetta was working on being likeable a couple of books ago. Now, she's back to being unpleasant again. I have no idea why. Maybe Cornwell found it too hard to write. Or maybe books 7 and 8 didn’t sell was well. Whatever the reason, however, she back to being not very nice.
Okay, so let's turn to plot now. Two books ago, we learn that Kay is a homewrecker. She's just had an affair Benton Wesley, whose wife has decided to leave him. He says his wife doesn't know about them, but then he's from money, so he probably would say that. Anyhow, they've gone from secretive "hot and horney" to "staid and boring" in less that 2 books (so presumeably less than 2 year). That's never a good sign in a relationship.
Secondly, plotwise, Lucy Farinelli (Scrapetta's neice) was a bit of an FBI "girl wonder", writing phenomenal computer programmes, while gearing up to be a wall scaling wunderkind. She too has changed. She's been bounced out of the FBI completely, and been moved to the ATF in Philadelphia. She's changed too. The experience has hardened her, while at the same time makes the reader think "Wait what now?" Doubly so because of the hardening of Lucy's personality.
Thirdly, when it comes to the relationship between Farinelli and Scarpetta, there's this creepy scene between where Scarpetta realises that Farinelli has "filled out, and grown up." This can be fine, but it actually felt wrong here.
Then it comes to the actual story. It actually felt like a hold over story. Someone gets killed in an arson. As the Scarpetta gang investigates, we find out more of their backstory, and discover how the back story relates to what happens in this book. This would be fine, but for the fact that it felt a like Conwell thought "Oh that story I wrote a while ago. I'm going to write a sequel to it. If you've not read that book, it'll feel a bit bad though."
To make matters worse, the ending wasn't all that credible either. There was no reason for the baddies do what they did, except that I suspect that the read would have thought "Oh for God's sake." if it hadn't have happened.
The worst part of the story, however, is what happened to Benton. Cornwell has a history of doing things to her characters, so this should come as no surprise to her readers. The big difference here was that I couldn't see a reason for it. With her other characters, there was some logic, but here, not so much. Oh, and another thing. She (Cornwell) bottled it. Maybe she got blowback from readers, but she finds ways to address what happens in later books.
So, all in all, not good. I didn't enjoy it if you haven't guessed.
tasha_reads's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like this was a rush through book in her series. Also, If you don’t read some of the first 8 books you’re going to be confused. Don’t be picking this for your first Kay Scarpetta read.
I love the main characters in the book but I feel like some of the book was a disappointment. Cornwell is very descriptive in most of her books but I found myself having to re-read some of it, simply because I couldn’t visualize what was being said.
I still want to know where Kay, Lucy and Marino are headed in this series.
FYI Lucy is becoming a Billy badass and I can’t wait to see where she ends up at.
I love the main characters in the book but I feel like some of the book was a disappointment. Cornwell is very descriptive in most of her books but I found myself having to re-read some of it, simply because I couldn’t visualize what was being said.
I still want to know where Kay, Lucy and Marino are headed in this series.
FYI Lucy is becoming a Billy badass and I can’t wait to see where she ends up at.
gabmc's review against another edition
2.0
I think I need to have a break from Patricia Cornwell. This book was ok, but I'm kind of getting sick of the same psychopath/sociopath serial killer. And I'm not convinced that Carrie Gault didn't actually die at the end of the book. Benton dies but even his death doesn't seem that real to me. Only ok.
mjreutman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25