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A review by jimbowen0306
Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell
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.