A review by impybelle
Depraved Heart: A Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell
3.0
I'm not really sure how to rate Depraved Heart. As a follow up to Flesh and Blood, it fails spectacularly to resolve the freakin' SNAP cliffhanger. Who does that? Why would you... I... words fail me, honestly.
I spent the first fourth of the book, maybe even the first third, waiting for a resolution to that SNAP, btw, and it never happened.
Okay. That aside, and it really is a big thing that bothered me, Depraved Heart is a weird book. If you primarily enjoy Kay working a crime scene and a body and finding out the story behind the crime, well, you're SOL. Sorry. We spend an awful lot of time in Kay's mind and it's clear that her brush with Carrie and that whole getting shot thing (but not the blasted SNAP) has seriously rattled the woman. She's a little bit paranoid but that's one of the things that actually rings true about this story. When someone is capable of the crimes Carrie is, you have every right to be jumping out of your skin, waiting for them to strike.
Unfortunately, this is a bit tedious to read about when it's coupled with conversations that involve a whole lot of reading between the lines for every character. The later Scarpetta books would be a hell of a lot shorter if people would just say what they mean instead of dancing around everything. It's exhausting to read about and Kay is clearly feeling the strain as well.
But for all the conversations that take forever to go anywhere, I would read chapters at a time quite happily before realizing that my ultimate question was never going to be answered and that most of the book is spent setting up another book. Possibly. Maybe.
If you like your villains apprehended or any real closure offered, Depraved Heart isn't the book for you. Wait for the next book to come out and then maybe read them together. As it is, it's definitely not a stand alone.
I spent the first fourth of the book, maybe even the first third, waiting for a resolution to that SNAP, btw, and it never happened.
Okay. That aside, and it really is a big thing that bothered me, Depraved Heart is a weird book. If you primarily enjoy Kay working a crime scene and a body and finding out the story behind the crime, well, you're SOL. Sorry. We spend an awful lot of time in Kay's mind and it's clear that her brush with Carrie and that whole getting shot thing (but not the blasted SNAP) has seriously rattled the woman. She's a little bit paranoid but that's one of the things that actually rings true about this story. When someone is capable of the crimes Carrie is, you have every right to be jumping out of your skin, waiting for them to strike.
Unfortunately, this is a bit tedious to read about when it's coupled with conversations that involve a whole lot of reading between the lines for every character. The later Scarpetta books would be a hell of a lot shorter if people would just say what they mean instead of dancing around everything. It's exhausting to read about and Kay is clearly feeling the strain as well.
But for all the conversations that take forever to go anywhere, I would read chapters at a time quite happily before realizing that my ultimate question was never going to be answered and that most of the book is spent setting up another book. Possibly. Maybe.
If you like your villains apprehended or any real closure offered, Depraved Heart isn't the book for you. Wait for the next book to come out and then maybe read them together. As it is, it's definitely not a stand alone.