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Patricia Cornwell Message Board


Eve Steele posts on 12/13/2006 12:16:17 PM Ah, yes - Abby Turnbull. I really enjoyed that character. She was well drawn and exploring her depth of character and history could have been very interesting. Wonder why Cornwell threw that opportunity away? It was rather early in her Scarpetta saga, though. Perhaps she wasn't willing to write for TWO protagonists. I wish she had kept her alive and diminished the mostly distasteful character of Lucy.
Joe posts on 12/12/2006 6:11:58 PM I just finished reading the series backwards. I started with PREDATOR, which really grabbed me, so then I tried TRACE and then kept up that way all the way down to the first one, POSTMORTEM. Reading them in reverse order gave me an interesting perspective. To me, the early ones are the best (And I say that as someone who really liked PREDATOR when I first read it and had nothing to compare it too.) The early ones have a more gripping realism to them (for me), and the later ones seem to have moved off into other more fantastic areas (much of it with Lucy, as well as the romance with Wesley and some of the odd stuff that happened to Marino, especially with women, like with that sadist woman and her sadist game she got him to play in the dark at her house, from which Kay had to mend him up after -- strange). All that fantastic and peripheral activity seems to dissipate the realism energy that was at the core of the early novels. I especially think Abby Turnbull (the reporter) was an excellent character in POSTMORTEM and in ALL THAT REMAINS. If Patricia Cornwell can bring back Benton Wesley, maybe she can bring back Abby Turnbull, or at least someone like her. Abby Turnbull gave the stores a strong realism focus and kept them centered on the truly riviting stuff.
PattyOi posts on 12/12/2006 12:25:09 PM I just finished Predator. I started reading the Scarpetta series in the middle, then started from the beginning. Much better to read them in order. I was disappointed in the last couple of books, especially Predator. Very hard to follow and the remaining characters have all become disjointed. Kay has lost her warmth, trust and seems to disagree with everyone. The previous books I loved the interaction of the 4 main characters, now they all seem to be outlaws. I too, feel that there are a lot of characters in the past books who peaked our interest and they dropped off the face of the earth without an explaination. When I finished Predator I thought I would never read another PC book, but I know I will change my mind.



Eve Steele posts on 12/11/2006 1:27:33 PM Wow, Joe - you really know your Scarpetta books. I re-read the series about once/year and each time find things I don't remember. You brought up some valid points about Lucy's sometimes tenuous grip on sanity. I think most of her problems stem from not forming a solid emotional attachment to her mother in the first years of her life. Do you think she torured small animals as a child? She's a cold fish, that's for sure. But so is her Auntie Kay, if you ask me.
Joe posts on 12/10/2006 5:06:33 PM The main reason I wouldn't be surprised if Lucy became a serial killer herself is what she did about a third of the way through BLOWFLY. Lucy and Rudy tied up and verbally tortured Rocco, Marino's son. They verbally tortured him to the point he lost control of his bladder. Then they killed him in cold blood and made it look like a suicide. Lucy was the boss of the operation and was the one getting emotionally involved in the killing, while Rudy was just working for her. The line between what they did to Rocco and what the serial killers in these books do to their victims is a small, gray one. Plus Lucy has been booted out of both the FBI and ATF for her emotional behavior around some questionable shooting situations. And there's a few other things like her emotional and sometimes compulsive, even manic, engagement with shooting guns, whether at targets (like when she did it from a speeding motercycle in a manic-like episode) or at people (such as at Carrie). This behavior starts with her compulsively pulling the trigger of an unloaded gun as a ten year old in POSTMORTEM and has been growing steadily since. So if she turns into a serial killer herself it won't be unexpected to me.
Eve Steele posts on 12/7/2006 2:02:29 PM Joe, I agree Lucy is a narcissist. Eating disordered? Yes. Addictive personality? Yes. But possible serial killer? No.
Mugs posts on 12/7/2006 11:44:14 AM I have just read the entire Scarpetta series from beginning to end. I love the books, but sometimes get frustrated with the continuation or discontinuation of characters. Why are Kay and Benton still fighting? Why doesn't Marino get over it and get on with his life and accept his working relationship with Kay for what it is - a friendship which should have trust built on history? Why is Lucy still so self destructive? And what did happen to Rudy? He seemed to be a somewaht stable influence on Lucy. Even a mention of him in Predator would have been appreciated. Ah well, now I have to wait for teh next book to see if any of these questions get answered.
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