Stephen White - Alan Gregory discussion

I'm going to start the newest Scarpetta book soon - The Scarpetta Factor. Are there any Patricia Cornwell fans out there? Anybody else reading this book or another by Cornwell?

Would love to discuss The Scarpetta Factor or hear what you think of Patricia Cornwell's other books. There is a Patricia Cornwell Fans Group with about 30 members but not a lot of activity there - so thought I'd post here and see if anyone bites :-)

I read her earlier books. I kind of got sick of her. I think I have about three left.

Also, I tried another series she was writing. I got to about page 25. I couldn't stand it.

At least her Scarpetta character was kind of interesting.

I don't know if it helped or hurt but about that time I also found out how right-wing she was. I'm generally better off not knowing my authors' politics.

Dustin,
I have The Scarpetta Factor to start. I just started the Lost Symbol and then I'll get to it. I'm sorry you didn't like Saul's book as well as I did. I used to love reading King, Koonce and Saul and get my fill of horror books. Then they all started deviating from the horror thriller theme so I was excited Saul went back to his beginnings. Have you read his earlier books? Kay

Jan - :-) Don't read Cornwell's other series especially that Andy Basil one! Skip Trace, Predator and Book of the Dead - in my opinion those were pretty lousy - Scarpetta keeps moving after the mess in Virginia and things are rather chaotic until last year's "Scarpetta" where she is now working at the New York Medical Examiner's office. I thought her last good book was "Blow Fly" (until Scarpetta last year) but in "Blowfly" Cornwell's writing style changed as did the Scarpetta characters.

Other readers say that in Scarpetta Factor, the old Cornwell is back! Several things from her older books in the Scarpetta series are supposed to come up in The Scarpetta Factor with lots of twists - the reviews have been very good so I'm excited for this book!

Kay wrote: "Dustin,
I have The Scarpetta Factor to start. I just started the Lost Symbol and then I'll get to it. I'm sorry you didn't like Saul's book as well as I did. I used to love reading King, Koonce ..."

Kay, since you're such a fast reader - I'm sure I'll see you soon! I didn't like The Lost Symbol much either. It seemed very repetitive - I was thinking "Okay Dan Brown, I got the idea the first time." Also the book was very predictable - by page 200 I had figured out the background on that Mal'akh character. I have read all of Dan Brown's other books and the Lost Symbol may be my least favorite - perhaps it's such because it's set on "home turf" in the United States and not quite as mysterious. I gave the Lost Symbol 3 stars. Giving 3 stars is pretty low for me - I give lots of 4 and 5 stars :-)

I have read some of of Saul's older titles but drifting into 70's books is weird for me because I was born in 1980 :-) I got into Saul in high school when The Blackstone Chronicles came out. John Saul's masterpiece in my opinion is The Manhattan Hunt Club. I also enjoyed The Homing. I've read Nathaniel, The God Project and a few other early ones. What is that book where the childrens brains are placed in a tank and hooked to a computer? I loved that one - I'll never get the images out of my head - but can't remember the title.

The one thing that bugs me about Saul are his endings which are usually really "off the wall". I thought House of Reckoning actually had a nice ending. I just felt he took a lot of King's ideas from "Carrie" and "Duma Key" for House of Reckoning.

My favorite author is Dean Koontz :-) Join the Dean Koontz group if you're interested - we have a great group there with about 125 members. Koontz's new book comes out on November 24th!

We owe respect to the living.
To the dead we owe only truth.
-Voltaire, 1785

"Economy-related. Everything was." - page one, The Scarpetta Factor

Dustin

For Cornwell - I think I am reading Black Notice from 1999.

She left Virginia? You see how far behind I am.

Hope I didn't spoil anything too much for you! Those Virginia books were the good ol' days - She leaves Richmond after The Last Precinct. The Last Precinct is the book following Black Notice. Are you reading Black Notice right now? That was a good one!

Yes but I haven't been reading it lately, though.

Too many books, too little time.

Well, I can relate to that (both those sentences that you wrote :-)

Feel free to share your thoughts on Black Notice here when you are back reading the book. I actually own most of the Scarpetta series - so I could look things up that might be mentioned pretty easily :-)

Patricia Cornwell is being discussed more in this one thread in this little group than on the Patricia Cornwell Fans Group - I love it!

Jan wrote: "I don't know if it helped or hurt but about that time I also found out how right-wing she was. I'm generally better off not knowing my authors' politics."

I really wouldn't think of Patricia Cornwell as "right-wing" in any sense. Perhaps you know some info I don't but as I far as I know, she's about as far "Left" as you can get :-) I come to this conclusion because 1) she strongly supported Hillary Rodham Clinton for President in 2008 and 2) Cornwell is gay/lesbian. Think of a person who is a mix of Kay Scarpetta and her niece Lucy - that'll give you a pretty good idea of Patricia Cornwell herself :-) Just my observations.

My knowledge of Ms. Cornwell's politics came from pre-2008. Maybe she had an abrupt change of heart.

Maybe it had to do with Virginia vs. New York.

She's always seemed really liberal to me, but I don't really know much :-)

I've read the Scarpetta series through Trace but I have to say I have gotten bored with the characters and they are all starting to sound a little whiney, especially Kay's niece, Lucy. Maybe its time for Kay Scarpetta to truly retire.

Wait! Don't give up on Scarpetta yet :-) Like I said in an earlier post, Trace, Predator and Book of the Dead weren't very good. Just know that Scarpetta and Benton finally got married between Book of the Dead and Scarpetta. Start again with Scarpetta (2008) and The Scarpetta Factor (2009) because the Old Cornwell is back!

That is good to hear. I'll keep going then. Even though I was tired of the series, Kay, Benton, Marino, and Lucy are like old friends.

I have enjoyed the Scarpetta novels as well. I'm a little relieved to hear you say I can skip Book of the Dead. I try to read these series in order, especially Scarpetta because she builds on the past (sort of) but I was turned off by the gruesome first chapter and decided I have to wait until I was in a different mood to read that one. I think I may just skip ahead like you suggest, Dustin. I didn't like her other series I tried reading but I can't even remember the name of it now. I also read Jonathan Kellerman's Delaware series and have liked most of those too.

Dustin wrote: "Wait! Don't give up on Scarpetta yet :-) Like I said in an earlier post, Trace, Predator and Book of the Dead weren't very good. Just know that Scarpetta and Benton finally got married between Book..."

I'm in the middle of "The Scarpetta Factor" and it does seem like Cornwell has picked up on her former, more interesting, style. Although I'm finding Lucy very tiresome - perhaps we can suggest a referral for therapy with Alan Gregory for Lucy?

Kim wrote: "I have enjoyed the Scarpetta novels as well. I'm a little relieved to hear you say I can skip Book of the Dead. I try to read these series in order, especially Scarpetta because she builds on the p..."

My wife is also a big Patricia Cornwell fan , but like you she couldn't get past the opening of Book of the Dead and I haven't been able to convince her to give Cornwell another try :-( I thought Cornwell was really making the characters mean and I'm glad she seems to be turning from that trend. If you're really into Kellerman, you're welcome to start a discussion thread on him - but no pressure :-)

* SPOILER ALERT for BOOK OF THE DEAD BELOW *

If you're not going to read Book of the Dead, you should know two things:

1)While Drunk and Angry, Pete Marino sexually assualts Scarpetta

2)At the end of Book of the Dead, Benton Wesley and Kay Scarpetta finally decide to get married - the marriage takes place between Book of the Dead and Scarpetta

*END of SPOILER ALERT for BOOK OF THE DEAD*

Annie wrote: "perhaps we can suggest a referral for therapy with Alan Gregory for Lucy?"

Now that would be interesting :-)

:-( sorry to hear you're not liking Scarpetta Factor and Lucy is getting on your nerves. Lucy is the favorite character for many fans. I haven't even gotten past the first 100 pages yet so - I haven't seen all that much of Lucy myself.

Kim wrote: "I didn't like her other series I tried reading but I can't even remember the name of it now"

I couldn't stand the Andy Basil series - it was so silly!
I have read her other new series though, with Win whats his face - including At Risk and The Front - I thought it was ok - about the same quality as Trace, Predator and Book of the Dead. At Risk wasn't that memorable - it had a good twist in it but I enjoyed The Front more. I'd read more of that series and they are coming out with a Lifetime movie based on Cornwell's characters in those books - it'll air next spring on Lifetime.

"No one wanted anything to do with this bombastic woman who was shrieking and wailing in Betty's Bookstore Cafe that she was the aunt of movie star Hap Judd, that she was on his 'free list' and therefore it wasn't stealing to stuff four of his action movie DVDs into the front of her pants. Even Betty herself was happy to drop the charges as long as Dodie never stepped foot in her store again or in Detroit or the state of Michigan."
-from Chapter 3, The Scarpetta Factor

Dustin wrote: "Jan wrote: "I don't know if it helped or hurt but about that time I also found out how right-wing she was. I'm generally better off not knowing my authors' politics."

I really wouldn't think of Pa..."

Wow! I had no idea of Cornwell's personal life so your comments had me curious enough to look her up on the web. She certainly has had an interesting life. What I read says she is more of a Republican but has donated to the Democrats also. She is [was:] a friend of the first George Bush and supported his son for President. But apparently she didn't approve of his policies.
I have read several hundred pages of The Scarpetta Factor now and am enjoying it so much more than Scarpetta.
The book I really disliked she wrote was Isle of Dogs. That was the worst book I've ever tried to read [never did finish it:]

Thumbs up, Annie! I, too, sometimes find Lucy tiring. Something else I keep thinking about re Scarpetta - I'm having some difficulty understanding how the character we've known in the past - private, critical of the limelight - can now be an "expert" on a world-wide news channel?

While Drunk and Angry, Pete Marino sexually assualts Scarpetta."

I think that's been a long time coming.

And I'm still on Black Notice.

But my recollection is he is just around too much to be at all healthy.

I'm back to reading The Scarpetta Factor. It's actually a very good book to read this time of the year as the story seems to be set between Thanksgiving and New Years.

I am noticing a lot of references to the earlier Scarpetta books - perhaps a bit too much for readers that have already read the entire series and actually want new material :-)

I finally got to the part with Lucy - she was being quite irrational and Kay had a breakdown there for a while too.

I finally finished The Scarpetta Factor around mid - December. Sorry, I didn't get back to give my thoughts sooner. I was busy getting the house ready for company before Christmas and I'm sure you weren't sitting around waiting to hear what I thought anyway ;-)

I enjoyed Scarpetta (2008) better. The Scarpetta Factor had many references to older titles in the series - I would have liked more new material. It seemed like Cornwell basically used The Scarpetta Factor to promote her more popular Scarpetta books. There is even a page devoted to this in the back, which states:

If you enjoyed The Scarpetta Factor, other recommended Scarpetta stories that relate to the one you just read include:
The Body Farm
Point of Origin
Black Notice
The Last Precinct
Blow Fly
Book of the Dead
Scarpetta

I mean, why didn't the publisher just list them all - well, because Trace and Predator were especially lousy that's why. I gave The Scarpetta Factor 3 stars, I've been giving a lot of 3 stars lately.

I do enjoy Cornwell's commentary on current events in her novels such as the economy, Obama and Madoff but that's about all The Scarpetta Factor has going for it.

*Spoiler Alert - Below - A bit about the ending*
Another character gets their brain matter splattered on Kay as Benton saves her from an attacker. Nothing really new.
*End of Spoiler Alert*

Kay Scarpetta barely gets her cooking scene in before the book ends. I honestly am thinking Cornwell needs to retire Scarpetta - I'm no longer enjoying this series. With the exception of of last year's "Scarpetta", Blow Fly was the last good book.

So there you have it... feel free to agree or disagree :-)

Has she had the same publisher throughout?

Many times the ones they don't list are ones where they are published by someone else.

As far as I know, she has always been with Putnam.