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Roman Clodia's Reviews > Chaos
Chaos (Kay Scarpetta, #24)
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This is chaotic, indeed, and needs some serious work to turn it into anything near an exciting read. There’s very little plot and lots of rambling so that we don’t have a dead body till 20% through the book, Scarpetta and Marino don’t arrive at the site of the body till 30% and the forensic examination is only at 60% - in between we have massive padding, lots of rehashing of past storylines and just pointless meandering.
I haven’t read a Scarpetta book for years and my heart sank to find that the series is still wallowing in the insane psychopath Carrie Grethen who has been dead then resurrected, imprisoned then escaped, and still out to get Scarpetta and her extended family. The plot is particularly ludicrous here (view spoiler)
A sad decline from a once great crime writer. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.
I haven’t read a Scarpetta book for years and my heart sank to find that the series is still wallowing in the insane psychopath Carrie Grethen who has been dead then resurrected, imprisoned then escaped, and still out to get Scarpetta and her extended family. The plot is particularly ludicrous here (view spoiler)
A sad decline from a once great crime writer. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.
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Reading Progress
October 5, 2016
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Started Reading
October 5, 2016
– Shelved
October 6, 2016
–
20.0%
"What's happened, PC? 20% in and we've only just got to a dead body after much caffaddle about Scarpetta's ripped tights (oh, ok, 'pantyhose'...), precisely what she and Benton eat for dinner, and some confused rigmarole about someone reporting Scarpetta for public disorder... I know I've been away from this series for some time but where's the taut, suspenseful plot and writing I once knew?"
October 7, 2016
–
30.0%
"30% in and Scarpetta and Marino have only just reached the site of the dead body (which they were told about at 20%) and are still waiting for the van to arrive with all their forensic equipment... in the meantime, Marino is revealed to have spoken to someone on the phone who claimed to be from Interpol but was just lying (is there no protocol for checking things like this?) Hope something sensible happens soon..."
October 8, 2016
–
Finished Reading
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Reeda
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rated it 2 stars
Nov 22, 2016 09:00PM
I totally agree with you. I used to love this character, but all she does is ramble on and on. Just all of this inner dialogue with herself and not enough of an actual story. I used to love this character, but sadly, I might just have to give her up.
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I have read all of the Scarpetta books and asked for this one as a Christmas present. I'm on page 143 and still am not sure what is happening. Instead of not being able to put the book down, I'm wondering if I should just start over and try harder to get "into" the book.
Jill wrote: "I have read all of the Scarpetta books and asked for this one as a Christmas present. I'm on page 143 and still am not sure what is happening. Instead of not being able to put the book down, I'm wo..."It won't make a difference, Jill. Unfortunately.
Jill wrote: "I have read all of the Scarpetta books and asked for this one as a Christmas present. I'm on page 143 and still am not sure what is happening. Instead of not being able to put the book down, I'm wo..."Sadly, it's the book, not you.
Awful disappointing book. It just kept droning on and on. Got tired of reading about the heat, her sweating in her beat up shoes. The lucy character and her mechanical gadgets, cars and helicopters is totally far fetched and ridiculous already. I'm ok with Marino and benton characters but lucy is so totally unbelievable. Time to retire or kill off scarpetta. I won't read another.
I think the tension she builds is brilliant. Her rambles are engaging and keep you hooked to get to the body, the evidence etc. I am enjoying it...
I could have written Roman Clodia's review word for word. I was at 50% and so tired of Marino's childish anger, the heat, & back stories. This is how Cornwell has written her last 3-4 books. I was at 71% of the book before they even got to the body. Kid's fishing pole v. drone - REALLY! PLEASE - I beg you to PLEASE kill off Carrie and put an end to this ridiculous unbelievable plot line.
This was one of the most unbearable books I have ever read, truly. It took all I had to push through, though I knew about midway in that the ending would be unsatisfying, as so much time was wasted saying the same thing over and over that there was simply no time left to wrap anything up. Scarpetta used to be an interesting character, and Cornwell used to be a passable writer, but spending 300 pages on a 4 hour period is simply not something this author can pull off. It is not an exaggeration to say she repeated herself a hundred times about random things that should have taken no more than 2 or 3 sentences. We get Scarpetta has routines she must follow. We know Lucy is smart. We get Benton works for the FBI. And we get Marino is a good cop with a bad attitude. So, so much eye-rolling for me. Kay isn't dumb enough to misinterpret important phone calls, but she does it here. She wouldn't overlook or skip over blaring clues, but she does in Chaos. And we're over having Lucy know everything about everything and being used as a method to get you past sticky plot points. "Lucy opens her super technology, the new XK-3000 Cell Phone Manipulator, to determine Benton is wearing a blue tie and Carrie is having a cheeseburger with mustard only at a Diner in Alaska." Oh, and speaking of Carrie, can you please just kill her already? What is even more unsatisfying than a poorly written book is realizing the author isn't going to give you a reason to finish it because there simply isn't enough space left to wrap anything up. I guess it doesn't matter, as I will never pick up another Patricia Cornwell book, so kill her, don't kill her, I don't care anymore.
Same, I hadn't read her in years and saw that a new books was coming out so I picked up Chaos to get back into before the new one and UGH...
I haven't read anything she'swritten in ages and it was incredibly disappointing. Eye rolls to Cornwall for not killing off Carrie Grethen yet. We haven't seen the last of that villain! (More eye rolls.) But a big LOLz to the fishing rod. How completely ridiculous.
