elsa70's Full Review: Patricia Daniels Cornwell - From Potter's Field
I wish I had listened to my dad eons ago when he told me I should have studied to become a doctor. I wish I had become a medical examiner. I wish I could study the corpses of the horribly mutilated victims of hideous crimes and detect the signs of the last horrific moments of their ordeals. I wish I could stare at a dead body, with no fear or disgust, nurture feelings toward cold, inert bodies, serve them justice and put my and my loved ones' life at stake while working in the wee hours in an obituary seeking for TRUTH.
I pass out when they draw blood on me for a check-up.
So I just DREAM of being a doctor and leave the dirty work for Dr. Kay Scarpetta.
And since From Potter's Field is one of my favorite "bathtub books", the pages are now glued together by humidity and I'll have to buy another copy...
From Potter's Field is part of the Kay Scarpetta mystery series all featuring:
Kay Scarpetta,
the chief medical examiner for the Richmond, Virginia area. Also a highly reputed consultant for the FBI, where her lover(s)and her beloved niece also work, and often summoned to offer her expertise on cases outside of her state, and out of the U.S. as well.
She obviously doesn't enjoy a very active social life - she lives alone, cooks very well, loves to drink and is constantly struggling with the urge to "light up" (a cigarette, that is. She quit, but not for long... ). She is viewed by the "outside world" as a stern, cold-hearted and possibly homosexual work slave, which of course she's not....
Pete Marino
The chief detective for Richmond, often coupled up with Scarpetta when working on a case. The guy's got an enormous beer belly, due to the constant six-pack lying on the back seat of his beaten-up, greasy, litter-scattered car, and has also got an attitude. He chain smokes. He curses and swears all the time. He's a nihilist. A racist. He smells. He has the most appalling collection of corny Christmas decorations in his front yard - year round. His cholesterol is believed to be three times his I.Q. I'M IN LOVE WITH THE GUY.
Lucy Farinelli
Is Kay's niece, a gifted child raised by a negligent mother, who has decided to follow in Kay's footsteps. She is a genius, a computer whiz, she's beautiful, she's homosexual and she's constantly in trouble with her employer - the FBI. Also employer to
Benton Wesley
The psychological profiler at FBI headquarters, a very handsome, intelligent and righteous man, who happens to have a secret love affair with our Kay. (Of course he's married, and of course Pete Marino's divorced and has a crush on Kay, what did you expect?)
******
From Potter's Field's opening takes place in Central Park, New York, on Christmas eve. A bone-chilling murder has been committed, and the gruesome details found on the crime site resemble the pattern serial killer psychopath Temple Gault usually casts as his trademark. Temple Gault has been a recurrent personality in Kay Scarpetta's investigations, as she already has had to deal with a number of other crimes that involved this twisted but extremely apt and brilliant individual. The NYPD thus reluctantly asks her to offer assistance in the pursuit of their primary suspect.
The naked body that has been found remains unidentified by the NY Police Department, and transferred to the public morgue on Christmas day, bound to end in the cemetery of the unnamed. In what she considers to be the final tribute to the woman who has been murdered - giving her a name, a family, a life to be remembered for - Kay seeks for all clues that may lead to the corpse's proper identification, along with vowing to herself that she shall revenge this and other victims of this terrifying serial killer.
From here, From Potter's Field unfolds in a beautifully developed plot that carries the reader away on a fast-paced journey, riveting the reader's attention incessantly in breathless expectation to the end.
******
This book is unmistakably Patricia Cornwell. It gives the reader the same thorough and carefully researched medical information that all of her books carry as her signature. The attention to detail is striking. She plunges into computer technology, as she assists Lucy through her program setup that will be vital in the chase through New York's maze - the subways. The gloomy picture Cornwell portrays of New York City, both above and underground, as of the city Temple Gault has chosen as his playground is the perfect stage.
And as always, Cornwell also gives great emphasis to the pyschological implications in the story. There is a very vivid representation of the serial killer's love/hate relationship with the woman who has made his arrest her own private mission. He toys with her, is entertained by leaving trails that are misleading, thrives on the notion that she is fully aware of his mockery. He knows his way around, through every hole and corner, plans carefully every single move and what the consequences shall be, and can anticipate every attempt the NYPD or Kay, along with Benton, Marino and Lucy, conceive in the effort to trap him in his own labyrinth. The hunt through the city, the shocking revelation of the dead woman's identity, the clues that lead Scarpetta ever closer to the assassin, then push her farther away, create an escalation of suspense that reaches its momentum at the very last page of the book.
****
However, what truly makes this book one of my favorite reads is the emotional weight Cornwell focuses on through her heroine, that enables the reader to feel,rather than just read, the sensations Kay experiences.
The bitterness that arouses when faced with the difficulties in being accepted by the NYPD, who view her mostly as a nuisance.
The devastation by having to spend her Christmas with her loved ones on a crime site and having to put their lives under a constant hazard in order to stop the killer's madness.
The hatred and frustration Gault's cat-and-mouse game causes her. The sympathy and tenderness she nurtures for Marino, her yearning for affection towards Benton and Lucy.
And above all, the sorrow and compassion she feels for the victim and her relatives. Kay Scarpetta's emotions become the reader's emotions in this novel, causing an empathy that no other Cornwell novels have ever succeeded in delivering with such intensity.
I am not an avid mystery or crime reader, I do enjoy but am not all that fond of the other Cornwell novels. However, I do recommend From Potter's Field to every adult reader as I believe that it's a complete, impressive, disturbing story that will absorb the reader from page 1 to page 370.
Believe me, it's not a perfect book, but it certainly is a great read.
Featuring a new Introduction by the author, this classic thriller reunited Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta with Temple Gault, the bold...More at HotBookSale
In Richmond, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner of Virginia and consultant for the FBI, is in the midst of a late-night autopsy at the morgue w...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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