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Trace | 
| Author: Patricia Cornwell
Publisher: Little, Brown
Category: Book
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £12.59
You Save: £5.40 (30%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  89 reviews
Sales Rank: 207976
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0316854735
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780316854733
ASIN: 0316854735
Publication Date: September 7, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Break out the champagne: Patricia Cornwell has thankfully moved on from her controversial campaign to lay the Jack the Ripper murders at the door of the painter Walter Sickert, and in Trace is again raising our pulse rate by taking us into the dangerous world of consultant pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta. In this latest outing, Kay finds herself back in Virginia examining a curious death, that of the youthful Gilly Paulson. Joel Marcus, her successor as Chief Medical Examiner, has summoned a reluctant Scarpetta to help out, but her professional work is compromised by her unhappiness at the radical changes occurring in her old territory: Scarpetta's old morgue has been bulldozed, and she isn't happy working with the man who took her job. Other members of the familiar Scarpetta crew make an appearance: her partner Benton Wesley and her niece Lucy Farinelli are tracking down an assailant who has nearly ended the life of one of Lucy's colleagues. The two cases turn out to be connected (surprise!), and soon several lives are at stake. After the recent misfires, it's a relief to note that Patricia Cornwell is back on track, dealing comfortably with her most familiar protagonist and a plot that yokes in bomb-makers and some bizarre sexual practices. A resounding welcome back, to both Ms Cornwell and Ms Scarpetta.--Barry Forshaw
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| Customer Reviews: Read 84 more reviews...
 Competent but still lacking the old spark July 21, 2008
I am a faithful reader and follower of all Scarpetta's stories. I, like many others feel that at the beginning of this series (and we are now some 13 books in) Cornwell was a master in this genre. However, the series is now a little old and tired and I am finding that familiarity is indeed breeding contempt.
Scarpetta and Marino have now become a somewhat cranky and neurotic duo. They make decisions that are a huge step away from the character traits we have spent the last 12 books getting to know. It is quite frustrating that Cornwell appears to have gotten sloppy with her writing to the extent that she would rather sacrifice solid character foundations to suit her plotline. I was puzzled and amazed by some of the professional choices made (Benton primarily but I don't want to spoil the storyline for anyone else so I'll leave it there) and by the fact that Scarpetta put up with so much hostility in a situation where she could have just said `I'm outta here'. I'm not even going to go into Lucy's character who is richer and more unrealistic than ever.
The problem is the whole revenge angle is getting old - been there Cornwell, many times!!
That said, it was an improvement on Blowfly. There was a brief return to form in the middle of this book before the ending just fizzled out into nothing. This series can still be salvaged. Cornwell just needs to steer clear of revenge angles and a plotline that revolves entirely around someone being hacked off with Scarpetta, Benton or Lucy and deciding to kill other people or stalk them as punishment.
 First and last March 6, 2008
This is the first, and I have to say last, Cornwell book that I've read. I can see from reviews that the earlier books in the Scarpetta series are seemingly superior to this one - but I have to say that after reading this one I really can't be bothered to try any more. With its weird writing style, meandering plotline, random and seemingly un-connected characters, and wholly unsatisfying ending this book is really not worth the effort.
Disappointing October 12, 2007
I really loved the Kay Scarpetta series, even when Benton quite unbelievably came back from the dead. But this is a world away from the previous books. The writing style is different and it does come across as if Cornwell has run out of ideas. I didn't even finsh the book and would not recommend it to anyone.
Trace August 21, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I start the review by saying this is better than 'Blowfly' but still this book stinks. There is no narrative drive to the story....things happen with no urgency or sense of importance.
Cornwell persists with her new narrative style. It is so irritating. Again she tells you everything that goes on, how the characters are thinking and feeling, but with no room for the reader to make up their own minds about the characters. It is patronising and rather lazy, hence this IS a very easy read. You don't have to think about any of it. A disappointment. Cornwell has done much better.
A rather sad attempt ... August 18, 2007
I love the Scarpetta series and loved most other books but this one was very disappointing and reading it seemed like she only wanted to fill the pages to meet her quota.
The story wasn't very original and she often repeated the same sentence or wording within the same paragraph - did no one edit the book?
I have so far not rated any of her books with 1 star but this books was unfortunately really not good at all.
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