The Bone Bed (A Scarpetta Novel)
1 journaler for this copy...
Bought from CVS on Broad and Tank Farm in San Luis Obispo today.
I sometimes think that Patricia Cornwell lives in an alternate electronic universe. Her references to the web, to email, to some social networking sites have often used wrong terms or wrong technology. I suspect her editors either are in that world with her or they don’t want to rock the boat with a note explaining why her take is off.
In this present novel one of the issues is with Marino (isn’t it always?). Apparently he now uses Twitter. And he met someone through his tweets. And the two of them “tweeted” each other.
Here’s the thing. Twitter is primarily a public forum. You can restrict your tweets to a set group of persons whom you approve. But it isn’t an instant message service. There are far easier ways to have a conversation online or on your phone. My suspicion is that Cornwell doesn’t really get Twitter. Not so unusual, really, as many of us find it peculiar. But if you are going to include it in your novel you should get to know it very well.
As for the forensics, Cornwell doesn't skimp on that. She does the research, and that is one of the primary reasons I read her books from time to time. In this case, Scarpetta is called to pull a body from the sea, a mummified body that is tied to weights at the bottom and to floating items at the top. She is also tied, accidentally, to a giant sea turtle. When Scarpetta sees how it looks underwater she realizes it will take some care to bring the body to the boat in one piece.
But this isn't the only body. There is a presumed death in Canada, of a paleontologist, another woman in her fifties, as is the body in the sea. Then there is the disappearance of a prominent industrialist's wife, a take-charge woman of a similar age.
When the mummified body is identified, there are disturbing connections discovered as well. Marino, Scarpetta's chief investigator and long-time friend, had been "tweeting" a woman who was supposedly the dead woman. An FBI investigator, a woman who goes by the unlikely name of Douglas, is obsessed with this connection as well as with Scarpetta's husband Benton. Her obsession borders on the dangerous.
As is typical with Scarpetta novels, complications abound and small details in forensic examinations lead to the killer. As is typical with these novels, Scarpetta has reason to worry about her own safety.
The plots are unlikely but well-designed. Clearly Cornwell is a detail person, and I suspect she is in many ways similar to her main character, Kay Scarpetta. If so, I do not think I would like her. I don't like Scarpetta. While Marino is supposed to be her friend and she cuts him breaks when he behaves badly, her thoughts are often of disgust where a friend, I'd think, would be more compassionate. I'd think there would be more genuine warmth. I don't detect that, actually, between Scarpetta and anyone else. Her conversations with Benton are loaded with suspicions and worries. The romantic and warm segments read to me as half-baked.
So there you are. I don't like Scarpetta, I get irritated at her, yet I read these novels. I like the science, I like Lucy (Scarpetta's niece), I like that these are absorbing tales, not easy to put down.
In this present novel one of the issues is with Marino (isn’t it always?). Apparently he now uses Twitter. And he met someone through his tweets. And the two of them “tweeted” each other.
Here’s the thing. Twitter is primarily a public forum. You can restrict your tweets to a set group of persons whom you approve. But it isn’t an instant message service. There are far easier ways to have a conversation online or on your phone. My suspicion is that Cornwell doesn’t really get Twitter. Not so unusual, really, as many of us find it peculiar. But if you are going to include it in your novel you should get to know it very well.
As for the forensics, Cornwell doesn't skimp on that. She does the research, and that is one of the primary reasons I read her books from time to time. In this case, Scarpetta is called to pull a body from the sea, a mummified body that is tied to weights at the bottom and to floating items at the top. She is also tied, accidentally, to a giant sea turtle. When Scarpetta sees how it looks underwater she realizes it will take some care to bring the body to the boat in one piece.
But this isn't the only body. There is a presumed death in Canada, of a paleontologist, another woman in her fifties, as is the body in the sea. Then there is the disappearance of a prominent industrialist's wife, a take-charge woman of a similar age.
When the mummified body is identified, there are disturbing connections discovered as well. Marino, Scarpetta's chief investigator and long-time friend, had been "tweeting" a woman who was supposedly the dead woman. An FBI investigator, a woman who goes by the unlikely name of Douglas, is obsessed with this connection as well as with Scarpetta's husband Benton. Her obsession borders on the dangerous.
As is typical with Scarpetta novels, complications abound and small details in forensic examinations lead to the killer. As is typical with these novels, Scarpetta has reason to worry about her own safety.
The plots are unlikely but well-designed. Clearly Cornwell is a detail person, and I suspect she is in many ways similar to her main character, Kay Scarpetta. If so, I do not think I would like her. I don't like Scarpetta. While Marino is supposed to be her friend and she cuts him breaks when he behaves badly, her thoughts are often of disgust where a friend, I'd think, would be more compassionate. I'd think there would be more genuine warmth. I don't detect that, actually, between Scarpetta and anyone else. Her conversations with Benton are loaded with suspicions and worries. The romantic and warm segments read to me as half-baked.
So there you are. I don't like Scarpetta, I get irritated at her, yet I read these novels. I like the science, I like Lucy (Scarpetta's niece), I like that these are absorbing tales, not easy to put down.
