The First Novel In One Of The Finest Crime/Thriller Series Ever Written (Postmortem - Patricia Cornwell)

Member Name: wampyrii

Product:	Postmortem - Patricia Cornwell
Date:	04/08/01 (141 review reads)
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I had never been much of a fan of the crime/thriller genre when it came to novels. Movies yes, novels no, having tried unsuccessfully to get into authors such as P.D. James and Agatha Christie amongst others. It was only because a long train journey presented itself to me that I even considered this novel, there being nothing better in the small newsagents-cum-everything-else shop on the platform. I didnt hold out too much hope, but it had rave reviews and I thought well...what have I got to lose.

Good decision as it turns out.

Patricia Cornwell is one of the most highly regarded authors in the field of crime fiction writing. Postmortem is her first novel and is somewhat different to the usual whodunnit style of crime fiction writing. The main character of this, and her most famous and most loved works is Dr. Kay Scarpetta - Chief Medical Examiner of Richmond, Virginia. As such, the focus of the novel falls much upon the medical forensic investigation of the crime as much as it does upon the tracking down of the criminal themselves. Resultantly, rather than having a series of suspect questionings, musings and general chin scratching to fill up the pages you get something far more involving and interesting - if a little on the gross side at times.

The actual plot lines are in reality nothing special in any of these books - the usual serial killer fare in most cases but it is the interplay between the characters and the keenly observed and researched work of the pathologists and forensic scientists which elevate the stories far above the staid, boring competition. The story in Postmortem is a good one, if along the aforementioned serial killer route. A killer with a penchant for strangling his victims ends up with Scarpetta on his trail. However, he leaves behind very few clues, other than a strange iridescent material on his victims. A tough case gets even tougher when the number of victims keeps racking up - Scarpetta must crack the case
and bring the killer to justice before more people get killer, but the pressure is mounting.

Postmortem being her first novel is really an introduction to Scarpetta, her neice Lucy and detective Pete Marino who remain constant throughout the series and as such the characters here feel somewhat undeveloped. Marino is the comic element in the novels and both he and Lucy provide a much needed change of focus from the essentially rather dull, serious character of Scarpetta. It is the interplay between these which adds to the enjoyment of the books, and this only gets better as they progress. Scarpetta is the main character and the novels are written from a first person perspective - in fact you could easily argue that Scarpetta IS Cornwell and thats why these novels are so far superior to her other attempts such as Hornets Nest and Southern Cross which explore new characters and basically stink to be honest.

The language is easy to read and Cornwell's writing style means that the action moves a long at a brisk pace and keeps you turning the pages right up until the very end. Postmortem and her others may not appeal to everyone because of the graphic nature of some of the content, but this is all handled in a matter of fact way rather than being gratuitous. It is as I said very easy to read and very hard to put down once you get started, there is nothing too deep here too wrap your mind around just a damn fine piece of entertainment, which is all that I require from a novel personally. I would recommend that if you intend reading some of her work that you do start with this one, because even though it realy isn't completely necessary to read each on in sequence, she does tend to refer back a lot to past characters and incidents which are not fully explained in later novels. You also get to know the characters as old friends in this way as well as they grow together and wil understand some of th later references better. I would also recommend sta
rting here because it is one of her better novels anyway.

A great read and a must for anyone looking to be entertained for a few hours without being taxed too much mentally.

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