Dust

Scarpetta, Book 21

By: Patricia Cornwell

Narrated by: Kate Reading

After working one of the worst mass killings in U.S. history, Scarpetta returns home to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Exhausted and ill, she's recovering at home when she receives an unsettling call. The body of a young woman has been discovered on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's rugby field. The victim, a graduate student named Gail Shipman, is oddly draped in ivory linen and posed in a way that is too deliberate to be the killer's first strike. A preliminary examination in the sea of red mud where the body has been left also reveals a bizarre residue that fluoresces blood red, emerald green, and sapphire blue.

Physical evidence links the case to a series of uniquely weird homicides in Washington, D.C., where Scarpetta's FBI husband has been deployed to help capture a serial killer dubbed the Capital Murderer. The cases all connect and yet seem to conflict. Gail Shipman was murdered for financial gain - or was she? It will require the usual ensemble of characters to find out the truth, including Scarpetta's sidekick Pete Marino, who has undergone a drastic change in his life that places him center stage in a Cambridge investigation that puts everyone at risk.

©2013 Patricia Cornwell (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Once again narrator is bland!

Story is good, at times toooooo descriptive. Narrator is bland, no emotion, or excitement…. Like she’s reading a boring story In another language to aliens!!

Nice relaxing & holds your attention

I like when she does more dialogue between the key characters. This was a good storyline and kept my attention. Thanks!

Great Read!

Another great story by Patricia Cornwall. Very difficult to put down once you start. The only reason not giving 5 stars is because I felt there were a couple of spots in the book that needed more clarification of the situation and a couple of spots that needed less. I love Kate Reading's narration. The voices she gives the characters are spot on with the way I imagined they would sound! Another narrator completely ruined Lucy and Moreno's characters for me. Lucy was too bubbly and Moreno was too civilized. Please bring back Kate for all narrations of future books!

I had a hard time with this one

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I have read all of the Scarpetta books, which makes me want to see the series to the end, but I think the end better come soon. I am beginning to dislike all of the man characters and this makes me sad. I used to love the chemisty with Scarpetta and Marino, admire Lucy and romanticize Benton. I do not any longer. Scarpetta, is a self important know it all, Lucy is a bitch who is nasty Marino lost his balls and Benton sounds like an old man.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Ending had zero excitement.

What didn’t you like about Kate Reading’s performance?

I did not. Her voice began to irritate me. She read oddly, ending sentences with questions and over annunciating words. I found I could not contentrate on her voice for very long. I struggled to finish this book because of it.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Not if it had the same pace as this book.

Never disappointed

I have been reading and listening to PC books for years. Never have I been dissatisfied by her capacity to fill in all the clues needed to put it all together. Yet, she still manages to stump me.
I love not knowing who did it, way before the end of the story, she gets me every time.
She is a superior writer with just the right narrator.

Great book

Great story by the best author on the planet, I highly recommend all Patricia Cornwell books. She is by far the best author I have had the privilege to meet on person

a great review

the usual Kay Scarpetta excellence. I had to catch up as I havent read them in a while. Fell right in place!

not my favorite Dr Scarpetta

the back and forth in time and events & the illness at the beginning is a bit tiresome and, at times, confusing. when it all comes together and the mystery begins is where the story should have started.... also had to speed up the playback. the narrators pace was just too slow.

Language

Ms Cornwell writes great stories but one thing I would love to see is the strong cursing be toned down. It detracts from the stories and does not add anything to it.

Thank you.q

Great book!

This book kept me guessing. I will definitely recommend to others. it is one of my favorite Cornwell books