Red Mist

 

Title: Red Mist

Author: Patricia Cornwell

Publisher: Putnam          

Publish date: 2011

ISBN: 970-0-399-15802-5

 

This was my first Patricia Cornwell novel and also (obviously) my first Scarpetta novel, and I discovered after the event it wasn’t a particularly good place to start. Avid Cornwell readers complain of the interminable dialogue, the lack of action, the dreariness and general lack of motivation to keep reading. A lot of reviews swear at the end they won’t read another Cornwell book after that. And I can understand the disillusionment.

To a Cornwell novice, it would appear self-evident that in the Cornwell world:

·         We do not kill our adjectives and adverbs. In fact, we spread fertilizer on them to make them fatter, and give no nutrients to verbs or nouns at all, which struggle through the cracks in the adjectival forest.

·         We ENDLESSLY employ the ‘Bit-of-Dialogue’ followed by ‘Inane action’ scenario. ‘No,’ she said, and picked up the chopsticks. ‘I think,’ she said, turning the gas on…. Ad infinitum until the author finally forgets herself and allows a bit of dialogue without endless interruptions.

·         We do NOT eschew the no-no tell-not-show words of ‘feel’, ‘think’, ‘consider’, ‘see’, etc. We employ them mercilessly. We drag the reader through every passing thought the MP has and leave nothing to the imagination.

·         We do not build up tension or lead the reader on. We do drop clues but they’re endlessly repeated and not of great interest anyway, and the plot is brow-raisingly dubious.

 

In all, it’s not the impression I expected to get of such an acclaimed writer. Perhaps I’ll try an earlier Scarpetta next time. This one needs so serious editing. In fact, go for a re-write. In fact, scrub that, just don’t bother at all.

 

Gets 1 out of 5 Moose Hoofs up.