Dust

Scarpetta, Book 21

By: Patricia Cornwell

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Worst narration ever

This narrator totally ruined this book for me. I can't tell if I liked the story or not because I can't get past the whiney, nasally, haute, halting manner of speaking with this narrator. Her voice and pronunciation made for a very difficult listen. She made the characters that I have loved for 20 years not even likable. Benton was the worst! She made him sound like Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island, speaking nasally and through gritted teeth. Quincy was my favorite character but that's thanks to Patricia Cornwells writing!

Better Than the Last Couple

I still wish Benton was dead. Kay is still a whiny, whiny woman who doesn't know how to love herself and thinks everyone hates her. (Gee, wonder what THAT correlation is.) I realize it helps continuity for people who haven't listened to all 21 books, but I'm so tired of hearing about her terrible childhood and her taking care of her dying father that I could scream. I'm sorely disappointed that Marino is smoking again. And of all the depressing stuff that could remind me how horrible the world is, one more thing. Circuses are BAD. They should all be shut down if there are animals involved.

A little disappointed..

I typically cannot wait for another Kay Scarpetta book to come out & then I proceed to finish it within days. However, this book didn't affect me that way. The plot seemed repetitive, the story line was slow & the ending was anticlimatic. The narrator, Kate Reading, was amazing, however. I'll listen to anything she narrated.

Disappointed

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I am a huge Patricia Cornwell fan especially the Kay Scarpetta series. However, this book was a let down.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

There is not a lot of movement in the personal lives of the characters. This is really the reason I stick with series books-I get attached to the characters.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I am not a fan of Kate Reading as a narrator. I have a hard time getting past her enunciation.

Did Dust inspire you to do anything?

No.

Scarpetta

Of course the next one is almost anxiously anticipated because of the sample from the next in series.

It Definitely Won't Gather Dust on your device...

Patricia Cornwell is one of the most professionally informed writers that I read from cover to cover and series book to series book. Although "dust" was a great listen, it was darker and more disturbing then most of her other books. However, in this, her latest book she failed to make her two side characters, Benton Wesley and Pete Marino anything but wooden replicas of themselves. Actually, the character of Marino was so unappealing in this novel that it was almost painful to listen to his part.

Considering that 20 out of the 21 books in the Scarpetta series were terrific, I guess that Patricia Cornwell should be forgiven for one partial dud.

The thing that saved the entire book from being a 2 star failure was the intricate plot that wove logically through the tale of murder and mayhem without becoming ho hum and boring or confused and tangled. I did figure out "who done it" before the story reached that part, but at least I didn't figure it out 15 minutes into listening, as I do with some less talented authors of detective and mystery tales. And of course, Kay Readings performance was wonderful as usual.

not the best in the series

I just couldn't get the adventure out of this one that I've gotten out of the previous books. It was just a lot of statistics and facts with little bit of whining. I still love the characters though and will continue to read the series!

Dusty but Good

The beginning was riveting but the ending was rushed. The final for the villains didn't fit the nature of their crimes.

Slow going

This was a tough listen. Part/mostly narration but the text itself seemed cumbersome and slow going.

Interesting but…

The overall story was interesting and I enjoyed the narration. However, it jumps around a lot so I found it hard to follow at times.