(no subject)

[bites-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Any (ex)fans of Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series here?

I ask because it just struck me that the Scarpetta books have declined in quality in a very similiar manner to AB:VH - each series featuring a decent character who rapidly disintegrated into blatant Mary Sue-ishness and with angst replacing plot after the series had achieved some measure of success.

Thoughts?

Comments

[wickedmommy.livejournal.com]

oh geez. That makes me sad to hear that. I have read about 7 of those books and enjoyed them greatly. I haven't read her in a while though.

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

O_o that hold for me as well. I just started the first book and have been enjoying it. She doesn't end up with a case of ardeur, does she?

[wickedmommy.livejournal.com]

I hope not!!! Or al of a sudden the killers start draining their victems through little holes in their neck and dramatic posing. *shudders* that is a horrible thought.

[wickedmommy.livejournal.com]

oh no....oh no..i so don't want to hear that??? Not in those books. *sighs* I am unfortuately noticing that a lot in the series I read that last more than 4 books where there is a strong female charature. I understand that they want to show that women enjoy sex too. that a women can be just as powerful about it as men, but can't they do that without turning thier leading ladies into ho bags???

[laney-1974.livejournal.com]

I've read all Scarpetta books except the most recent because I can't seem to get past her switch from first person to third person. So I'm assuming that the Mary-Sue-ishmness occurs after then? I didn't really pick it up in any of the books I've read (I think Black Notice was the last one I read).

[albinowolf.livejournal.com]

Exactly! They started to decline slightly before, but once she made the perspective switch they just crapped out. I used to be a fan until then, now I don't care if I ever read another.

[wickedmommy.livejournal.com]

oh no she ruined Marino?? I loved him in the books I read. I thought he had a great voice.

THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SEMI-SPOILERS.

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

AMEN, sister.

With the perspective shift came my single biggest pet peeve - when she starts referring to the character simply as "Scarpetta." It is sooooo pretentious.

I stopped reading after, I think, Blowfly? The whole thing just got too dumb. She made Marino so unattractive, I didn't buy the whole Jay Talley storyline, and the whole Benton thing was just too retarded to be believed.

I also hate how she sort of made Kay half-assedly pseudo-gay but then stopped short of actually going there.

Re: THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SEMI-SPOILERS.

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

Honestly, I never *loved* Kay, but the stories were well-plotted, well-written, there was a good amount of technical detail, and I was interested in the peripheral characters.

The Temple Gault thing was good and convincing and scary at first, but then the whole EVERY SERIAL KILLED YOU HAVE EVER MET WERE ALL HANGING OUT ON LIEK THE INTERNETS OR SOMETHING AND IT IS ALL A PLOT!1!!!1!!

Re: THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SEMI-SPOILERS.

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

Oops, I hit send too soon.

I meant, that whole bit was where she lost me.

[bleedtoblue.livejournal.com]

It frequently happens, not always of course, that as an author matures and changes so do their characters. I suspect we can all name series that shifted and changed, often times not for the better! I agree with you about Patricia Cornwall, I stopped reading because of it.

[windiain.livejournal.com]

*waves hand* Me. Fucking perspective switch and excessive angst.

[dominanefret.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I CAN'T STAND the perspective switch. It drives me fucking crazy. And it turned the whole thing to angst central.

And what the fuck did she do to Marino and Lucy.....??

And instead of trying to solve real, interesting crimes... everything is now happening to her, everyone is trying to kill her.

And Predator just kind of ended... without an ending. SO anticlimactic.

[dracoliciousss.livejournal.com]

Wow, I totally agree with you there. When I first read Postmortem, I was completely blown away...thought it was fantastic. I kept on reading, and up til about Black Notice they were still ok, but losing me quickly. Then came blowfly, trace, and predator (might be leaving some out) and i was like wtf did she do to my characters?!?! Cornwell has the same LKH thing of her photo on the back of the book looking exactly like the main character, then claiming its a coincidence. And don't even get me started on what she did to Marino, lol

[cicipsychobunny.livejournal.com]

I liked Cornwell till I re-read some of her books and thought, "Wow, this is insanely repetitive, and way more politically conservative than I realised".
Breaking point was when I thought more carefully about a line basically saying, "Those damn blacks couldn't handle the fact that I published the truth about them always killing each other, stupid black people", and I haven't looked back since.
I think it helped that I then discovered Kathy Reichs, but now I'm even going off that. I think our society is going through forensic-mystery overload. It can't last.

[random-fat-bird.livejournal.com]

I used to read the Scarpetta books, until the whole Benton debacle. It got dull, so I abandoned the series in the hope that I could still enjoy the earlier books. Now why the hell didn't I do that with Hamilton's trash?

[tooimpurenangel.livejournal.com]

I loved those books. Now, I just don't care. Except I want to bitch-slap Lucy=/

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a shame, but explains why I loved some of the older books, and couldn't even seem to finish a more recent one. Hmm...I'll have to go back and take a look.

-Dira-