Review – Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell @1pcornwell #netgalley #grandcentralpublishing

Posted on October 9, 2024 by fundinmental

MY REVIEW

Kay Scarpetta has been around long enough, that many of the characters are familiar to me. I have enjoyed each and every moment with them. I want to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell.

An abandoned amusement park.

A mutilated body.

A message sent.

Kay Scarpetta finds out the victim is someone she knows. Someone she once loved. Sal Giordano. I do like when an author isn’t afraid to kill off a character that I know, as long as it enhances the story. This death hits very close to home for Kay.

Mystery surrounds Sal Giordano’s death. Does it involve aliens? Just your run of the mill human murderer? Or could it be someone from their past getting their revenge?

Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell seemed different from the usual Kay Scarpetta novels, but may I’ve just missed too many to see the storyline clearly. Either way, I enjoyed my time with the characters. The mystery is deep, complex, and I didn’t see what was coming.

I found it hard to rate Identity Unknown. I wanted to love it, but I couldn’t quite get there. Whether it’s the or me, I can’t say. I will say this, if you are a Kay Scarpetta and Patricia Cornwell fan, I recommend reading Identity Unknown

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos — 3 Stars

4 GOODREADS BLURB

Autopsies can reveal the secrets of the dead.

And this victim is sending Scarpetta a message…

Summoned to an unnerving, abandoned theme park to retrieve a body, Dr Kay Scarpetta is devastated to learn that the victim is a man she once loved. While teaching in Rome during the early days of her career, Scarpetta had an intense love affair with Sal Giordano that led to a lifelong friendship.

The murder scene is bizarre, with a crop circle of petals around the body, and Giordano’s skin is strangely red. Scarpetta’s niece Lucy believes he was dropped from an unidentified flying craft. Scarpetta knows an autopsy can reveal the dead’s secrets, but she is shocked to find her friend seems to have deliberately left her a clue.

As the investigators are torn between suspicions of otherworldly forces, and of Giordano himself, Scarpetta detects an explanation closer to home that, in her mind, is far more evil . .

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
400 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication October 8, 2024 by Grand Central Publishing
Series: Kay Scarpetta, #28

ABOUT PATRICIA CORNWELL

Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, in 1990 while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. Postmortem, was the first bona fide forensic thriller. It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature.

Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize – the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. To date, Cornwell’s books have sold some 100 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She’s authored twenty-nine New York Times bestsellers.

Patricia’s novels center primarily on medical examiner Kay Scarpetta along with her tech-savvy niece Lucy and fellow investigator Pete Marino. Celebrating 25 years, these characters have grown into an international phenomenon, winning Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Fox 2000 bought the rights to Kay Scarpetta. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen.

After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer.

Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. From the Charlotte Observer, Cornwell moved to a job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia – a post she would later bestow upon the fictional Kay Scarpetta.

When not writing from her Boston home, Patricia tirelessly researches cutting-edge forensic technologies to include in her work. Her interests span outside the literary: Patricia co-founded of the Conservation Scientist Chair at the Harvard University Art Museums. She appears as a forensic consultant on CNN and serves as a member of Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital’s National Council, where she advocates for psychiatric research. She’s helped fund the ICU at Cornell’s Animal Hospital, the scientific study of a Confederate submarine, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and a variety of law enforcement charities. Patricia is also committed to
funding scholarships and literacy programs. Her advice to aspiring authors: “Start writing. And don’t take no for an answer.”

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Flesh And Bood

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New Release Review – Overkill by Sandra Brown #NetGalley

Posted on August 16, 2022 by fundinmental

Overkill, Sandra Brown, Suspense Thrillers

New York Times Bestselling Author Sandra Brown has been a must read author for me since I can’t remember when. I want to thank Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Overill.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Buckhead. Atlanta. I know the area and love when a book takes place in a location I am familiar with. And football? Are you ready for some football, because I am.

Zach was an MVP Super Bowl quarterback, emphasis on was. He had been booted from a sport he loved and he had no one to blame but himself. Rebecca was a party girl. Again, emphasis on was. He hadn’t seen Rebecca since their divorce.

Zach made a quick exit from the Cayman Islands to her hospital room. He felt her need to control his life, when he was told that he had power of attorney over her medical decisions if there was ever a time she couldn’t make the decision for herself. I can’t imagine having to make that call. I guess I would ask myself, ” What would ? want?”

State Prosecutor Kate Lennon arrives at his secluded cabin to let him know that the man responsible for Rebecca’s vegetative state is being released from prison. She wants to put him back where she thinks he belongs, but she needs his help to do it.

Richy Rich Eban, the man who, along with his three friends, had nearly killed her. He had served two years for what he had done to her. It ticked me off when I read two years (way to tick me off, Sandra), then I almost saw red when I ‘saw’ what his father gave him as a get out of jail ‘gift’. Despicable people and it is his father’s fault for the way he is, though Eban made his own choices, and continues to do so after his release.

I would be so angry….Who do they think they are? Eban, is he a sociopath? Psychopath? Or just a rich ‘kid’ that feels entitled, because he never had to be accountable for his actions. I say through the BOOK at them all. I would feel the same if it was a poor person that had committed the act. I love when I see them knocked down and watch them plead for mercy.

I love books like Overkill by Sandra Brown. The characters came across as authentic, faulty, arrogant. I was empathetic with Zach, not wanting to be the one to make the decision. Would I have been more angry than he was? You bet. But, then I wonder if it was because she was his ex and they had no connection any more. It is so real. I feel the vulnerability. I even discussed with Mr Wonderful about getting video cameras for the house right after finishing it. LOL

Very well done, Sandra. I read it in one day. I love romantic suspense and Overkill hit all the buttons. AND I loved the epilogue, a little something extra is always appreciated.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Overkill by Sandra Brown.

GOODREADS BLURB

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown delivers a riveting thriller in which a conflict of conscience for a former football star and an ambitious state prosecutor swiftly intensifies into a fight for their lives.

Former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Zach Bridger hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Rebecca Pratt, for some time—not since their volatile marriage imploded—so he’s shocked to receive a life-altering call about her. Rebecca has been placed on life support after a violent assault, and he—despite their divorce—has medical power-of-attorney. Zach is asked to make an impossible choice: keep her on life support or take her off of it. Buckling under the weight of the responsibility and the glare of public scrutiny, Zach ultimately walks away, letting Rebecca’s parents have the final say.

Four years later, Rebecca’s attacker, Eban—the scion of a wealthy family in Atlanta—gets an early release from prison. The ludicrous miscarriage of justice reeks of favoritism, and Kate Lennon, a brilliant state prosecutor, is determined to put him back behind bars. Rebecca’s parents have kept her alive all these years, but if her condition were to change—if she were to die—Eban could be retried on a new charge: murder.

It isn’t lost on Zach that in order for Eban to be charged with Rebecca’s murder, Zach must actually be the one to kill her. He rejects Kate’s legal standpoint but can’t resist their ill-timed attraction to each other. Eban, having realized the jeopardy he’s in, plots to make certain that neither Zach nor Kate lives to see the death of Rebecca—and the end of his freedom.

ABOUT SANDRA BROWN

Sandra Brown is the author of more than sixty New York Times bestsellers, including STING (2016), FRICTION (2015), MEAN STREAK (2014), DEADLINE(2013), & LOW PRESSURE (2012), LETHAL (2011).

Brown began her writing career in 1981 and since then has published over seventy novels, bringing the number of copies of her books in print worldwide to upwards of eighty million. Her work has been translated into over thirty languages.

In 2009 Brown detoured from romantic suspense to write, Rainwater, a much acclaimed, powerfully moving historical fiction story about honor and sacrifice during the Great Depression.

Brown was given an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Christian University. She was named Thriller Master for 2008, the top award given by the International Thriller Writer’s Association. Other awards and commendations include the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature and the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

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True Crime – The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman #TheColdVanish #NetGalley

Posted on March 8, 2022 by fundinmental

The cover for The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman makes it easy to see why someone could go missing and never be found. I’d like to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read and review The Cold Vanish.

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I saw the title and cover, then read the blurb, and my interest was peaked. I had to know what Jon Billman had to say in this true story of the missing across the country.

To tell the story, Jon Billman did walk in Jacob Gray’s footsteps, to a point.

The Schrödinger’s cat experiment…I had never heard the entire experiment, but the fact that it is neither, dead or alive, or both, dead and alive, until you open the box. I imagine it is the same with a missing person. I cannot imagine how the not knowing could mess with someone’s mind.

I do believe some of the problem is with those who are doing the investigating. The process has come a long way, but I think investigators can still get stuck on one person, zeroing in on them, making the suspect fit the evidence. Not only has technology aided the investigators, the investigators have become more sophisticated.

Unfortunately, there are still those who are out to make a name for themselves, to get elected to office. or just inept and unqualified for the job at hand. And the wilderness…such a large area where bodies could be easily hidden, make findng them like a needle in a haystack.

Cold Vanish…here one minute, gone the next. Aliens? Bigfoot? The Supernatural?

The book was written like a TV episode, hopping from one case to another, coming back again and again. It was confusing at times, but I do like that so many missings were shared.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman.

GOODREADS BLURB

For readers of Jon Krakauer and Douglas Preston, the critically acclaimed author and journalist Jon Billman’s fascinating, in-depth look at people who vanish in the wilderness without a trace and those eccentric, determined characters who try to find them.

These are the stories that defy conventional logic. The proverbial vanished without a trace incidences, which happen a lot more (and a lot closer to your backyard) than almost anyone thinks. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on loved ones left behind. The cases that are an embarrassment for park superintendents, rangers and law enforcement charged with Search & Rescue. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains, woods and badlands. The stories that should give you pause every time you venture outdoors.
Through Jacob Gray’s disappearance in Olympic National Park, and his father Randy Gray who left his life to search for him, we will learn about what happens when someone goes missing. Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill the vacuum created by a vanished human being. We’ll meet eccentric bloodhound-handler Duff and R.C., his flagship purebred, who began trailing with the family dog after his brother vanished in the San Gabriel Mountains. And there’s Michael Neiger North America’s foremost backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described “bushman” obsessed with missing persons. And top researcher of persons missing on public wildlands Ex-San Jose, California detective David Paulides who is also one of the world’s foremost Bigfoot researchers.

It’s a tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the absence of someone. A void. The person at the heart of the story is thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else’s memory. The bones you dig up are most often metaphorical. While much of the book will embrace memory and faulty memory — history — The Cold Vanish is at its core a story of now and tomorrow. Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. These are the people who will go looking.

ABOUT JON BILLMAN (from Grand Central Publishing)

Jon Billman is a former wildland firefighter and high school teacher. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Eastern Washington University. He’s the author of the story collection When We Were Wolves (Random House, 1999). Billman is a regular contributor to Outside and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, and Zoetrope: All-Story. He teaches fiction and journalism at Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula, where he lives with his family in a log cabin along the Chocolay River.