I can't quite pinpoint what it was about this book, but there was something that bothered me more than usual about this latest Scarpetta Series book (which I think have been pretty bad over the last few years). This one started out by confusing me with what was happening. I felt like I had suddenly tuned into a conversation between a party of people that I knew nothing about. The events being discussed in the first several chapters had me confused and wondering how it related to what would be happening throughout the rest of the book. *Start rant. To skip over, go to paragraph four.* 
 Thankfully after the first few chapters, it started to get a little more interesting because there had a been a murder and Scarpetta with her trusty husband Benton Wesley, her conniving niece Lucy, and volatile cop friend Marino jump in to try to save the day and figure out "who done it". This is where things started to yet again go south. I think Patricia Cornwell needs to get everyone out of the routine of lying, withholding information, and giving too much information. The earlier books were so good because you knew who to trust and they were truly about finding the bad guy. The latest books (this one included) are too much about trying to figure out Scarpetta's closest relations through her point of view. For instance: "Why is Benton not telling me things?" (Seriously, it's because it's part of his FBI job and if you can't get over his withholding of information, then maybe you shouldn't be with him.) "Why is Lucy being so distant and why does she keep lying/not telling me things?" (Because Lucy first makes sure that she is correct and that the timing is right for everything that she does and says. Scarpetta (and Benton for that matter) has analyzed Lucy for years and it's pretty obvious that Lucy's affinity for doing/telling things only when they benefit her will never change.) "Why is Marino such a loud mouthed ass?" (Clearly Marino has been an ass since book one and since Scarpetta has married Benton, Marino has felt the need to one up and attempt to humiliate Benton as much as he can, which unfortunately pisses off multiple people and agencies in the process.) 
 So, since we have gotten all the negative emotions that Scarpetta has throughout this book (their answers contrived from the earlier books in the series) we should be able to actually have a normal plot right? Right! Except, by this point, the book would be down to about 150 pages. Then Cornwell has the gall to not even wrap up the book sufficiently, which then forces you to buy whatever the next Scarpetta book will be in this never ending, downward-spiraling series that has become more about the dysfunctional relationships between the characters than about catching the "bad guys" and hearing about the tactics and tools used to catch them. *End Rant* 
 Overall though, it was very interesting the way multiple murders wove together by the end of the story and I definitely did not see "it coming" so to speak. I am getting a little sick of dysfunction between the main characters (Kay, Benton, Lucy, and Marino) and think the series would get better gain if we could focus on what the series started with - who is the bad guy and how are we going to catch them? Please get it together Cornwell, I'm not sure I can stand more books like these last few.