Predator (Kay Scarpetta Series #14)

In the past I have really liked the Patricia Cornwell books, but this book spends way to much time on how personally scarred this group of people are. While I like some back story about the characters there was too much time spent on things other than the "predator" in the story. I would try to get it from the library or from a friend and don't spend your money on it. I hope her other books are better.

I don't know why there were so many negative reviews on "Predator"! I am half way thru & it's great! Perhaps the readers who dissed it were reading the books out of order. Because of the poor reviews from readers, I got the book from the library first. When I realized it was good, I went ahead & bought it for my Nook. I will take readers' reviews less seriously in future.

I have read many of Cornwells books but did not like this book at all. I wish I would have read the reviews before I ordered this book. I will never order another nook before reading the reviews. I'm sure I will never read another Cornwell book.

I have been an avid Patricia Cornwell/Kay Scarpetta reader and fan for many years, but this book was truly disappointing. The book itself was a horribly slow read, whereas with most of this series I haven't wanted to put them down once I started reading. I also feel like the main characters (Scarpetta, Benton, Lucy and Marino) are changing, and not in a positive way. Bring back the old characters!!

I too have really enjoyed the Kay Scarpetta books, but this one stinks! I wish I had trusted the bad reviews, but I really hoped they were wrong. I won't waste my time on characters that I no longer even like. I won't try another Scarpetta book and that is sad.

I wanted to love this book. I've always enjoyed the stories of Kay Scarpetta, Marino, Benton Wesley, and Lucy. Even the premise of PREDATOR intrigued me-- Benton is heading a new program where he studies the brains of volunteer test subjects, mostly convicted felons of heinous crimes. He hopes to find a scientific and physical reason for why people do the things they do, and sets out to find if the molecular make-up or abnormalities of the brain cause people to commit vicious crimes against each other. Sounds good, right?

It could have been a great story. There's a plot, of course, where people are dying, strange events are taking place with related murders that seem random, and where an inmate might hold the key to solving the deaths.

The problem is I wanted to shoot almost each and every character that I've grown to love over the years. Benton Wesley is his same, staid self, and I don't have too many complaints about his behavior in PREDATOR. After all, the guy is back from the dead, and I'm happy about that. Kay Scarpetta, on the other hand, has turned into an alternately brooding/b***y whiner. Marino is a bad-boy-wannabe who now talks in monosyllables such as "mmm" and "mmm-hmm". And Lucy. Sigh. What the HECK has happened to Lucy? As if it wasn't bad enough that in Cornwell's last book, TRACE, Lucy was involved with a psycho-woman, in PREDATOR she's doing all the stupid things she did last time, except this time her involvement with a physcho-woman might get her killed.

What has happened to my favorite characters? I was eagerly anticipating the release of PREDATOR, only to be so let down that I've decided to wait and rent each new Patricia Cornwell release from the library.

I gave the book three stars for the basic plot, which was interesting. If I had to rate the behavior of the characters, it would be in the negatives.

I've read all of the Kay Scarpetta books ... this one was by far the most difficult to follow. I couldn't put the book down until the last few chapters. I became so confused by the plot that I had to scan through the other chapters to see if I missed something. It is an interesting book ... but she could have explained everything in more detail.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is now working at the Natural Forensic Academy where she is the director of forensic science and a consulting forensic pathologist for the Broward County Medical Examiner¿s office. Pete Marino works there as the head of investigations and a part-time death investigator for the Broward County¿s Medical Examiner¿s office. Benton Wesley is at Harvard working on PREDATOR, a study using cutting edge technology to discover whether the brains of mass murderers are different than the average person................ Hog calls Pete Marino who asks Scarpetta to look into the Johnny Swift case. Johnny¿s twin brother discovered him dead. Evidence at first suggested suicide but now the theory is murder might have occurred. Lucy Farinelli,, Kay¿s niece is tracking Johnny¿s last days in the hopes of getting some answers because he was special to her. She picks up Stevie for a one night stand and notices tattoos on her breasts and buttocks. Benton, who is asked to examine a body sees the same tattoos that were on Stevie¿s body. A thug is keeping track of Benton while Kay needs to find the key that will unlock the answers they all seek................. This is a very different book then all the other Kay Scarpetta novels as this is told in the third person and is a stand alone book meaning that it doesn¿t require reading previous novels in the series. The key protagonists go their way as if the previous events in their life didn¿t really change them. This crime thriller is a fantastic work with equal parts of action and character development, but as always the research done on the book is scientifically correct and meticulously researched.................... Harriet Klausner

Very confusing and story lines don't really tie in very well. So far fetched in my opinion.

This was a bit more scattered than other Scarpetta books. There’s also some under developed characters & unfinished stories. Loose ends that are left hanging. The story is very original, though, and a compelling read.

Loved this! Keeps you thinking,.

We have bought all of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta books, We have to say we love all all of them. My husband is a Vietnam vet who flew helicopters in the Vietnam War. The book Predator page 383 Vince is sixty -five and flew Black Hawks in Vietnam and then went to work for ATF. My husband pointed out that Black Hawks never flew in Vietnam, that they didn't become operational until well after the war.The most common helicopter in Vietnam was the Huey UH-1. It is a very minor point in an otherwise excellent book. Regards, Tasha.

Another good one, a bit difficult to follow, but still a great read.

This is my favorite of Patricia's Cornwall's novels about Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

Awful and nonsensical 

A warrior starts a hive

This book was long and tedious. The story did not unfold to the point it made sense until the last 25 pages. Too much psychological babble, too much Benton, Lucy and Marino and not enough of Dr. Scarpetta.

I've read the series up to this point, of course. In general, I have enjoyed them very much although certainly some have been better than others. The problem with this segment is that plot development becomes confusing as the author attempts to build suspense by jumping from story line to story line. This is a common technique used by many/most writers of this genre but sometimes it is difficult to determine which story line I'm reading, and therefore I found the book confusing at times. If you are reading the series, you must read this segment because there are what appear to be important character developments that I suspect will affect future books in the series. But unlike some other Kay Scarpetta episodes that I found hard to put down, this one at times seems like a chore to get through because of confusing plot development.

Love this one!