Trace

Thoroughly enjoyed this book.

あまりにも酷評が並んでいたので迷ったのですが、やっぱりファンとして見逃すわけにはいかず、とりあえず、和英両方で読んでみました。まず原書。三人称に慣れるのに時間がかかりました。今までこのシリーズを読んでいる間検視官スカーペッタになりきっていた私にはショッキングでした。スカーペッタを「彼女」だなんて読み通すのは辛かった〜！でも慣れていけば大丈夫。人間関係の描写や景色、料理の描写にはますます磨きがかかってます。とくに後半、マリーノとケイのホテルでのやりとりが絶品です。例えば人気ドラマ最終回のあとに続編みたいな特別編をやるときがありますよね。この本はそんな感じです。これまでの検視のどろどろ感はあまりないかわりに別のアングルで登場人物を扱っています。で、和訳。これまでも和訳の中で一番手抜きでわかりにくかったです。どうしたんでしょう。がっかりされるのは仕方ないと思いました。でも、期待を低くして読んだからなのか、なかなか面白かったですよ。やっぱり、なにがどうあっても私はCornwellさん（ｽｶｰﾍﾟｯﾀ）のファンなのでしょう。

I am a great fan of the Scarpetta-series, but was very disappointed from "Blowfly" and thus quite reluctant when starting the latest addition. But boy, Scarpetta is back and with a vengeance too!!The current Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia asks Scarpetta to come back to Richmond as an outhouse expert in the case of a girl who seemingly died of the flu about two weeks ago. Although Scarpetta was supposed to go on a vacation to Aspen with Benton and against better judgement as well as against Lucy's advice she flies back to Richmond with Marino. A lot has changed since she was fired about five years ago: her old building is being torn down, she finds the OCME in complete disarray, evidence is being handled carelessly and sloppily. The recently appointed current CME is an incapable scumbag, who doesn't want Scarpetta to be there (he had to call her on behest of the Health Commissioner) and he accuses her of cross-contaminating evidence. Kay has enough problems of her own even without having returned to Richmond: since Benton's "resurrection" she has been physically distant to him and doesn't know whether that will ever change...Marino is on the South-Beach-Diet, still his sloppy, acerbic old self and still carrying a torch for Scarpetta. So much the worse it is for him when she has to examine him for injuries caused by a sexual encounter he shouldn't have had.....Lucy is being stalked and her latest paramour - Henri, a former actress turned LAPD-cop turned Lucy's employee - nearly gets killed. Lucy is getting careless and fears that Rudy will quit his job with The Last Precinct. She has Benton counseling Henri only to find out things about Henri she doesn't want to hear...A tractor driver at the demolition site of the old OCME building gets run over by his tractor but how come that there is the same trace evidence that was there in the "Sick Girl's"-case?Someone attracted to death has obviously started causing it. But who and why? Who is the prime target: Scarpetta or Lucy?Result: The plot is *a lot* better than in "Blow Fly". In fact to me it was as good as in the first Scarpetta-novels: intriguing, gloomy, thrilling, page-turning and simply unputdownable. It felt like the characters had become "alive" again instead of being puppets on the strings . There were only a few minor glitches nagging me that are hardly worth mentioning (e.g. the somewhat abrupt ending). Cornwell even has cut down on her use of acronyms to a more than bearable level. The old Scarpetta is definitely back and since the end is quite an open one, I will gladly accompany her wherever she will go in the next novel, if she stays with us the way she is now. 5* +++!

One of her better stories.

I was pleased to find that all of the discs were present and all of them played without any issues. I have been looking for this book for quite a while, because my first one was missing the last disc.