If you're looking for a good Kay Scarpetta adventure, skip this book. While the spirited Quincy-like ME appears in this novel, she's just a bit player. Part of the Andy Brazil series, Isle of Dogs turned out, for me anyway, to be a bust. (FYI, Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross were this book's predecessors.)Jumping off from her more serious writing, Cornwell takes a breather, it seems, and penned this odd 400+ page story of pirates, politics, murder, and anthropomorphic* fish, crabs, and dogs.The book starts out with a Dean Koontz flavor. Unique First is 18, beautiful, and deadly. She turns invisible by rearranging her molecules. She is a reincarnated Nazi. She kills people with a box cutter. You can read part of chapter one here.Soon, however, the reader meets Andy Brazil, a handsome state patrol officer who is operating undercover as Trooper Truth, posting essays about the history of Virginia on a Web site that somehow takes the state by storm. Everyone is reading Trooper Truth. The essays are in the book. They deal with mummies, a history of Tangier Island (where the people, descended from pirates, talk "backwards"), cannibalism, spontaneous combustion... Oh yeah, and the end of ever essay has a short paragraph about finding a missing dog, keeping an eye out for bad guys, some actual law-related stuff like that. I failed to see a) why the public would be drooling over the next Trooper Truth posting, and b) what any of it really had to do with crime. It seemed more like a contrived way to have bad guys and good guys communicate using modern technology. (After all, Trooper Truth uses instant messaging!)If you've seen Minority Report, you might be able to relate to this criticism: It seems like Cornwell had a really good foundation for a story, but then couldn't decide if it was supposed to be a comedy, a commentary, a history lesson, or a crime story. It's too much for one book and I really didn't want to finish it, but I did it for you, dear Reader.The character names were even a little annoying - Dr. Faux, a cheating dentist; Major Trader, a treacherous press secretary to the governor; Hooter Shook, a saucy tollbooth operator; Popeye, a hostage female Boston terrier. It's reminiscent of a good Hiaasen book, without the pacing and action.Of course, I'm sure there are some people out there who would like the book, after all it made #14 on Publisher's Weekly's bestsellers list for 2001 (625,202 copies sold - I got mine at the library).
This was quite possibly, not only the worst book I have ever read by Patricia Cornwell, but the worst book I have ever read hands down. What a disappointment. I've kept up with the Kay Scarpetta series (which has also been going downhill in the last few books), and thought I'd branch out and read the other series she has written. The Win Garrano series wasn't bad, and was short and sweet (which made it tolerable). However, the Andy Brazil series takes the cake. Hornets Nest (first in the series) was actually pretty entertaining. But her writing went into a downward spiral with Southern Cross and culminated in her worst novel yet with Isle of Dogs.First of all, one of the main characters, who was present through the first two books, is not mentioned at all in Isle of Dogs. What happened to her? I kept reading, thinking, she'll address this at some point, but about halfway through the book, I realized it wasn't going to happen. Poor form.Second, as a native Virginian (and much surprised, as Cornwell is too), I was appalled by how ignorant Cornwell made the majority of her characters sound. Thanks for making every Virginia resident sound like a bunch of redneck, slack-jawed yokels that can't even tell right from left. I can't speak for Tangerians, as I have never been to the island, but I can't imagine they're as stupid and backwards as she has made them out to be, and believe me, I've heard stories.You should be ashamed of yourself for writing such dreck Patricia Cornwell. How you were able to show your face in public after this disaster baffles me.
What do You think about Isle Of Dogs (2002)?
I would agree... If this were Cornwell's only bad book.She used to be one of my favorite authors, but the entire Andy Brazil series starts out bad and becomes terrible. On top of that, her wonderful Scarpetta series took an unexplained dive from excellent to ridiculous beginning with The Last Precinct. Even her writing style changed suddenly; from first-person, past tense to third-person, present tense (From: "I entered the room and looked around" to "Scapetta enters the room and looks around.") I still highly recommend all the Scarpetta books up to Black Notice.
—Linda
I was a die-hard Cornwell fan and even stuck with her when the quality of her writing began to go downhill. Because her early books were so compelling, I kept believing in her long after her gold had turned to dross. However, "Isle of Dogs" was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. It's clear to me that Patricia Cornwell has lost respect for her fans and thinks they'll buy whatever she's selling, no matter how poorly written. Is this what happens when authors start believing their own PR? I wash my hands of you, Patricia Cornwell.
—Tamela
