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What readers think of Southern Cross, plus links to write your own review.

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Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell

Southern Cross

by Patricia Cornwell
  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Readers' Rating (8):
  • First Published:
  • Jan 11, 1999, 359 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Dec 1999, 400 pages
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Reviews

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There are currently 15 reader reviews for Southern Cross
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Christos Kotsis

There is alot i can say about this book but i only need to say one, and that is that this book is the best book i ever read. The main reason that this book got my attention and a high rating is because i could really see where the charators are coming from.
Eva

I like Cornwell's Scarpetta books, but I've read so many of them now that I'm beginning to feel I know the pattern. This is something totally different. I loved the characters, especially the cat :)


As usual I enjoyed the book. I have yet to read a Cornwell book that I have not enjoyed. I liked the humor of the animals and the characters. They are very lifelike and I would recommend the book to anyone.
billy bob thorton

the plot was absolutely fantastico!
Power Reviewer
Cloggie Downunder

Lesser Cornwell
I read the 3 Andy Brazil books against advice from more than one person. I wanted to see for myself if they really were that bad. I liked the Scarpetta books (although I thought that the endings of some of those books were too rushed, too contrived). The Andy Brazil books are nothing like those! Hornet's Nest is probably the best of the three, although the characters are shallow and unconvincing and the plot is weak and implausible. There is some humour and some sexual tension which is frustrating for lack of relief. 5/10. Southern Cross degenerates from this. Ms Cornwell seems to be having fun at our expense, but the result isn't really funny or vaguely satisfying. 3/10. Isle of Dogs, well, how much lower can you go? What were you thinking, Ms Cornwell? Or what drugs were you on? This book was ridiculous! I persisted to the end of these books because I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Not sure why I bothered. Even if one reads these as tongue-in-cheek romps through the workings of a Police Dept, the final book is hugely disappointing. 1/10. Scarpetta fans who pay full price for these books will feel angry and very much cheated. Luckily I bought mine 2nd hand. Readers whose first taste of Cornwell is one of these books will never buy another. Whatever you do, don't pay full price for these books!
Sharon

This book is so different from the Cornwall we've all come to love.The characters and immensely dislikeable and self absorbed. The "black" humour purportedly in the book is not even remotely funny as these characters stumble around in the dark trying to work out their personal lives with a barely fleshed out story line playing poor second fiddle.
Stryder

Southern Cross-Dont bother
Southern Cross was one of those books that you want your time back after reading it. The story line reaches and stretches to make everything come together. I feel that all of the characters (adult and young alike) have this awkward teenage angsty feel about them. I understand that a writer can take some liberty in writing a book, but too much, and the book just stinks. This book in my opinion, stinks. I would relate it to one of those late night "B" movies that you start watching because you can't sleep, and before you know it, you continue watching the movie, just to see how foolish and outlandish it will get. And then you realize that it is 4 in the morning, and you should have been asleep hours ago, knowing that you'll regret having stayed up so late wasting your time. This is how I feel about this book.
wampyrii

Oh dear...

It is a shame, but judging by this, Isle Of Dogs and Hornet's Nest it looks like Patricia Cornwell is incapable of writing any novels other than those featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta. All three of those novels are puerile nonsense of the highest order, featuring clairvoyant crime solving cats in this one, typing crime solving dogs in Isle Of Dogs...and thats just for starters. Anyone who has ever read Cornwell's intelligent Scarpetta novels will feel this is another author entirely here working with Cornwell's name attached to shift copies. Utter trash, deeply unentertaining and downright offensive in how it insults its reader's intelligence.
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