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The Front

Author: Patricia Cornwell
Publisher: Little, Brown
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

11 reviews
Sales Rank: 29

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.2

ISBN: 1408700514
EAN: 9781408700518
ASIN: 1408700514

Publication Date: May 15, 2008 (New: This Week)
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

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Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

The Front May 15, 2008
The second of Patricia Cornwell's novels focusing on the detective of Win Garano, brings another exciting page turner as expected from the Queen of Crime. The story of a 45 year unsolved murder merged with present day political agendas is an intriguing plotline which will keep you riveted from start to finish. The Front also introduces a humorous element to her work and I particularly enjoyed the exchanges between Win and the new character of Stump. The fascinating forensic techniques are once again utilised and integral to the outcome of the case. Overall, I highly recommend this book, you will not be able to put it down!

2 out of 5 stars

Not one of the best May 15, 2008
Having been an avid reader of Patricia Cornwell from day one I eagerly awaited this latest novel. The main characters from the first Win and Lamont story At Risk haven't really moved forward. This was obviously an excellent opportunity for a romance between Win and Stump but it never happened because of a loose story line. Patricia Cornwell has an outstanding knowledge of not just forensics but the American Judicial System and the politics of policing but the novel was to short and seemed to lack her usual steam resulting in slow easy reading which (forgive the pun)was cruel and unusual. I really love novels with characters formed and used through the writers expertise, hence the Scarpetti chronicles. The characters of Win,Lamont and Stump will I am sure prove to be a hit once they have really evolved but it hasn't happened yet.

5 out of 5 stars

The Front: appearances are deceitful May 15, 2008
Cornwell's new novel The Front is a hall of mirrors: a carefully built storyline, where nothing is what it seems and the reader loses his sense of direction. Someone may say the book is somewhat rushed, not completely satisfying because the homicide is solved rather quickly, but the murder is not what the book is about: the novel concentrates instead on developing complex,ambivalent characters, that lie constantly but for different reasons (power, justice, lust, money, self-preservation). In this jungle-world where everyone fights each other and alliances are born out of immediate contingencies, not even the faith in magic -represented by the skillful Nana- can protect Win from evil and falsehood.
At the end of the book, the balance of good and bad is restored, but for how long? Does the conclusion leave hope for love (Win and Stump), or is this love tainted from the beginning by all the lies that have been told? And is Lamont really trying to do something good, to help THE FRONT, or is she trying again to profit from the situation? Does she have a heart after all or is she just the same ruthless, cold woman? We don't know. In this game of chinese boxes, there is only one certainty: we need to look beyond THE FRONT, because appearances are deceitful.

5 out of 5 stars

A brilliant novel. May 14, 2008
The Front is the second in Patricia Cornwell's Win Garano series of books. As a fan of the Kay Scarpetta series I was more than happy to read this and am glad I did. The plotline is fairly fast moving and the story is very exciting, so much so that I finished the book the day I received it. I look forward to more in this series as it is a wonderful difference from the equally as brilliant Scarpetta. I strongly recommend this novel to fans of crime novels and forensics.

4 out of 5 stars

The Front review May 14, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is the second of Cornwell's Win Garano series. Win Garano is a police detective from Massachusetts who has been assigned a forty-five year old case involving a blind English girl who was murder was never solved. Being a murder mystery and also a thriller there is more to the story, and the characters than first glance would suggest.

I found this book extremely compelling and finished it within one day of starting it. For those familiar with the Scarpetta series for which Cornwell is famous there is plenty to satisfy. There is a fair amount of scientific analysis and political skulduggery which are hallmarks of the Scarpetta books but there is also a lot of differences.

The character of Garano is a gentler, less embittered character than Scarpetta. This could be because he is nearly twenty years younger but these are generally 'lighter' books. I'm a Scarpetta devotee and have read all of the books many times but even I can admit that they are heavy going and can be quite bleak. They have always been saved by the strength of the writing and the complexity of the characters, however the Garano series are spared this darkness whilst retaining excellent stories.

Although I haven't read the first Garano book 'At Risk', I didn't feel at a loss when reading this, and it has inspired me to obtain a copy and fill in the blanks. I suspect that compared with the first book, this one fleshes out the characters and has developed them to a larger degree; the reader finds certain things out about the main characters which obviously weren't in the first book.

I would certainly recommend buying and/or reading this novel as great murder/thrillers with engaging characters are quite difficult to find and what I enjoyed is how up-to-date the book is. Having read a great many books in this genre I have dipped into those which are much older and it is always good to read a book which utilizes the technology which one is familiar with in the present.