Isle of Dogs - Softcover

Cornwell, Patricia Daniels

3.14

8,415 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316858609 ISBN 13: 9780316858601

Publisher: Berkley Pub Group, 2002

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Unabridged. Eight cassettes, 12 hours.

From the #1 bestselling author of Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross, an irreverent portrait of politically driven law enforcement run amok.

Patricia Cornwell's novels of big-city police have taken this classic genre to a new level. "Move over, Carl Hiaasen, you've got company," the San Francisco Examiner warned. "Patricia Cornwell has switched to Hiaasen's world of black humor and nearly conquers it." USA Today concurred: "Cornwell has coined a new penny." With Isle of Dogs, Cornwell outdoes herself with a wry tale of life and turmoil behind the blue wall.

Chaos breaks loose when the governor of Virginia orders that speed traps be painted on all streets and highways, warning that speeders will be caught by monitoring aircraft flying overhead. But the eccentric Isle of Tangier, fourteen miles off the coast of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay, responds by declaring war on its own state. Judy Hammer, newly installed as the superintendent of the Virginia State Police, and Andy Brazil, a state trooper and Hammer's right hand and confidant, find themselves at their wits' end as they try to protect the public from the politicians-and vice versa-in this pitch-perfect, darkly comic romp.

With a Swiftian eye for the absurd and dead-accurate aim on her targets, Cornwell delivers another knowing story of the lives of the men and women in blue.

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Review:

Be aware: this is not your typical Patricia Cornwell novel. Not only is there no Kay Scarpetta, but Isle of Dogs is a comic romp, a real departure for this author. It does center around a couple of characters from past books--police chief Judy Hammer and reporter-turned-cop Andy Brazil of Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross. But the plot, style, and tone will remind you more of Carl Hiaasen's dark comedies.

The madcap doings get underway when the addled, nearly blind governor of Virginia confusedly launches a speed-trap program on isolated Tangier Island, whose prickly, eccentric residents promptly attempt secession. Cornwell adeptly interweaves other crisscrossing plot lines involving a gang of street-stupid thugs gunning for Hammer and Brazil, an angel-faced serial killer, a kidnapped dog, and more. She does miss a few beats: the pacing sags during certain episodes, and at times the writing strains so hard for laughs that instead it draws winces. Nonetheless, Isle of Dogs is for the most part a funny, diverting read and a refreshing departure for Cornwell. --Nicholas H. Allison

About the Author:

Patricia Cornwell's international bestsellers include Postmortem-the only novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in a single year-and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the year's best crime novel in 1993. Her fictional chief medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, won the 1999 Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author. Cornwell divides her time between New York City and Richmond, Virginia, where she has helped establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, the first forensic training facility of its kind in the nation. Cornwell serves as the Institute's Chairman of the Board.

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