The Front, by Patricia Cornwell

I really enjoyed this book. I have read almost all of Patricia Cornwell’s novels but I had not had the opportunity to read The Front. I was really excited to find out right from the beginning that this book took place in the Boston area. I think I was able to get in the book and especially the characters even more having been to a lot of the places that were used as the setting. Even though this book is fiction and seems more real somehow.

I also like the story line or plot that basically is dissolved to the massive amount of corruption in both politics as well as law enforcement. It is a little scary how the two are related at least in this novel. The under the surface favors, the back scratching, and the self raucousness was a page turner for me. I wanted to see just how far these people were willing to go to save their own skin, and it turns out quite far.

As an editor I perhaps would suggest that Cornwell spend a little more time having her readers get to know her main character Win. At least for her faithful followers it is very different reading a Patricia Cornwell novel without her famous main character Kay Sarpetta. It is not that The Front is not an excellent novel, it just has a different tone and feel than her other novels.

I most [certainly] would recommend this book to another reader. I thought it was very interesting and fun. It is on the short side for a Cornwell novel so it goes fast and the reader stays involved for the entire novel. I would certainly recommend this book to people who already have a love for Patricia Cornwell’s writing, as well as people who are unfamiliar with her work. Her book contain many similarities with a lot the TV criminal dramas that are and have been popular. If a reader is into a criminal mystery Cornwell’s The Front would be a great choice for them.

by Liz Pare