Fast, funny, melange of conundrums, and very forgettable

IT took a while for the penny to drop. A little more than half way through this sequel to Hornet's Nest, it clicked. It struck me that Patricia Cornwell was taking the mickey.

This is the first Cornwell book I've read, and possibly the last. Not because it was bad, because it wasn't. So for the record, I'll spout all the back-cover promotional bumph and get it out of the way because yes, it's true, it is 'fast', it is a 'melange of personal conundrums', and it is, at times, 'funny'. ('Roller-coaster' seemed to be pushing it a bit though).

But despite all this, on reading the final page I was left with an overwhelming feeling of . . . well, nothing. If this book were a colour, it would be a translucent beige.

Admittedly this is a sequel, and having missed the '. . . riveting, stay-up-all-night chiller' (Elle magazine) first instalment, perhaps it was my fault for being unable to empathise with the characters.

Then again, perhaps it was Cornwell's. After all, it is her job to strike the right balance between developing the three central characters for those who discovered them in Hornet's Nest - with Southern Cross being only the second in the series - and introducing them for the reader who, like me, may have missed that 'fast-moving, gripping and hugely entertaining' (Sunday Telegraph) 'gripping (again) plot' (Cosmopolitan).

But I know there are dedicated Cornwell fans out there; in fact there are $190-million, three-book-deal's worth of Cornwell fans out there, who may consider the second instalment of the trials and tribulations of troubled police chief Judy Hammer, biological-clock-ticking deputy Virginia West and hunky but sensitive officer Andy Brazil 'high drama' (Little, Brown).