Hornet's Nest
Patricia Cornwell, 1996
★ 3.40 from 19.1k ratings on Goodreads
Cornwell leaves the morgue for a whole Southern city: an angry deputy chief, a rookie reporter and the crimes swarming between them. The story moves with a blend of dark gothic atmosphere and unexpected humor, balancing moments of deep tenderness with the stark reality of death.
Feels like tenderness, humor and joy. About freedom, death and adventure.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy crime fiction that prioritizes character interactions and Southern setting. Be aware that some readers found the plotting cluttered or the main characters immature.
Why read it
This novel offers a gritty look at the intersection of police work and local life, providing a blend of humor and serious investigation.
A page from the book
What it feels like to watch the world through a pane of glass.
Brazil had never felt he belonged here or anywhere, really. It was as if he watched people through a pane of glass. He could not touch others no matter how hard he tried, and they could not touch him, unless they were mentors. He had been falling in love with teachers, coaches, ministers, campus security, administrators, deans, doctors, nurses since he could remember. They were accepting, even appreciative, of his unusual reflections and solitary peregrinations, and the writings he shyly shared when he visited after hours, usually bearing limeades from the M&M soda shop or cookies from his mother’s kitchen. Brazil, simply put, was a writer, a scribe of life and all in it. He had accepted his calling with humility and a brave heart. What readers say
Readers are divided: some found the characters warm and the story funny and fast-paced, while many were annoyed by immature leads, slow or cluttered plotting, and repeated stereotypes. The mystery often felt secondary.
Patricia Cornwell.Before Scarpetta, Cornwell was a police reporter at the Charlotte Observer; she later worked inside Richmond's medical examiner's office, where her most famous character was born.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Hornet's Nest for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy crime fiction that prioritizes character interactions and Southern setting. Be aware that some readers found the plotting cluttered or the main characters immature.
- What is Hornet's Nest like?
- The story moves with a blend of dark gothic atmosphere and unexpected humor, balancing moments of deep tenderness with the stark reality of death. Feels like tenderness, humor and joy. About freedom, death and adventure.
- What should I read after Hornet's Nest?
- If you liked Hornet's Nest, try The Girl Who Played with Fire (Stieg Larsson), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (John le Carré) and A Time to Kill (John Grisham).
A taste of the feed
Five seconds in which someone decides you are not there.
Three days later, he had taken the tunnelbana from Slussen to T-Centralen, and when the train stopped in Gamla Stan he looked out of the window and she was standing on the platform not two metres away. He caught sight of her at the exact moment the doors closed. For five seconds she stared right through him, as though he were nothing but air, before she turned and walked out of his field of vision as the train began to move.
The Girl Who Played with Fire · Stieg Larsson
The arithmetic of betrayal, explained over a pint in a suburban pub.
Now whole vistas of deceit opened before Guillam. His friends, his loves, even the Circus itself, joined and re-formed in endless patterns of intrigue. A line of Mendel’s came back to him, dropped two nights ago as they drank beer in some glum suburban pub: “Cheer up, Peter, old son. Jesus Christ only had twelve, you know, and one of them was a double.”
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy · John le Carré
The case a good dog would make for himself, if anyone asked.
It would perhaps not be amiss to point out that he had always tried to be a good dog. He had tried to do all the things his MAN and his WOMAN, and most of all his BOY, had asked or expected of him. He would have died for them, if that had been required. He had never wanted to kill anybody. He had been struck by something, possibly destiny, or fate, or only a degenerative nerve disease called rabies. Free will was not a factor.
Cujo · Stephen King
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