On Patricia Cornwell's At Risk 18 years, 3 months ago by Martey Dodoo

An autumn storm has pounded Cambridge all day and is set to play a violent encore into the night. Lightning sears and thunder startles as Winston Garano (Win or Geronimo most people call him) strides through the dusk along the eastern border of Harvard Yard.

With such a beginning, it was obvious that I would have to read the remainder of the first installment of Patricia Cornwell's At Risk, serialized in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. I was afraid that the Cambridge mentioned in the title of this week's chapter would refer to that other Cambridge, and that I was about to be exposed to a tale about English college life.

Even more disappointingly, the writing in the piece was annoying. It might be because I advocate a concise writing style ala Hemingway, but I felt Cornwell's writing was far too wordy. I thought it unneccessary for every noun to have one or two adjectives, and that her long descriptions of locations and clothing were tedious.