Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Cornwell, Patricia - David Sexton (review date 1 March 1997)

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David Sexton (review date 1 March 1997)

SOURCE: Sexton, David. “Brazil, Where the Nuts Come From.” Spectator 278, no. 8797 (1 March 1997): 29–30.

[In the following review, Sexton offers a negative assessment of Hornet's Nest, criticizing Cornwell's attempts at interjecting comedy into the novel and the growing self piety in her heroines.]

It's rarely the inventors who profit most from their discoveries. Thomas Harris is the genius of the modern thriller, if you take as a definition of genius expanding the very possibilities of a form. But, like the best innovators, Harris has not deigned to repeat himself. He has published only three novels so far: Black Sunday, an apprentice piece, in 1975; Red Dragon, the first to feature Hannibal Lecter, in 1981; and, greatly superior, The Silence of the Lambs in 1988.

Despite the huge success of both the books and the films, Harris has still not published the...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Charles Champlin (review date 11 February 1990)
   2. Joan Hamerman Robbins (review date 7 July 1991)
   3. Charles Champlin (review date 20 September 1992)
   4. Eva Schegulla (review date summer 1993)
   5. Bettina Berch (review date fall 1993)
   6. Charles Champlin (review date 4 September 1994)
   7. Dinitia Smith (review date 11 September 1994)
   8. Maureen Corrigan (review date 20 August 1995)
   9. Jonathan Coe (review date 1 October 1995)
   10. Mary Scott (review date 13 October 1995)
   11. Mary Cantwell (essay date 14 July 1996)
   12. David Sexton (review date 1 March 1997)
   13. Kirkus Reviews (review date 1 July 1997)
   14. Paul Skenazy (review date 20 July 1997)
   15. Peter Messent (essay date fall–winter 2000)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright