This is the book that started it all for Alex Kava's Maggie O'Dell series.All I can say is 'wow' for a first book!
I've read her books before and have always loved them and this one was no exception.
A serial killer eludes an FBI profiler and a smalltown Nebraska sheriff in Kava's engaging debut, which manages to remain entertaining despite a fairly conventional plot line. As the story opens, recently appointed Sheriff Nick Morelli is as relieved as the rest of the citizens of Platte City that his predecessor, who also happens to be his father, has captured the child killer who plagued the town. But after the killer is executed, another child is discovered dead, and Morelli realizes that the convicted man was in fact a copycat killer, leaving the original criminal still on the prowl. Morelli gets some much-needed help in the investigation from FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell, but the hunt gets complicated when Morelli's sister, a journalist, leaks info to the media. Things become even stickier when O'Dell unearths a couple of unlikely suspects who've been dismissed by the police, and the search takes on a new level of urgency when Morelli's nephew is abducted and appears to be the next victim. Kava keeps her prose simple, but she does a nice job of setting up the chemistry between O'Dell and Morelli while balancing the various family issues Morelli faces in the investigation. She also makes good use of the smalltown milieu, tightening the tension by establishing that the killer is part of the fabric of the community. The result is a well-crafted page-turner involving the reader in the specter of murder in an intimate and disturbing fashion, with a plausible setup for a sequel. (Publisher's Weekly)
Suitably creepy, the ending makes you want to rush out to read the sequel.
As for the sparks between Maggie and Nick...phew, the sexual tension between these two just burns up the pages!
I love a good thriller with a splash of romance and this book delivered in spades.
What are you reading this week?
6 comments:
Great post. I've got one of Alex Kava's SPLIT SECOND. This week I read Amy Andrews 2 medicals AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL, THE MIDWIFE"S MIRACLE BABY/ Donna Alward's BREATH/ Delaney Diamond's THE ARRANGEMENT and Kaily Hart's PAY UP.
I'm reading Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig. I've enjoyed this series so much, I introduced it to a friend of mine. Now she's already ahead of me!
Wow, Nas, I love that you're a prolific reader :)
Ooh, sounds good, Jill.
I'm reading Separate Beds by Elizabeth Buchan. She's a fabulous writer and this a very grown book about a family in all kinds of trouble with a marriage gone wrong at the heart. Loving it.
Sounds good, Liz, I'll check it out! Thanks x
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