Another twisted Mallory tale. ( )

This Mallory story is dominated, from page one, by Detective Riker. Poor Riker got shot by a punk who had been released on a technicality. He is on furlough, traumatized by his ordeal. He fears that the man stalking him may be the punk alive, even though Mallory proudly presented him with pictures of the punk dead. He is minding a relative's forensic cleaning service. He is following in love with a woman who has started working for the company, a woman who used to be a psychologist - and once was the member of a jury that inexplicably freed a celebrity accused of murder - a jury whose members are having their throats slit, one by one. This is a rather tense Mallory adventure that ends of course with Riker losing his love, but in a way that is convincing and satisfying. O'Connell, as usual, writes a good thriller and a good literary novel at the same time. She is usually better at ending the latter than the former but she does well with both endings here. ( )

A simple story, exceedingly complicated perhaps with the goal of creating some suspence. I would have prefered a less cryptic approach, giving that the characters had enough interesting features of their own, not developed as they would have deserved in my opinion. On the contrary, I find that the author has given too much emphasis on issues such as police procedures, relations between local police and fbi,... I have found those parts so boring! ( )

This book is one of a series of books by Carol O'Connell about a beautiful, damaged, maverick, and almost sociopathic detective named Kathleen Mallory (who insists on being called simply "Mallory"), and the people that love her despite her flaws: Charles, an intelligent, rich, but ugly family friend; Lou, the cop that takes her in; and Riker, her adopted father's partner. The relationships that develop between these characters as they solve crimes together are the focus of the series.

This story (the seventh in the series), has Mallory on her own, investigating the murders of members of a jury. The story is interesting and multi-layered, as are all of the Mallory stories. ( )

One of my favorite series. This is where O'Connell really shone, with a protagonist and characters who were both sympathetic and adversarial. I'm looking forward to going back and re-reading all of her Kathleen Mallory stories. They are exceptional.

My personal favorite of the Mallory series, even though Ms. O'Connell decided not to bring back in future stories what I thought could have been a strong, very interesting character, with great appeal! ( )