A Perfect Evil (urspr publ 2000; utgåvan 2012)

Convicted serial killer Ronald Jeffreys was just been executed for the murder of three young boys. Three months after his death, the body of a boy is found butchered in the same style as Jeffrey's victims. Platte City, Nebraska Sheriff Nick Morrelli has no choice but to call in Maggie O'Dell, one of the best special agents in the FBI. Told from multiple points of view, including the killer, we soon discover the boys are being killed as a means of being saved.

The book is fast-paced with enough details to keep the story moving quickly along. Both Maggie and Nick have their own physical and emotional scars. If you're a fan of books feTuring serial killer tracked by the FBI there's not much new here. I did think the characters are interesting enough for me to try the second book in the series,Split Second, which supposedly picks right up after this one and deals with Maggie's back story. ( )

Fast paced action thriller. The romance between Maggie & Nick was too fast and didn’t make much sense. The plot has several illogical issues. ( )

While I guessed the killer correctly early on there were enough plot twists to make me doubt it. would have been a higher rating, but some of the scenes read like many of the cop tv shows so were a bit stilted. overall good read, nuce action. I'll probably continue with the series. ( )

This is the fourth Alex Kava novel featuring FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell, but the first I have read. I had no trouble getting into the story and found O’Dell to be an interesting character. However, while the story stimulated a mild curiosity I am not moved to go back and see what I missed in the earlier books. I will probably read the next book in the series but I have reservations (see below) that temper my enthusiasm.

O’Dell is a profiler who assists in the identification and apprehension of violent criminals and, specifically, serial killers. She is assigned to assist a Nebraska county sheriff in solving the murder of a young boy. O’Dell quickly determines that the murderer had earlier killed two young boys whose deaths were mistakenly attributed to another person. Soon another boy is abducted and murdered, and O’Dell begins to develop romantic feelings for the sheriff while helping him investigate. The situation becomes dire when the sheriff’s nephew is abducted. O’Dell has personally met young Timmy, making the search more personal than in past cases.

Series writers often repeat plot elements and over time they become predictable, boring, and irritating. For example, Sara Paretky’s novels come to mind as a series in which sleep deprivation is evoked repeatedly as a ploy for increasing tension.

In the preceding novel in this series O’Dell was captured by the serial killer and slashed with a knife. The same thing happened to her in this novel. The likelihood is high that Kava will repeat this and other dramatic elements from her previous books in her next book—“A Necessary Evil.” The two-chapter teaser published at the end of this book strongly hints that O’Dell and the sheriff failed to apprehended the actual killer and that he escaped to Venezuela. Furthermore, in this book O’Dell has nightmares as a result of her capture in the preceding book and in a concluding plot twist the serial killer who is the cause of O’Dell’s nightmares escaped from prison.

I was also troubled by one element of “A Perfect Evil” that did not ring true. The county sheriff is a former star University of Nebraska quarterback. He received expressions of interest from NFL teams, but chose to obtain a law degree from Harvard University Law School. However, Kava portrays him as lacking self-confidence and unable to handle criticism. Nonsense. Successful quarterbacks at Power Five universities rank high in self-confidence and the ability to perform effectively despite criticism.

It is perhaps too early to draw comparisons based on a single novel, but I am struck by the similarity of this work to that of Tami Hoag, one of my favorite writers. Several of Hoag’s plots revolve around efforts to identify and apprehend a serial killer, but Hoag manages to bring a fresh approach to each situation. Hopefully, Kava will not fall into a rut and repeat herself in book after book. ( )

Somewhat predictable but engrossing nonetheless.
The main characters are outlined well and there are hints of an underlying story that is still to come. ( )