At the Stroke of Madness
By Alex Kava
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
FBI Special Agent Maggie O'Dell is just starting a vacation when she gets a call from her friend, psychologist Dr. Gwen Patterson. One of Gwen's patients is missing on a trip to Connecticut. Can Maggie look into Joan Begley's disappearance?
At first Maggie dismisses Gwen's concern. But when the body of a woman is discovered in an abandoned rock quarry in Connecticut, Maggie heads to the small town on "unofficial" business. Soon the shocking news surfaces that more bodies have been discovered, and Maggie is drawn into a case that confounds both local law enforcement and a seasoned criminal profiler like herself.
But where is Joan Begley? Is she in fact the woman discovered buried in the quarry? Or is she the unwilling guest of a killer obsessed with possessing an unimaginable prize from his victims?
Alex Kava
ALEX KAVA GREW UP IN THE COUNTRY outside Silver Creek, Nebraska. She earned a bachelor's degree in art and English from College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska. She has done a variety of jobs, from working as a hospital tech, cleaning and sterilizing utensils from surgery, pathology and the morgue, to running her own graphic design firm, designing national food labels and directing television and radio commercials. IN 1996 SHE QUIT HER JOB as a public relations director to dedicate herself to writing a novel and getting published. To pay the bills, she refinanced her home, maxed out her credit cards and even took on a newspaper delivery route. TODAY, ALEX IS A NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR of psychological suspense novels. Her Maggie O'Dell series, comprised of A Perfect Evil, Split Second, The Soul Catcher, At the Stroke of Madness, A Necessary Evil, Exposed and Black Friday along with her stand-alone novels, One False Move and Whitewash, have been widely praised by critics and fans. They have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Her books have been published in twenty-four countries and have hit the bestseller lists in Australia, Germany, Poland, Italy and the UK. She is also one of the featured writers in the anthology Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, edited by James Patterson. ONE FALSE MOVE WAS SELECTED AS Nebraska's 2006 One Book One Nebraska. (My Antonia by Willa Cather was the 2005 selection). In 2007 Alex was awarded the Mari Sandoz Award by the Nebraska Library Association. Whitewash made January Magazine's list of best thrillers for 2007. Exposed,Black Friday and 2011's DAMAGED received starred reviews by Publishers Weekly. 2010 marked Alex's ten year anniversary as an author with the publication of her tenth novel, Damaged (Doubleday, July 13th). HOTWIRE, her ninth Maggie O'Dell will be released July 12th, 2011. She also has co-authored two short stories in anthologies to be published in June and August: First Thrills, edited by Lee Child (After Dark, co-authored with Deb Carlin) and Florida Heat Wave, edited by Michael Lister (A Breath of Hot Air, co-authored with Patricia Bremmer is now on KINDLE. ALEX WRITES FULL-TIME AND LIVES IN Omaha, Nebraska and Pensacola, Florida (where her 2010 book, Damaged is set). She is a member of International Thrillers Writers.
Read more from Alex Kava
Goodnight, Sweet Mother Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5One False Move Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Off the Grid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for At the Stroke of Madness
156 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a great series. Hope to read all the books soon!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At the Stroke of Madness by Alex Kava
Maggie O’Dell (book #4)
4 stars
Synopsis:
Maggie is asked by her friend, Dr. Gwen Patterson, to look into the disappearance of a patient. At the same time, several bodies are found stuffed into barrels in a quarry near the patient’s last known location. Is she one of the corpses? Who killed them and why?
Review:
The plot is enjoyable and well-paced. The new characters are easy to like, and the killer's motivation is unique as far as serial killer’s go. The problem is that I did not get that “can’t put it down” feeling that comes with really good books. In addition, I felt that Maggie's character was under-developed. She does not seem to be growing or learning from her mistakes. She keeps getting herself into the same situations with the different killers in the series. I am interested to see where the characters are going, especially Tully and Gwen, so I will keep on reading.
Recommendation: Read if you are enjoying the series as a whole. It may not be a good stand-alone. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a fast easy read. Not real deep and the whodunnit person was almost introduced at the end (Not really but MUCH more time was given to the false leads). We were given 2-3 possible suspects by inference and the last one added was the first one released. I'd probably call this one popcorn reading, enjoyable but not a lot of weight.