Reviews

Dotyk zła by Alex Kava

thekindredreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

[3.5 Stars] It’s been a few years since I’ve read this series but I found that I still enjoy Maggie O’Dell as a character and the overall premise of the books. This was a good first book and honestly I could have done without the romance aspect because her character is a strong one and could have stood alone. 

elvang's review against another edition

4.0

I love a book that keeps me up late reading and gets me out of bed early to grab just a few more pages before I start my day. Kava has done a stellar job building characters and settings and her Maggie O'Dell is my kind of strong if tortured protagonist.

I liked the fast pace of this thriller. If the sign of a great book is that you feel like you are scrambling along a cold muddy river bank running and hiding for your life along side the victims and hunters then this is a great book. There are the requisite red herrings but not so many as to leave the reader feeling let down that they were not part of the crime solving team.

Great start to the series.

belle505's review against another edition

4.0

1st Alex Kava book for me. I knew she wouldn't disappoint. Would recommend.

horrorbound's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lpcoolgirl's review against another edition

5.0

This was a dark book, really great mystery, though with a hard topic. And it looks like this book was published in 2000, which was before the big scandal, and the fact that they couldn't believe a priest was doing this, well, don't think that would be so much of a problem now!

bettyboop25's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It got 4 stars only because of the ending...I feel like it was long and dragged out. I really liked the plot of the book and the characters were really developed and I can't wait to see where the Stucky case goes.

slammy90's review against another edition

3.0

Sono dell'idea che in un thriller il lettore voglia immedesimarsi - in un certo senso - nel detective e riuscire a ricostruire l'identità del killer con gli indizi che vengono raccolti.. Quindi già quando ogni tot capitoli viene narrato il POV dell'assassino mi innervosisce.. Però quando l'assassino è palese e manifesto già a pagina venti mi si smonta l'entusiasmo :(
Per carità, ho apprezzato moltissimo l'agente O'Dell (su cui per altro è incentrata la serie dell'autrice.. E io che pensavo fosse sul personaggio maschile!), le indagini sono anche ben strutturate e tutto sommato un po' di pathos è anche presente.. Ma io sapevo fin dall'inizio quale sarebbe stato il prossimo bambino a venir rapito e da chi. Che gusto c'è :(

Poi - ma qui mi rendo conto essere un mio problema - la storia mi ha messo un po' a disagio per il tema trattato.. E mi è salita una gran rabbia di fronte ad un prete che conosce l'identità di un killer di bambini (che si è confessato) ma non dice niente per il segreto della confessione.. Ecco, no: io questo proprio non l'accetto. Mi fa schifo e ribrezzo questa cosa!!!!

E per finire: l'epilogo. No, dai.. Che vergogna :(

syntheticdragon's review against another edition

3.0

This book fits the bill just nicely when someone wants a traditional, easy to understand mystery. Nothing overly complicated in terms of jargon or terminology that'd send readers to frantically Google search. The plot was easy to follow, even for folks like myself that aren't used to reading mystery novels. As for the plot, the Author tries to keep the reader guessing on who the real killer is, and fails miserably at their attempt at confusing us. The "usual suspects" are easy to rule out, and you know pretty much before half the book is over who is actually doing the killings.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that wants a simple mind numbing mystery to kill some time with, but with the bland characters and straight lined plot, I hesitate on rating it more than 3 stars.

tareka's review against another edition

3.0

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

yanina_daniele's review against another edition

5.0

Al principio tenía mis dudas porque casi desde el vamos es que nos damos cuenta quien es el asesino, o por lo menos le tiramos la ficha a uno de los personajes. Sin embargo, a medida que va pasando la historia, surgen tantos sospechosos que uno no termina de estar segura si es o no el asesino el que pensamos. Esa intriga, el querer saber como se van a desarrollar las cosas, como ciertos personajes que parecen que no pintan nada terminan involucrados en la trama, hacen que sientas deseos de seguir y seguir sabiendo que pasa. Quizás, lo que me molestó un poco es, las miles de vueltas que dan tanto Maggie como Nick con sus propios sentimientos, que sí que no.. que lo dejamos ahí.... eso me saca de mis casillas.. no es la parte fundamental de la historia pero esta dando vueltas a cada rato, la tensión entre ellos, el querer y no poder.. que te dan ganas de agarrarlos y encerrarlos en una habitación hasta que hagan lo que tienen que hacer o se dejen de fastidiar con el tema (de romántica yo nada =P ). El final no es lo que esperaba o al menos, no es el típico final al que estoy acostumbrada, razón por la cual se ganó unos puntos extras y hace que esté aún más contenta por haberme comprado los otros 2 tomos de la serie jejeje. En fin, para los que le gusta la intriga y el suspenso, es un libro muy recomendado.