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A review by jonetta
A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava
4.0
When a young boy goes missing and is found brutally murdered in Platte City Nebraska days later, Sheriff Nick Morelli is advised to get help from FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell, especially after it appears to match previous crimes of a serial killer who was executed months earlier. O'Dell, however, is still reeling from a harrowing capture of a vicious killer a month ago where she almost lost her life.
The case was extremely interesting and captured my interest immediately. However, I found the relationship between Nick and Maggie to be a distraction. She's a highly touted profiler but never really created a strong imprint on the case. Nick came across as supremely incompetent and vacuous. And, I think that was the intent.
What saved the story were the actual cases (especially the last abduction) and the points of view provided by the killer. They were chilling and well crafted. I wasn't fond of the ending as it left me floundering...it wasn't clever nor was it a compelling twist. It just felt unfinished. Since I think this story was a victim of what I consider "first-book-itis," I'm looking forward to continuing because there were quite a few elements that worked. 3.5 stars
The case was extremely interesting and captured my interest immediately. However, I found the relationship between Nick and Maggie to be a distraction. She's a highly touted profiler but never really created a strong imprint on the case. Nick came across as supremely incompetent and vacuous. And, I think that was the intent.
What saved the story were the actual cases (especially the last abduction) and the points of view provided by the killer. They were chilling and well crafted. I wasn't fond of the ending as it left me floundering...it wasn't clever nor was it a compelling twist. It just felt unfinished. Since I think this story was a victim of what I consider "first-book-itis," I'm looking forward to continuing because there were quite a few elements that worked. 3.5 stars