Rating: 
Summary: Painful Read
Review: I had trouble maintaining interest in this novel at all. Mallory's Oracle is the story of Kathleen Mallory's investigation of her adopted father's (Lewis Markowitz) murder. Markowitz' murder comes in the middle of a search for a serial killer that murders elderly women. Kathleen is a New York policewoman, whose specialty is computers. Mallory is a smart, tough woman who seems to be an emotional shell of a person. Mallory is the adoptive daughter of Lewis and Helen Markowitz. Lewis was a policeman that caught Kathleen, at the age of ten, living off the streets and stealing. Markowitz and his wife raise Mallory and try to take the street out of her. After her father's murder Mallory is aided in her search for a serial killer by Charles Butler, a former close friend of her father. The book is full of eccentric characters that add the only interesting moments in the book.
Mallory is not a character that I really liked. Throughout the book she was too hard, too smart, too pretty. She was just too much. I was unable to identify with the Mallory at all. She is not the kind of person I would have to my house for fear she might make off with the silverware. Kathleen has no morals. Her early street influence seems too powerful to overcome. Mallory is a thief that happens to work for the cops. The story also has several stories that are left hanging at the end of the book. Large parts of the story left me asking, "What the heck was that?" Overall, this is a book I would avoid at all costs. I painfully dragged through each and every page.
Rating: 
Summary: I am in awe of a great writer with a promising future
Review: I approached Carol O'Connell's 'Mallory' series in the wrong way. By accident I read the fourth book in her series first. Normally this would have the effect of ruining the series for me, instead it sent me running to the bookstore to get the first instalment. 'Mallory's Oracle' is a superb book. Finally we have a view of a cop that is not a chisel jawed jock. Instead we are presented with Mallory a female detective with an obviously scarred past that will not let anyone close to her. She secures herself amongst computers and modems, it is here, and only here where she feels totally safe. The novel progresses along a very good plot bulked out with interesting characters and excellent dialogue, for those who have read it take Charles' first experience of the poker game as an example, see how easily O'Connell manages to mingle two conversations seemlessly creating a scene which sticks in the mind of the reader. I cannot press onto propsective readers how much I enjoyed this book and i urge everyone to read it and O'Connell's other novels in this series. I look forward to more offerings and hope that O'Connell goes from strength to strength.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't grab me.
Review: I bought a later book in this seres (Crime School) so I decided to start from the beginning by reading the book that started it all.I had to "make myself" read this book. I have to agree with the other reveiwers that didn't like the main character. There is nothing to like about her. She's unaproachable and several times you are told she "smirks" or "smiles" but it isn't meant in a friendly manner. The other characters are just "ok" and the plot is a little on the boring side in that the action doesn't move quickly. This being the first book in the series, I'm not ready to give up on Mallory yet. I'll read the rest with that hopes that this first one is just the warm up and the characters will grow with each book. The only positive thing about being dissapointed in this is that there is a lot of room for improvement and I look forward to seeing in the books to come.
Rating: 
Summary: Mallory's Oracle
Review: Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell, is an interesting murder mystery that draws the reader into the life and mind of Kathleen Mallory, a police computer whiz who uses her expertise to unravel a stock conspiracy and expose a serial killer. After her father, a cop, is murdered by a serial killer, Mallory takes up her father's investigation and begins her own pursuit. O'Connell creates intrigue as the reader is introduced to the many suspects and the possible motives for the murders.
Although the story is intriguing, the reader may find the protagonist, Mallory, a challenge to understand. She was an abandoned child living on the streets when she was caught in a stolen car and taken in by the cop who would become her father. As an adult, she is beautiful, intelligent and resourceful. However, she uses unethical practices, hacking into computer files and intimidating fellow officers and suspects, in her own investigation. She is tough, unemotional and determined to find her father's murderer, no matter what rules she must break to accomplish her goal.
If you like murder mysteries, Mallory's Oracle is a fairly good read. O'Connell does a good job of grabbing the reader's attention and enticing the reader to follow the story to its conclusion. As the first book in a series, Mallory's Oracle is written well enough to attract readers to follow Kathleen Mallory as she investigates other murders in the books that make up the series.
Rating:
Summary: A Fast Paced and Exciting Book
Review: Carol O'Connell draws you right into her fast paced detective story about a tough female cop. Though you may not identify with the eccentrically stoic protagonist, you can certainly appreciate her unique attitude. The reader can also appreciate the other characters surrounding her life, as O'Connell welcomes their point of view into her story. Police Sergeant Mallory is put on compassionate leave after her police officer father is found murdered by the serial killer they have been tracking. This, to everyone's surprise, does not phase Mallory. This should have been the first clue to those that know her well that she would search out the killer on her own. Though some scenes, such as the very first chapter, are never really reconciled, the book is overall very well put together. Plots and subplots are appropriately meshed into an excellent whirlwind of drama and entertainment. The farther I read into the story, the more engrossed I became, and by the end could literally not put it down out of sheer desperation to know how it would end. This book is definitely a worthwhile read. All perspectives are appreciated as it draws a more illuminated picture. The reader gets drawn right in, and before they know it, it is two o'clock in the morning and their shaking hand eagerly enters into that final chapter where all will finally be revealed.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't grab me.
Review: I bought a later book in this seres (Crime School) so I decided to start from the beginning by reading the book that started it all. I had to "make myself" read this book. I have to agree with the other reveiwers that didn't like the main character. There is nothing to like about her. She's unaproachable and several times you are told she "smirks" or "smiles" but it isn't meant in a friendly manner. The other characters are just "ok" and the plot is a little on the boring side in that the action doesn't move quickly. This being the first book in the series, I'm not ready to give up on Mallory yet. I'll read the rest with that hopes that this first one is just the warm up and the characters will grow with each book. The only positive thing about being dissapointed in this is that there is a lot of room for improvement and I look forward to seeing in the books to come.
Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinary Antihero Opens a Terrific Series
Review: Others are correct in stating that Kathy Mallory, the center of this novel and the series that follows, is a cold character and difficult to like. If you like mysteries featuring Sneaky-Pie Brown, give these books a pass. But the Mallory mysteries, beginning with Mallory's Oracle, have become my favorite series because of their complex characterizations, perfectly paced plotting, and unblinking realism. As dark and layered as its protagonist, Mallory's Oracle is an intriguing police procedural with an attention to detail, and each book gets better and more engrossing. Love the other characters, Riker and Charles, and watch Mallory like a hawk. It'll pay off richly.
Rating:
Summary: A cold-hearted b**** of a heroine
Review: Hard-boiled detectives are one thing, but this woman's over the top. This first novel introduces us to Kathy Mallory, but don't you call her Kathy! Her fellow workers don't much like her and I don't either. Charles likes her and he's a rather messed up guy himself. We first meet her when she beats up a kid, and though the kid's a punk himself, this just isn't the kind of behavior I'd expect from New York's finest. The story for what it is takes place in 11 rather long chapters and occupies itself with victims and suspects who are difficult to care for. I am planning on reading more in the series, but only because I'm hoping that the author allows Mallory to eventually mellow out and have some kind of honor and compassion.
Rating:
Summary: A new series for me!
Review: Because of this board, I 'found' Kathy Mallory. Decided to begin with the first in the series because I enjoy the continuity and rhythm of a series. The book is intriguing because it does not answer all my questions, but promises answers in subsequent stories. The mystery was intense and altogether very exciting. Characters and mystery were different. Have ordered the next in line. I think I am on to something here.....
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT waste your time on bad first O'Connell book
Review: The character of Kathy Mallory is introduced in this first of a set of (now) six stories about a NYPD detective. With these and one other hardback under her belt, one would think O'Connell must be a successful author. Not by our eyes! We have read and lectured about an extensive list of leading lady amateur sleuths, private eyes, and policewomen; and we'd have to rate Mallory as maybe the worst. While she's billed a thousand times by her author as smart, intense, gorgeous (naturally), and maybe the world's greatest computer hacker (authors always make this look so easy - it's not), she seems more like a ventriloquist's dummy -- some words come out but there's no personality, nothing in her actions to intrigue or endear her to us. Is the fact that she's an ex-thief/bad girl supposed to charm us? Put this together with a complicated, difficult to follow plot, with dozens of stick characters we practically need a scorecard to keep track of, we almost broke a long-standing rule and abandoned this two-thirds of the way through. Even the ending was unsatisfying -- while it did clear up the mystery (we use the term loosely), we readers would never have arrived there with the paucity of clues and countless irrelevant side trips and diversions. That Mallory solves the case (more or less) after leaving her hospital bed, pulling out her IV after a near-fatal poisoning and charging off on her own (no backup of course) just adds to the silly unrealistic action. We're all the more put out because one of our favorite authors, Linda Barnes, recommends O'Connoll as one of her favorites. Why?
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