At the Stroke of Madness (Mira)

Rating:
Summary: My first read of Alex Kava
Review: Thought it was great. I'm a James Patterson fan and this book reminded me of his works. I'm definitely interested in reading another by this author.

Rating:
Summary: Well, at least you can read it quickly.
Review: Unless Australia got a severely edited version, this book was extremely brief. But that's the best thing about it - you don't waste too much time reading something that isn't very good.

I found Split Second and The Soul Catcher to be books that improved on her highly average first novel A Perfect Evil. So I actually had high hopes for the fourth installment. While it was good to see the increasingly pointless Nick Morelli out of the picture, At The Stroke Of Madness is far too by-the-numbers to stand out. I counted no less than six highly obvious red herrings, so by the very nature of this genre, I knew the killer was none of them. Also, Maggie O'Dell is supposed to be some sort of genius maverick, but the climax of this novel makes her look like a complete idiot. One of the dullest, stupidest climaxes I've come across in a crime thriller.

It moves quickly, and it isn't dull, but it certainly isn't any good. Kava's next novel is a stand-alone, so I'm guessing a few people have told Kava that it was time Maggie O'Dell was given a (lengthy) rest.