I really enjoyed reading the O'Dell series by Alex Kava. I can't wait until A Necessary Evil comes out. This is a great book, all of them are great reads. If you do read them make sure you read them in order: A Perfect Evil, Split Second, Soul Catcher, At The Stroke of Madness, and coming in February 2006 A Necessary Evil. These are page turning books that you just can't get tired of reading. They were so good, I read all four within a month!

I won't deny the book has its thrilling moments hence the 3 star rating but overall it's formulaic write by numbers stuff where the world's stupidest serial killer is obsessed with the world's stupidest FBI profiler. Yes it certainly has some scarey and gory moments but if you actually start to think about the plot you might wonder why no-one in the FBI even the wonderful Maggie considers that it might be worth investigating the close business associate of an escaped serial killer? Where a killer sets out to implicate the man, whose identity he plans to assume, in a series of murders? Worst of all is Maggie who is supposed to be this hot shot profiler - despite the fact that the killer has targeted several women such as waitresses whom she had a friendly conversation with - it's only after the THIRD death that it occurs to her than - duh - it might be a good idea to stop bonding with every friendly shop assistant she meets! Nor does anyone think to use this pattern to trap the killer ...

Right from the beginning you can see how this story is headed - will this supposedly experienced FBI agent end up ignoring all protocol and common sense and confronting the killer on her own (like apparently she did in the last book and nearly got killed)?Alex Kava isn't a bad writer and I have to say her next book sounds better from the extract at the back but she was definitely crusing on autopilot when she wrote this one ...

Ms Kava's has done it again. This book was just as good as the first one. It really kept me on the edge of my seat. I am looking forward to number three, I hope it is as good as the first two.

Maggie is a great character. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat with non-stop action. A friend recommended this book and I really enjoyed it.

Ms. Kava is on her way to becoming a very good suspense writer. Her second book "Split Second" has the scary and chilling killer, the strong and willful heroine (Agent Maggie O'Dell from the first book) and plenty of spine chilling suspense that will keep you glued to the pages until the very end.

This was a fast paced read and one that I highly recommend. Ms. Kava is a fresh new voice to this genre and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.