Dead Famous: A Mallory Novel - Hardcover

O'Connell, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399150846 ISBN 13: 9780399150845

Publisher: Putnam Adult, 2003

Synopsis

Never has Kathy Mallory had a case quite like the one she has now.
Night had fallen, and the woman looked down at the crumpled letter, as if, in absolute darkness, she could read the postscript: Only a monster can play this game.
In Chicago, an FBI agent is killed in a psychiatrist's waiting room. In New York, the jurors from a conventional trial are murdered one by one. The only connections between the two: a flamboyant shock-jock, whose on-air comments seem to be taking him dangerously close to the edge, and a woman, her body misshapen since childhood, whose job it is to clean up crime scenes - and maybe create them as well. This is a federal case, and Mallory's been told the FBI wants no part of her. But she knows something nobody else does - and besides, when has she ever cared what anybody else wanted?

About this title

About the Author

Carol O'Connell is the author of eight previous Mallory novels, including the national bestseller Winter House, and of Judas Child.

Reviews

O'Connell's post-feminist detective Kathleen Mallory returns full-throttle for an eighth grisly urban crime saga. And O'Connell's prose-sharp, gritty and streetwise-is in top form. In her previous case (2002's Crime School), Mallory solved a very personal murder and faced the doubts of coworkers about her competence. Now she's in total control, overseeing the recuperation of old friend and partner Riker, victim of an arrest-related shooting (she sets up a bogus fund to send him disability payments) and staying two steps ahead of a belligerent FBI agent named Marvin Argus. Two other vivid characters figure prominently in the story (or three, counting New York City itself, which O'Connell gives a palpable neo-noir grit): Argus is hounding Johanna Apollo, who's fled Chicago in the wake of a high-profile murder of another FBI agent named Timothy Kidd. A hunchback with extra-long legs, porcelain skin and raven hair, Johanna is working long, difficult hours as a crime scene cleaner. In Chicago, she was Kidd's therapist, and maybe his lover... and maybe she killed him, too. O'Connell devilishly fills in the pieces of the puzzle so that the reader's perspective undergoes constant shifts. Shock jock Ian Zachary-more abrasive off the air than on, if possible-exhorts loyal listeners to locate the members of a jury that let a killer walk free. And with his encouragement (if not instruction), a serial killer calling himself The Reaper has been obligingly knocking off the jurors. The way these two cases fit together is ingenious; once again, O'Connell sets the standard in crime fiction.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

NYPD Detective Kathy Mallory has appeared in a brace of gritty crime novels. Mallory, a child of the streets, is beyond street-smart. One of the exciting things about O'Connell's unique heroine is the way her previous half-life of surviving by her wits and the refuse of dumpsters makes her all brain, all survival tactic, very little heart. Unfortunately for readers new to this series, however, O'Connell makes no effort this time to give even a brief reprise of Mallory's back story. Anyone not familiar with the series will have a very tough time figuring out what is going on here, as Mallory takes it upon herself to investigate a federal case, the serial murders of jurors from a controversial trial. O'Connell has always favored outrageous characters and plot elements, but this time she goes over the top, giving pride of place to a reptilian shock-jock and a bizarre villain, a hunchback with showgirl legs, who works for an equally bizarre operation, Crime Scene Cleaners. This disappointing, far-fetched addition to an innovative series is for devoted Mallory fans only. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0399150846
• ISBN 13: 9780399150845
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288