Of the first four books, this is the least engaging, but you need it as backstory for Stone Angel.

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Product Description

Brilliant computer hacker and NYPD sergeant Kathleen Mallory is forced to test the limits of her intelligence when she confronts a deadly killer who strikes close to home in more ways than one. Reprint. K.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63796 in Books
• Published on: 1996-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780515118902
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
O'Connell's second novel (after Mallory's Oracle) brings back NYPD Sergeant Kathy Mallory, plunging this tough-minded yet soulful heroine into another convoluted case. When a woman killed in Central Park is mistakenly identified as Mallory, the former street urchin and computer whiz sets herself up as bait by moving into the apartment building that houses her three main suspects. Using a computer and the building's electronic bulletin board to psych out the killer, she stirs up more than she bargained for?including someone who wants her dead. Other elements in the intelligent plot include a crime of passion, a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game and a boy who may be telekinetic and whose stepmothers keep dying. The dialogue is crisp, the prose supple, but the overall tone is dour, sometimes, in fact, mournful. Not enough of the story is told from Mallory's point of view, however, and O'Connell tends to evoke her mysterious behavior through description rather than through action. As a result, Mallory?who with her bitter youth, street smarts and rough edges carries echoes of Andrew Vachss's Burke?remains an enigma, a major absence at the center of the plot. BOMC and QPB selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Few mysteries embody the intensity of O'Connell's second Kathy Mallory title. Mallory, a street urchin fostered by a now-dead New York cop and his wife, follows in her father's footsteps as a primo detective. Taken off suspension to cover the murder of a woman at first identified as Mallory herself, she pits her uncanny intelligence and formidable computer skills against a compulsive and evasive adversary. Moments of wry humor invade the author's incisive prose, tempering an admirable female protagonist sure to gather a following. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
TITLR HO'Connell, Carol. After the unprecedented press hype, instant best-seller status, and critical raves garnered by O'Connell's first novel, Mallory's Oracle , it's hard to believe the budding author could produce, scarcely a year later, another book that's just as intense, powerful, and affecting. But it looks like she has. Tough, callous, unrepentant Kathleen Mallory, ragged street urchin turned computer-whiz cop, once again plays the heroine in a story that pits her against a clever (but not clever enough) murderer. Mallory takes a personal interest in the case when the evening news reports that one Kathleen Mallory has been murdered on New York's Upper West Side. Of course, it's not Mallory at all but a case of mistaken identity--the victim was wearing Mallory's blazer. The single-minded cop uses a combination of intuition, intrigue, and some not-quite-legal computer tricks to pursue the killer. But Mallory's old friend Charles Butler, the gentle giant genius, argues that Mallory should use more orthodox methods of simple logic and deductive reasoning, and the two inevitably clash. The plot is highly original and intensely gripping, especially since O'Connell reveals a few more tantalizing tidbits about Mallory's formative years, but it's the characters--Charles, Riker, Coffey, and Mallory herself--who make this story unique. Three cheers for O'Connell, who has now moved from neophyte writer to established literary superstar.

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Customer Reviews

This series just keeps getting better and better
First off let me say that if you're looking for a touchy feely maiden in distress kind of heroine - you won't find it here! When a young woman is found murdered and mistakenly identified as Mallory, our Mallory moves in and uses her expert computer skills to try and trip up three suspects who all live in the same building. Some creepy moments ensue until all is resolved at the end. The whole gang reappears and their characters are further developed to this reader's delight. Once again the author serves up a fascinating suspense that I hated to see end. Some reviewers seem to think that Mallory is this inhuman character that makes the story and author heartless and if you have one shred of decency, you won't like this book. Ummm, what version were they reading? Mallory is a little ruthless and heartless at times (she certainly maintains a "ends justify the means" mentality) but don't mistake that for having no emotion. Knowing her background of having to survive on the streets as a very young kid, the death of her foster parents who kept her somewhat grounded, and you begin to see the tight control she maintains over her emotions as a necessary function. Mallory is so intricate a character that she seems to be a real human being, albeit a flawed one, and not on of those cookie cutter females that pass as heroines.

New series 2nd excellent read!
Kathy Mallory is an enigma! I am a big fan of the "in Death" series by Nora Roberts and this is slowly but surely becoming my next favorite female lead.

The characters are becoming familiar to me. But 'Mallory' is the puzzlement and it is fascinating to read this progress. I am reading them in order and it is hard to put the book down. Gory in spots, but always fascinating! I love 'good' bad guys and Mallory is betwixt and between. Several reactions here! This heroine is different from what we are used to. On to the next...

Mallory is back!
I just ran across this fascinating character last week, and completed the second novel in an incredible series. Kathleen Mallory is the most complex character in the genre. Each book makes you want to hurry to the next to gain more insight into her psyche, while at the same time wanting to re-read the book in hand.